Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 8:50

Post #101 of 133 (920 views)

Moonrocket wrote:

j p o wrote:

BarryP wrote:

Fuck that. The only thing that keeps me sane is going out for lunch every day. I drive a base model car to make up for it.

= )

I know you are joking but ...

We used to go to lunch every day. Wife and I work for the same company. I'd get two bottles of diet pepsi a day, she'd get two cups of coffee. I really am not that big of a fan of leftovers for lunch but then we did the maths. Calculated off of actual costs bringing cans of pop from home, coffee brewed at home brought in a thermos, and approximate increased costs of grocery bill. And we were very conservative on the cost of lunch bought and generous on how much it cost to pack. Used 20 days/mth to account for days off.

Diet Pepsi - 2 a day x 5 days x $1.60 = $16.00/wk = $64/mth
Coffee - 2 a day x 5 days x $2.00 = $20.00/wk = $80/mth
Lunch - 2 a day x 5days x $10.00 = $100/k = $500/mth

Diet Pepsi - 2 a day x 5 days x $0.23 = $2.30/wk = $9.20/mth
Coffee - 2 a day x 5 days x $0.25 = $2.50/wk = $10/mth
Lunch - 2 a day x 5 days x $3.00 = $30/wk = $120/mth

Costs prior = $644.00
Costs after = $139.20

It has legitimately saved us $500+/mth. That was our second biggest bill behind the mortgage.

ETA - it was actually the pop and coffee savings that made us say, "Fuck me."

The lunch math assumes no value to your time though. My husband and I both get lunch at the work cafeteria daily. It’s about $6 but I save about an hour a week not planning and making lunches. As a working mom an hour of my time is quite valuable.

That said I do make my own coffee at home and we’re thankfully not living paycheck to paycheck.

This is something we have battled with too. My wife and I are insanely busy and sometimes the temptation not to make lunches for the week is very strong. But, I have found meals that I love, are delicious and healthy, and that really take very little prep time. Definitely worth the savings, even if it means staying up a bit later after the kids go down to do 10 min of prep a night.

Long Chile was a silly place.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 8:51

Post #102 of 133 (920 views)

BCtriguy1 wrote:

slowguy wrote:

Quote:

You know if you lose your job, the first thing you do is drop your kid from childcare, that takes your $75k number down to $40k.

And that $40k is a pretty big mortgage payment. Not sure I'd call that a "starter house" as he described it.

It is a 1400 sq ft house, built in 1958, with an unfinished basement, on a small lot. Never been renovated (hell, it had original paint in every room, and 2 pronged electrical outlets... couldn't even plug in a toaster when we took possession). It doesn't get much more 'starter home' then that without being absolute bulldozer bait. It was like an immaculately preserved time capsule from the 50's.

It cost $565,000 when we bought it, 3 years ago.

Spent the remainder of our savings and a year of evenings and weekends turning the unfinished basement in to a rental suite and doing some basic upgrading (heating, perimeter drains, etc, nothing frivolous). Monthly rent from the suite is now $1600 plus utilities. We are located near two colleges so demand for the suite is always there.

The house is worth $875,000 today.

It was definitely a gamble when we bought it, and it led to an incredible amount of stress for a couple of years. Had we waited to save more, we would never have been able to get in.

Again, the whole point of my comment is that $100,000 a year isn't buying you much in a lot of areas.

Holy shit! Dude, BLeP was right in his comments about where you live. Damn.

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 8:51

Post #103 of 133 (920 views)

Moonrocket wrote:

j p o wrote:

BarryP wrote:

Fuck that. The only thing that keeps me sane is going out for lunch every day. I drive a base model car to make up for it.

= )

I know you are joking but ...

We used to go to lunch every day. Wife and I work for the same company. I'd get two bottles of diet pepsi a day, she'd get two cups of coffee. I really am not that big of a fan of leftovers for lunch but then we did the maths. Calculated off of actual costs bringing cans of pop from home, coffee brewed at home brought in a thermos, and approximate increased costs of grocery bill. And we were very conservative on the cost of lunch bought and generous on how much it cost to pack. Used 20 days/mth to account for days off.

