How a family spends away $500K per year

[ch33zw1z]

It sounds like a lot, but $200 per month per person is easily attainable. I don't have that kinda dough, but going shopping from once in a while....it's pretty crazy what you can spend on one piece of clothing. People spend tons on clothes.

 

[Pulsar]

It sounds like a lot, but $200 per month per person is easily attainable. I don't have that kinda dough, but going shopping from once in a while....it's pretty crazy what you can spend on one piece of clothing. People spend tons on clothes.

I still can't fathom it. I get 7 dollar colored T-shirts. My kids hand clothes down and we go garage sale shopping in the summer. My work polos cost like $14 a piece. I have 4 pairs of jeans and haven't bought new in 3 years. Seriously. $9,600? Nope.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I hear ya, and I'm in the same boat.

Take a walk through your local mall (if you have one) and go in stores you wouldn't normally set foot in, you will be amazed

 

[madoka]

I still can't fathom it. I get 7 dollar colored T-shirts. My kids hand clothes down and we go garage sale shopping in the summer. My work polos cost like $14 a piece. I have 4 pairs of jeans and haven't bought new in 3 years. Seriously. $9,600? Nope.

Well, when you're a lawyer, you're expected to wear nice suits as both people in the OP are. I imagine a female lawyer might have a much more extensive wardrobe than a male as well.

I own over a dozen pretty nice designer suits from my old legal days. I probably spent enough to buy a BMW with that money. But now that I'm free to dress how I want, I'm sometimes mistaken for a homeless person.

 

[norseamd]

$18,000 to charities and then complaining how you have no money left?

Yeah, these people are just terrible. I mean charities need money, and I respect them giving that money, but they live in New York City and are spending a fair amount of their income on philanthropy and vacations, something which is their very own discretionary spending, not mandatory, so dont be going around screaming how they have no free money left.

 

[EPCrew]

Is it worth it just to live in NYC or, would it make more sense to live somewhere with a smaller salary and much lower childcare/cost of living?

Not necessarily. I'm in a fortunate situation where i am located. I own my apartment and my monthly nut allows me to max out my retirement and put money into my investment accounts/savings. it would be hard to pass on a relatively stable job and the convenience of NYC which allows me see my kid within 30 minutes of leaving the office. Because she is getting a little older now, we are considering a move to the burbs. However with the real estate costs, need for a car/insurance, commuting cost, etc, i don't see how i won't be paying more out of pocket each month. Moving to the burbs and working in the city doesn't necessarily mean that you save money. FWIW, i don't make anywhere near 500k.

Also $1800 might sound like a ton for daycare but if you break down the hours, it comes out to under $13/hour for 36 hours availability over those 3 days.

 

[momeNt]

Including discretionary spending in your "costs" and then having it lowering your overall "what's left" is wildly disingenuous.

 

[EPCrew]

Including discretionary spending in your "costs" and then having it lowering your overall "what's left" is wildly disingenuous.

Was that for me? If so i wasn't saying that i couldn't afford it. I was merely suggesting that making the move to the burbs while keeping my same job wouldn't necessarily save me anything out of pocket. I'd aim to have a similar or lower mortgage while adding on car cost and commuting cost. Neither of which i currently have to pay for.

 

[norseamd]

Was that for me? If so i wasn't saying that i couldn't afford it. I was merely suggesting that making the move to the burbs while keeping my same job wouldn't necessarily save me anything out of pocket. I'd aim to have a similar or lower mortgage while adding on car cost and commuting cost. Neither of which i currently have to pay for.

No, I think he was talking about the original couple.

 

[rh71]

Is it worth it just to live in NYC or, would it make more sense to live somewhere with a smaller salary and much lower childcare/cost of living?

Perpetually higher salaries outweigh monthly or temporary costs by a lot if you do the calculations. For example, someone could pocket $20k/yr more net cash a year while they may be paying $1k more in electric or $5k more in property taxes, or whatever else combined. You have to break down the COL expenses to see it. For us, it's really only the housing (taxes) that hurts. We pay perhaps $10k/yr more here than other places in the country. Yet our salary difference is multiples more than that. The $100/mo. electric bill - even though yours may be $40/mo. - barely tickles, all things considered.