12-12-2015, 10:49 PM
(12-12-2015, 10:34 PM)dmcowen674 Wrote:(12-12-2015, 11:37 AM)BoFox Wrote: $600-700/mo housing expenses for a decent studio/1 BR apartment in most parts of the USA
$400/mo for food (that's like $12 per day, and that's scraping the barrel with two $1.50 McDoubles for Lunch and Dinner plus drinks)... scratch that, make it $600/mo for food if one wishes to eat something other than junk crap most days of the week
$300/mo for low-end transportation costs (unless "PLENTY" means driving a new car which would be about $400/mo plus gas and insurance, or well over $600/mo) --- let's just say $400/mo here if a 5-year old car is good enough.
And then there's utility costs. Clothing. Hygiene. Phone, internet, and maybe cable? How much is plenty for a single person? $300-400 for these things?
Forget about saving money for retirement. Forget about a nice vacation to Las Vegas. Just lower-middle class is the target here, maybe with a basic Sprint or T-mobile subscription for $50/mo. It's not uncommon for a lower class American to pay $100/mo for a cell service, making that middle class guy jealous.
Money to buy a laptop/tablet or a PC? Some movies and games? A bit of leisure and recreation like going bowling, going to the theater or to a concert... $100/mo can be kind of low when you think about it, so let's just say $200/mo unless you just want to go home and watch tv everyday..
This all adds up to $2250/mo ($25K/YEAR) and that is just GETTING BY so that you feel like you're living a middle class life, with no savings whatsoever, no health care premium, no investments, no exotic $2000 camping trip or cruise to Cancun/Grand Cayman, etc..
Add $5+K/year just for housing expenses in the bigger cities.
What does "PLENTY" mean? $10K or $20K overhead for savings, health care premium, being able to make investments, buy a new car, travel somewhere nice once a year?
You are low on a lot of your numbers.
Paying less than Chicago here but still $1600 a month just for rent so that is $19,000 just for a roof over our heads, more than half my salary for the year and that doesn't include food, car, insurance, cable etc.
There is no money for a vacation to a destination like a cruise or anything like that. We are going to see family and driving so glad that gas is low this year.
No, my numbers are accurate. I did the mortgage calculator on the house, and used a 5% interest rate on the car. I pay $30-$40mo on car insurance, anyone else should as well.
I also noted outside of cities. Chicago is an expensive place to live.
As such, no clue why you live there.
If you and your wife moved to a place like Plover, WI and could put together a $55k income (maybe you earn $40k and she earns $15K part time) you could live a MUCH better life.
My wife goes to Michigan Avenue to shop, and I work in Chicago on occasion. I've also been to Plover. Given the choice of living in Plover on a modest income or Chicago, wouldn't even be a choice for me. You have to be pretty well off to live the good life in Chicago, in Wisconsin you can live the good life and be pretty average.