Diet Pepsi - 2 a day x 5 days x $1.60 = $16.00/wk = $64/mth
Coffee - 2 a day x 5 days x $2.00 = $20.00/wk = $80/mth
Lunch - 2 a day x 5days x $10.00 = $100/k = $500/mth

Diet Pepsi - 2 a day x 5 days x $0.23 = $2.30/wk = $9.20/mth
Coffee - 2 a day x 5 days x $0.25 = $2.50/wk = $10/mth
Lunch - 2 a day x 5 days x $3.00 = $30/wk = $120/mth

Costs prior = $644.00
Costs after = $139.20

It has legitimately saved us $500+/mth. That was our second biggest bill behind the mortgage.

ETA - it was actually the pop and coffee savings that made us say, "Fuck me."

The lunch math assumes no value to your time though. My husband and I both get lunch at the work cafeteria daily. It’s about $6 but I save about an hour a week not planning and making lunches. As a working mom an hour of my time is quite valuable.

That said I do make my own coffee at home and we’re thankfully not living paycheck to paycheck.

It does because my wife loves to cook and most lunches are gourmet leftovers. Or at most meat for a sandwich and bread with vegetables and fruit.

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [JSA] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 8:58

Post #104 of 133 (912 views)

There is a lot more to weigh in the equation of where to live then just housing costs.

Like I said, if we were were looking at buying now, we would have no chance. We would certainly move.

Part of me wants to sell now, take the money and run. But our quality of life here is outstanding. It really is among the best places in the world to live (and starting to be priced accordingly...)

Long Chile was a silly place.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [ThisIsIt] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 9:03

Post #105 of 133 (906 views)

ThisIsIt wrote:

Butternut squash soup is one of my standard lunch goes to. Went a bit ape shit last year and grew too many, so most have rotted in my too damp basement by now.

Another good one is potato and leek soup.

If you have the land you can grow a lot of high calorie foods relatively easily. Potatoes, corn, squash, beans are all pretty easy to grow. Add some leaks, onions, garlic, tomatoes and you can grow a decent amount of food.

My goal for this year is to get the gear to process corn and make tortillas.

Going to try sweet potatoes & onions this year. We have a ~5x30 plot we use for the squash & zuccini and another 10x30 plot for tomatoes, green beans, and other stuff. I might try and do onions around the squash and replace the zuc with potatoes.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [AndysStrongAle] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 9:08

Post #106 of 133 (898 views)

AndysStrongAle wrote:

Just bragging here but:

This summer I bought $1.29 pack of butternut squash seeds, these plants require little to no maintenance, I harvested about 30+ squash in the fall. 30 minute prep for the slow cooker and assuming about $2-$3 of spices, onions & apple sauce I got tons of butternut squash soup. We got dinner and enough lunch leftovers for 2-4 days each.

All being said, My lunches for half of this week cost about $.50 a piece.

Best part, both my young daughters asked for 2nds the night I made it.

Yeah, gardens are great investments. I planted tomatoes. My dog thought it was a ball tree and kept pulling them off the vines (labs can be so smart about some things but the desire to play with a ball seems to evaporate all of that) so I had to buy a fence... wind blew the fence down - bought new posts etc etc etc

And then I had 8 $64 a piece tomatoes!

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [JSA] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 9:13

Post #107 of 133 (892 views)

Quote:

It is a 1400 sq ft house, built in 1958, with an unfinished basement, on a small lot. Never been renovated (hell, it had original paint in every room, and 2 pronged electrical outlets... couldn't even plug in a toaster when we took possession). It doesn't get much more 'starter home' then that without being absolute bulldozer bait. It was like an immaculately preserved time capsule from the 50's.

It cost $565,000 when we bought it, 3 years ago.

Spent the remainder of our savings and a year of evenings and weekends turning the unfinished basement in to a rental suite and doing some basic upgrading (heating, perimeter drains, etc, nothing frivolous). Monthly rent from the suite is now $1600 plus utilities. We are located near two colleges so demand for the suite is always there.

The house is worth $875,000 today.

It was definitely a gamble when we bought it, and it led to an incredible amount of stress for a couple of years. Had we waited to save more, we would never have been able to get in.

Again, the whole point of my comment is that $100,000 a year isn't buying you much in a lot of areas.
Holy shit! Dude, BLeP was right in his comments about where you live. Damn.

Amateurs! Try the Bay Area. The math is perverse, as long as housing rises over 4%, it is an incredibly good investment (leveraged x5). Of course, at some point it becomes over-valued, the bubble pops, and all new buyers lose bigly. Hence, speculative investing and skyrocketing valuations in the most desirable locations (and some very wealthy folks living "paycheck to paycheck"). Waiting for the music to stop....

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [AndysStrongAle] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 9:13

Post #108 of 133 (892 views)

AndysStrongAle wrote:

ThisIsIt wrote:

Butternut squash soup is one of my standard lunch goes to. Went a bit ape shit last year and grew too many, so most have rotted in my too damp basement by now.

Another good one is potato and leek soup.

If you have the land you can grow a lot of high calorie foods relatively easily. Potatoes, corn, squash, beans are all pretty easy to grow. Add some leaks, onions, garlic, tomatoes and you can grow a decent amount of food.

My goal for this year is to get the gear to process corn and make tortillas.

Going to try sweet potatoes & onions this year. We have a ~5x30 plot we use for the squash & zuccini and another 10x30 plot for tomatoes, green beans, and other stuff. I might try and do onions around the squash and replace the zuc with potatoes.

I've had good luck with onions. I live in Maine so fairly short growing season. I start a tray inside and the transplant when it warms up. Usually get more than I can use (i.e. they end up rotting in the basement before I can use all of them). Don't think I could grow sweet potatoes here but never looked into it.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [ThisIsIt] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 9:26

Post #109 of 133 (880 views)

ThisIsIt wrote:

AndysStrongAle wrote:

ThisIsIt wrote:

Butternut squash soup is one of my standard lunch goes to. Went a bit ape shit last year and grew too many, so most have rotted in my too damp basement by now.

Another good one is potato and leek soup.

If you have the land you can grow a lot of high calorie foods relatively easily. Potatoes, corn, squash, beans are all pretty easy to grow. Add some leaks, onions, garlic, tomatoes and you can grow a decent amount of food.

My goal for this year is to get the gear to process corn and make tortillas.

Going to try sweet potatoes & onions this year. We have a ~5x30 plot we use for the squash & zuccini and another 10x30 plot for tomatoes, green beans, and other stuff. I might try and do onions around the squash and replace the zuc with potatoes.

I've had good luck with onions. I live in Maine so fairly short growing season. I start a tray inside and the transplant when it warms up. Usually get more than I can use (i.e. they end up rotting in the basement before I can use all of them). Don't think I could grow sweet potatoes here but never looked into it.

Damn, I gotta step up my gardening game. I live on 2 acres so I've got the space. Climate is quite similar to Maine so it takes a bit of extra work/planning. I also want to grow heirloom corn and make my own nixamal. Bit of a homesteader spirit given that my family grew a substantial amount of our own food in eastern Europe (plants, animals, even a small vineyard for wine).

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [oldandslow] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 9:31

Post #110 of 133 (875 views)

oldandslow wrote:

Quote:

It is a 1400 sq ft house, built in 1958, with an unfinished basement, on a small lot. Never been renovated (hell, it had original paint in every room, and 2 pronged electrical outlets... couldn't even plug in a toaster when we took possession). It doesn't get much more 'starter home' then that without being absolute bulldozer bait. It was like an immaculately preserved time capsule from the 50's.

It cost $565,000 when we bought it, 3 years ago.

Spent the remainder of our savings and a year of evenings and weekends turning the unfinished basement in to a rental suite and doing some basic upgrading (heating, perimeter drains, etc, nothing frivolous). Monthly rent from the suite is now $1600 plus utilities. We are located near two colleges so demand for the suite is always there.

The house is worth $875,000 today.

It was definitely a gamble when we bought it, and it led to an incredible amount of stress for a couple of years. Had we waited to save more, we would never have been able to get in.

Again, the whole point of my comment is that $100,000 a year isn't buying you much in a lot of areas.
Holy shit! Dude, BLeP was right in his comments about where you live. Damn.

Amateurs! Try the Bay Area. The math is perverse, as long as housing rises over 4%, it is an incredibly good investment (leveraged x5). Of course, at some point it becomes over-valued, the bubble pops, and all new buyers lose bigly. Hence, speculative investing and skyrocketing valuations in the most desirable locations (and some very wealthy folks living "paycheck to paycheck"). Waiting for the music to stop....

Yep. We were watching prices climb year over year. We had been aggressively searching for a house for 2 years and kept getting out bid. Houses would be for sale for an hour then sold with no conditions.

Our only condition upon purchase was financing. I did the inspection myself upon viewing the house. I actually liked the fact that it was completely un-renovated. Renovated houses can be like peeling back layers of an onion, you never know what you might find. At least I knew what I was walking in to.

The reason we decided to stay put is because we still felt our area was undervalued. If you look up and down the coast of both Canada and the US, we are the most undervalued area of our size, still. Great weather, safe, the city is on a peninsula, so you can't really sprawl out and land value can't get too diluted, our economy is robust and well diversified, and not prone to recession (Victoria barely felt 2008. Government jobs and weed production are recession proof :-) ). Very different then say, Calgary, where prices shot up, then collapsed when oil prices dropped.

I look at places like Vancouver and Seattle and see there is still room to go up here. We could have moved somewhere cheaper, but, my income would have temporarily dropped probably by 50%, and more importantly the ceiling of my potential future income would drop dramatically, and we would be moving somewhere where prices would still be booming but the area wouldn't have the stability, economy wise, that we enjoy here.

Long Chile was a silly place.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [SailorSam] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 9:40

Post #111 of 133 (863 views)

SailorSam wrote:

ThisIsIt wrote:

AndysStrongAle wrote:

ThisIsIt wrote:

Butternut squash soup is one of my standard lunch goes to. Went a bit ape shit last year and grew too many, so most have rotted in my too damp basement by now.

Another good one is potato and leek soup.

If you have the land you can grow a lot of high calorie foods relatively easily. Potatoes, corn, squash, beans are all pretty easy to grow. Add some leaks, onions, garlic, tomatoes and you can grow a decent amount of food.

My goal for this year is to get the gear to process corn and make tortillas.

Going to try sweet potatoes & onions this year. We have a ~5x30 plot we use for the squash & zuccini and another 10x30 plot for tomatoes, green beans, and other stuff. I might try and do onions around the squash and replace the zuc with potatoes.

I've had good luck with onions. I live in Maine so fairly short growing season. I start a tray inside and the transplant when it warms up. Usually get more than I can use (i.e. they end up rotting in the basement before I can use all of them). Don't think I could grow sweet potatoes here but never looked into it.

Damn, I gotta step up my gardening game. I live on 2 acres so I've got the space. Climate is quite similar to Maine so it takes a bit of extra work/planning. I also want to grow heirloom corn and make my own nixamal. Bit of a homesteader spirit given that my family grew a substantial amount of our own food in eastern Europe (plants, animals, even a small vineyard for wine).

My challenges are I try to do it on the cheap and the fertility is getting played out. I didn't have a garden in the main area last year to give it a chance to rest and build up some fertility again. I need a truck and to find someplace I can get a bunch of manure. Not going to pay hundreds of dollars to have it shipped in. I just can't make enough compost fast enough to replace the fertility.

I also don't have a good cellar for storage. Our's is too wet so most things rot much faster than if I had a decent cold room.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [Moonrocket] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 9:42

Post #112 of 133 (862 views)

Moonrocket wrote:

j p o wrote:

BarryP wrote:

Fuck that. The only thing that keeps me sane is going out for lunch every day. I drive a base model car to make up for it.

= )

I know you are joking but ...

We used to go to lunch every day. Wife and I work for the same company. I'd get two bottles of diet pepsi a day, she'd get two cups of coffee. I really am not that big of a fan of leftovers for lunch but then we did the maths. Calculated off of actual costs bringing cans of pop from home, coffee brewed at home brought in a thermos, and approximate increased costs of grocery bill. And we were very conservative on the cost of lunch bought and generous on how much it cost to pack. Used 20 days/mth to account for days off.

Diet Pepsi - 2 a day x 5 days x $1.60 = $16.00/wk = $64/mth
Coffee - 2 a day x 5 days x $2.00 = $20.00/wk = $80/mth
Lunch - 2 a day x 5days x $10.00 = $100/k = $500/mth

Diet Pepsi - 2 a day x 5 days x $0.23 = $2.30/wk = $9.20/mth
Coffee - 2 a day x 5 days x $0.25 = $2.50/wk = $10/mth
Lunch - 2 a day x 5 days x $3.00 = $30/wk = $120/mth

Costs prior = $644.00
Costs after = $139.20

It has legitimately saved us $500+/mth. That was our second biggest bill behind the mortgage.

ETA - it was actually the pop and coffee savings that made us say, "Fuck me."

The lunch math assumes no value to your time though. My husband and I both get lunch at the work cafeteria daily. It’s about $6 but I save about an hour a week not planning and making lunches. As a working mom an hour of my time is quite valuable.

That said I do make my own coffee at home and we’re thankfully not living paycheck to paycheck.

Your free time has no value if the choice is living paycheck to paycheck. You need to be doing all you can to save, so if that means taking 10 min to make lunch to save $500 a month you do it.

That is one of the sayings that leads to bad financial decisions.

Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [ThisIsIt] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 9:44

Post #113 of 133 (859 views)

ThisIsIt wrote:

j p o wrote:

ETA - it was actually the pop and coffee savings that made us say, "Fuck me."

We are good about taking breakfast/lunch for work but when I think about differences between our expenses and my parents when growing up, a big one is eating out. When I was growing up we would once in a blue moon go out for dinner. I would guess my wife and I eat out on average somewhere between 1-2 times per week, sometimes with kids sometimes without. Again just guessing that we are averaging somewhere between $100-150 per week on that.

We eat out once or twice a year. (not including pizza brought home $5 pizza from Little ceasars once or twice a month)

Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [DavHamm] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 9:57

Post #114 of 133 (845 views)

DavHamm wrote:

ThisIsIt wrote:

j p o wrote:

ETA - it was actually the pop and coffee savings that made us say, "Fuck me."

We are good about taking breakfast/lunch for work but when I think about differences between our expenses and my parents when growing up, a big one is eating out. When I was growing up we would once in a blue moon go out for dinner. I would guess my wife and I eat out on average somewhere between 1-2 times per week, sometimes with kids sometimes without. Again just guessing that we are averaging somewhere between $100-150 per week on that.

We eat out once or twice a year. (not including pizza brought home $5 pizza from Little ceasars once or twice a month)

Your life makes me sad.

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [JSA] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 10:04

Post #115 of 133 (839 views)

JSA wrote:

DavHamm wrote:

ThisIsIt wrote:

j p o wrote:

ETA - it was actually the pop and coffee savings that made us say, "Fuck me."

We are good about taking breakfast/lunch for work but when I think about differences between our expenses and my parents when growing up, a big one is eating out. When I was growing up we would once in a blue moon go out for dinner. I would guess my wife and I eat out on average somewhere between 1-2 times per week, sometimes with kids sometimes without. Again just guessing that we are averaging somewhere between $100-150 per week on that.

We eat out once or twice a year. (not including pizza brought home $5 pizza from Little ceasars once or twice a month)

Your life makes me sad.

Yeah, that is not something I would aspire to.

Part of what made it easy to pack lunch is that we were eating crap we didn't actually like to eat.

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [DavHamm] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 10:39

Post #116 of 133 (804 views)

DavHamm wrote:

OneGoodLeg wrote:

oldandslow wrote:

Shifts in housing costs/appreciation, student loans, revolving debt, medical costs, wage stagnation all play a role. One needs to also look at the 78% demographically. A huge percentage of folks under 30 (maybe 35 with the economic collapse) live paycheck to paycheck. Beyond that, it begins to diverge: poor and lower middle-class earners never get out from debt. middle and upper-middle vary greatly: Some manage debt, some sink themselves in it further. others may live frugally, but save/invest strategically, so that they live pseudo "paycheck to paycheck". High earners mostly do just fine, if it lasts for many years, though they may certainly get trapped by really bad times or personal profligacy (remember 90% of those making over 100K DON'T live paycheck to paycheck).

Personally, I definitely was broke with lower middle-class earnings (or lower) until I was 35. Finances only improved significantly when I got married, and we had two folks with graduate degrees working full time.

Interesting to me, when I first got my current job, there were 4 of us in the workgroup ~ 3 of us in essentially the same salary range plus a supervisor who was in the next range up (about 10% more); of the 3, 1 had been here several years and was topped out already while I got hired somewhere mid-range and the next guy got hired soon after I assume at the next step below where I was. The noteworthy part was that the 2 youngest/lowest-paid among us both lived in bigger houses and drove nicer cars than the 2 senior guys making more, cuz both of our wives also worked while 1 of theirs didn't and the other only worked part-time. In fact the newest/youngest guy was easily the most well-off cuz they didn't have their first kid until later, while the other 3 of us all had 2 each at roughly similar ages (making that a fairly consistent variable by way of comparison).

The former supervisor ended up getting promoted to a manager and makes substantially more now so he can still afford to support his household on the 1 income, while my other buddy had some health problems that limited his work availability and they are living in a world of financial shit now as his wife still makes less than his disability payments (which in turn are only 60% of his former salary). They definitely fall into the pay(disability) check-to-paycheck category now and do a lot of things like barter pet/house-sitting for their neighbors in return for firewood to heat their home (they live in the rural fringe just out of town). He even used to sell weed on the side, but there's no money in that anymore since the rec market went legal in our state.

So your at 25% living paycheck to paycheck.. a long ways from 80%

That is correct for my small cohort, although I don't think I was ever trying to claim otherwise ~ only expanding on old&slow's point about the changing state of finances as you get older and have a dual-income household. In my example, the 2 highest-income households are the ones with dual incomes (both wives have grad degrees, in fact); the 3rd-highest household income is the one w/ the manager making the single highest income (also has grad degree) but wife doesn't work; and the only one living paycheck-to-paycheck is the guy whose wife only works part-time/low-skill and lost his full-time white-collar job to medical disability.

If you now add in the new guy just hired to replace the former peer lost to disability, he & his GF both work and have no kids yet ~ so it would either drop to 0% of the current workgroup, or 20% if we still count our ex-colleague.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [JSA] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 11:13

Post #117 of 133 (777 views)

JSA wrote:

BCtriguy1 wrote:

slowguy wrote:

Quote:

You know if you lose your job, the first thing you do is drop your kid from childcare, that takes your $75k number down to $40k.

And that $40k is a pretty big mortgage payment. Not sure I'd call that a "starter house" as he described it.

It is a 1400 sq ft house, built in 1958, with an unfinished basement, on a small lot. Never been renovated (hell, it had original paint in every room, and 2 pronged electrical outlets... couldn't even plug in a toaster when we took possession). It doesn't get much more 'starter home' then that without being absolute bulldozer bait. It was like an immaculately preserved time capsule from the 50's.

It cost $565,000 when we bought it, 3 years ago.

Spent the remainder of our savings and a year of evenings and weekends turning the unfinished basement in to a rental suite and doing some basic upgrading (heating, perimeter drains, etc, nothing frivolous). Monthly rent from the suite is now $1600 plus utilities. We are located near two colleges so demand for the suite is always there.

The house is worth $875,000 today.

It was definitely a gamble when we bought it, and it led to an incredible amount of stress for a couple of years. Had we waited to save more, we would never have been able to get in.

Again, the whole point of my comment is that $100,000 a year isn't buying you much in a lot of areas.

Holy shit! Dude, BLeP was right in his comments about where you live. Damn.

Yeah, but that's CAD. $1M CAD is worth like one moose reach around

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [j p o] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 11:14

Post #118 of 133 (776 views)

j p o wrote:

We used to go to lunch every day. Wife and I work for the same company. I'd get two bottles of diet pepsi a day, she'd get two cups of coffee. I really am not that big of a fan of leftovers for lunch but then we did the maths. Calculated off of actual costs bringing cans of pop from home, coffee brewed at home brought in a thermos, and approximate increased costs of grocery bill. And we were very conservative on the cost of lunch bought and generous on how much it cost to pack. Used 20 days/mth to account for days off.

Diet Pepsi - 2 a day x 5 days x $1.60 = $16.00/wk = $64/mth
Coffee - 2 a day x 5 days x $2.00 = $20.00/wk = $80/mth
Lunch - 2 a day x 5days x $10.00 = $100/k = $500/mth

Diet Pepsi - 2 a day x 5 days x $0.23 = $2.30/wk = $9.20/mth
Coffee - 2 a day x 5 days x $0.25 = $2.50/wk = $10/mth
Lunch - 2 a day x 5 days x $3.00 = $30/wk = $120/mth

Costs prior = $644.00
Costs after = $139.20

It has legitimately saved us $500+/mth. That was our second biggest bill behind the mortgage.

ETA - it was actually the pop and coffee savings that made us say, "Fuck me."

Two points:

1) Check your math there, bro. You are off by 100 bucks a month.

And more importantly:
2) You could reduce costs even further with more asparagus lunches, no?

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [ThisIsIt] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 11:16

Post #119 of 133 (774 views)

ThisIsIt wrote:

Don't think I could grow sweet potatoes here but never looked into it.

Sweet potatoes supposedly don't like frost. Maybe in a large mobile pot?

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 12:20

Post #120 of 133 (751 views)

BCtriguy1 wrote:

slowguy wrote:

Quote:

You know if you lose your job, the first thing you do is drop your kid from childcare, that takes your $75k number down to $40k.

And that $40k is a pretty big mortgage payment. Not sure I'd call that a "starter house" as he described it.

It is a 1400 sq ft house, built in 1958, with an unfinished basement, on a small lot. Never been renovated (hell, it had original paint in every room, and 2 pronged electrical outlets... couldn't even plug in a toaster when we took possession). It doesn't get much more 'starter home' then that without being absolute bulldozer bait. It was like an immaculately preserved time capsule from the 50's.

It cost $565,000 when we bought it, 3 years ago.

Spent the remainder of our savings and a year of evenings and weekends turning the unfinished basement in to a rental suite and doing some basic upgrading (heating, perimeter drains, etc, nothing frivolous). Monthly rent from the suite is now $1600 plus utilities. We are located near two colleges so demand for the suite is always there.

The house is worth $875,000 today.

It was definitely a gamble when we bought it, and it led to an incredible amount of stress for a couple of years. Had we waited to save more, we would never have been able to get in.

Again, the whole point of my comment is that $100,000 a year isn't buying you much in a lot of areas.

And my point is that a house that costs more than half a million isn’t a starter house, no matter how basic it is.

Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [JSA] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 13:01

Post #121 of 133 (740 views)

JSA wrote:

DavHamm wrote:

ThisIsIt wrote:

j p o wrote:

ETA - it was actually the pop and coffee savings that made us say, "Fuck me."

We are good about taking breakfast/lunch for work but when I think about differences between our expenses and my parents when growing up, a big one is eating out. When I was growing up we would once in a blue moon go out for dinner. I would guess my wife and I eat out on average somewhere between 1-2 times per week, sometimes with kids sometimes without. Again just guessing that we are averaging somewhere between $100-150 per week on that.

We eat out once or twice a year. (not including pizza brought home $5 pizza from Little ceasars once or twice a month)

Your life makes me sad.

As a Packers fan, he probably thinks the same about you!

Long Chile was a silly place.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [slowguy] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 13:03

Post #122 of 133 (739 views)

slowguy wrote:

BCtriguy1 wrote:

slowguy wrote:

Quote:

You know if you lose your job, the first thing you do is drop your kid from childcare, that takes your $75k number down to $40k.

And that $40k is a pretty big mortgage payment. Not sure I'd call that a "starter house" as he described it.

It is a 1400 sq ft house, built in 1958, with an unfinished basement, on a small lot. Never been renovated (hell, it had original paint in every room, and 2 pronged electrical outlets... couldn't even plug in a toaster when we took possession). It doesn't get much more 'starter home' then that without being absolute bulldozer bait. It was like an immaculately preserved time capsule from the 50's.

It cost $565,000 when we bought it, 3 years ago.

Spent the remainder of our savings and a year of evenings and weekends turning the unfinished basement in to a rental suite and doing some basic upgrading (heating, perimeter drains, etc, nothing frivolous). Monthly rent from the suite is now $1600 plus utilities. We are located near two colleges so demand for the suite is always there.

The house is worth $875,000 today.

It was definitely a gamble when we bought it, and it led to an incredible amount of stress for a couple of years. Had we waited to save more, we would never have been able to get in.

Again, the whole point of my comment is that $100,000 a year isn't buying you much in a lot of areas.

And my point is that a house that costs more than half a million isn’t a starter house, no matter how basic it is.

You don't think that the price of the house is relative to what your income is?

Long Chile was a silly place.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [eb] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 13:06

Post #123 of 133 (737 views)

eb wrote:

j p o wrote:

We used to go to lunch every day. Wife and I work for the same company. I'd get two bottles of diet pepsi a day, she'd get two cups of coffee. I really am not that big of a fan of leftovers for lunch but then we did the maths. Calculated off of actual costs bringing cans of pop from home, coffee brewed at home brought in a thermos, and approximate increased costs of grocery bill. And we were very conservative on the cost of lunch bought and generous on how much it cost to pack. Used 20 days/mth to account for days off.

Diet Pepsi - 2 a day x 5 days x $1.60 = $16.00/wk = $64/mth
Coffee - 2 a day x 5 days x $2.00 = $20.00/wk = $80/mth
Lunch - 2 a day x 5days x $10.00 = $100/k = $500/mth

Diet Pepsi - 2 a day x 5 days x $0.23 = $2.30/wk = $9.20/mth
Coffee - 2 a day x 5 days x $0.25 = $2.50/wk = $10/mth
Lunch - 2 a day x 5 days x $3.00 = $30/wk = $120/mth

Costs prior = $644.00
Costs after = $139.20

It has legitimately saved us $500+/mth. That was our second biggest bill behind the mortgage.

ETA - it was actually the pop and coffee savings that made us say, "Fuck me."

Two points:

1) Check your math there, bro. You are off by 100 bucks a month.

And more importantly:
2) You could reduce costs even further with more asparagus lunches, no?

I'm sitting here thinking, wtf is he talking about. Then, ohhh, no I got it. :)

That's only good for abut a month in the Spring.

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [BCtriguy1] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 13:15

Post #124 of 133 (731 views)

BCtriguy1 wrote:

JSA wrote:

DavHamm wrote:

ThisIsIt wrote:

j p o wrote:

ETA - it was actually the pop and coffee savings that made us say, "Fuck me."

We are good about taking breakfast/lunch for work but when I think about differences between our expenses and my parents when growing up, a big one is eating out. When I was growing up we would once in a blue moon go out for dinner. I would guess my wife and I eat out on average somewhere between 1-2 times per week, sometimes with kids sometimes without. Again just guessing that we are averaging somewhere between $100-150 per week on that.

We eat out once or twice a year. (not including pizza brought home $5 pizza from Little ceasars once or twice a month)

Your life makes me sad.

As a Packers fan, he probably thinks the same about you!

Uhm. He's a Lions fan, so, his life is sad in oh so many ways.

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Re: 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck [JSA] [ In reply to ]

Jan 16, 19 13:24

Post #125 of 133 (854 views)

JSA wrote:

BCtriguy1 wrote:

JSA wrote:

DavHamm wrote:

ThisIsIt wrote:

j p o wrote:

ETA - it was actually the pop and coffee savings that made us say, "Fuck me."

We are good about taking breakfast/lunch for work but when I think about differences between our expenses and my parents when growing up, a big one is eating out. When I was growing up we would once in a blue moon go out for dinner. I would guess my wife and I eat out on average somewhere between 1-2 times per week, sometimes with kids sometimes without. Again just guessing that we are averaging somewhere between $100-150 per week on that.

We eat out once or twice a year. (not including pizza brought home $5 pizza from Little ceasars once or twice a month)

Your life makes me sad.

As a Packers fan, he probably thinks the same about you!

Uhm. He's a Lions fan, so, his life is sad in oh so many ways.

I don't follow your silly American sports too well, so, I will have to take your word on that.

But in seriousness, I agree with your initial comment. There's saving and being financially responsible, but... You can't take all that cash with you when you die.

Long Chile was a silly place.

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