s/o Minimum standard of living

[Renee in NC]

Those of you who have said this, why do you think that is? Why do we need so much more here? Is it because everyone is paying their own health expenses? Few public transportation options? Laws dictating what kind of houses we can live in? Fears of CPS taking our children if we don't provide what American society says they need? Other issues?

 

It is sort of like make-up....if every other woman I knew would stop wearing make up so would I. :001_huh: Did I really just admit to something so shallow? Hmmm....

 

Truth is, it is VERY difficult to keep a simple eye. Everywhere we go we are bombarded with advertising to buy buy buy. It is insane.

 

Also we are set up to need certain things. For instance, I could do without electricity (an extreme example) and running water IF I had a well, and outdoor toilet and other things to function....lamps, ect. Have you ever tried to get by when the power goes out or the water is turned off? It is insane how we have come to rely on the luxuries of life.

 

This is a good point.

 

Start with rent. We pay $700 a month for a 30 year old trailer, but this is somewhat low for the area. I did a search using 25% of our income to see what we could rent. There are a bunch of 1 bedroom, 1 bath places to rent for less than $400 a month. However, by law, we cannot rent a 1 bedroom. We have to have a 4 bedroom because of the number of people. How much for that? At least $800 minimum, but $1000+ to not be in a bad neighborhood.

 

In other countries, a family would be allowed to live where they wanted, even if their choice meant the whole family in one room.

 

What about other areas? I am not talking about keeping up with the Joneses. We are thankful to have running water, A/C (you couldn't live in this trailer without it!), and a car. These are luxuries in many parts of the world. They are not considered luxuries here. I know of people who ride bikes everywhere they go, but they are single. We have a grocery store 2 miles away that we could walk to, but how do you get groceries back? Go several times a week?

 

What is the bare minimum a family could live *in town* and not be charged with neglect? (I said in town because I know from experience that you can get away with a lot more in the country!:D)

[cathmom]

I knew a family online who had 11 or 12 dc. They could find nowhere to rent to them, and to work out some complicated deal to buy 2 houses next door to each other because the state would not allow that many people in one house.

 

We can't live in the town that my husband works in because we cannot afford a house there. We can't live in a rental there because we have too many dc. We could probably rent a 4 bedroom house there, but that would be probably twice what we pay for our mortgage. However, living so far out of town means that we needs reliable cars and we are at the mercy of gas prices. If gas had gotten any higher 2 years ago, dh was going to have to start looking for a place to sleep during the week instead of driving back and forth. There are no public transportation options.

[Mejane]

Some things we may think of as wants really are needs. Those of us who don't live off the busline or railway need cars. Many of us need certain types of food for our food-intolerant kids. We need curricula (we will pay school expenses even if we send our kids back to ps.) We do need a minimum of creature comforts (running water, heat, and security come to mind.) We need to clothe ourselves unless we live in a nudist colony. ;)

 

I think we beat ourselves up a lot for not living more simply when many of us do live pretty simply. Many people here live in average-sized homes without cable and with gardens, and shop consignment.

 

I feel we live pretty well, but when I see some of the homes, cars, gadgets, clothes and jewelry of my fellow CTians, I know I'm living the simple life. :001_smile:

[Jean in Newcastle]

In our small city, an apartment or small two bedroom house (there are a few from the 50's) would probably be the most basic housing you could find. You are allowed to heat with wood even on "burn ban" days (we have them at times due to pollution) if you do not have another heat source in your home. You could buy minimal groceries by doing more beans/rice kind of meals, and buying at grocery outlet stores. We buy most of our clothes at thrift stores. You don't have to have telephone or t.v. although I would want basic telephone for emergencies. Water and sewer you must have, although they are urging people to get rain barrels here to use for some of your water needs. If your income is low enough you get many of the school fees (like supplies, lunches etc.) waived. They even offer kids breakfast and lunch at school or local parks over the summer for the really low income families. I've considered getting one of those rolling carts for groceries.

[jld]

I didn't know there were laws for how many people you could have in a dwelling. I have never heard of a family who started out in a 3 bedroom home, say, and over the course of years had 5 or 7 kids, and then by law had to sell the place to buy something bigger. This really happens?

[TravelingChris]

I live in a county that used to have very strict residential regulations. I know since my mother, a widow, was trying to find an appartment for us to rent. There were four of us and she was looking for something like 2 bedroom plus den. No, not okay. It only became okay because my brother moved out and then we had three in a two bedroom plus den. This was a very large two bedroom plus den. I think it still may have such regulations though I suspect that many apartment managers look the other way. We have five in a four bedroom house and I think we could fit many more in here. Whether we would be allowed to is another matter.

[Daisy]

I didn't know there were laws for how many people you could have in a dwelling. I have never heard of a family who started out in a 3 bedroom home, say, and over the course of years had 5 or 7 kids, and then by law had to sell the place to buy something bigger. This really happens?

 

I think it is more common in areas that have problems with multiple families sharing a one family dwelling. In my area it isn't uncommon to find 2 or 3 families sharing a house/apartment and then another family squatting in the garage. It becomes a burden on city sewer lines, public schools, etc.

 

It is an even bigger problem in government-subsidized housing in our area. In the apartments near my husband's school they will have 15+ people coming and going from a single apartment (clearly against the law but it doesn't appear to stop them). He has students who can't sleep at night because they are packed like sardines into a room that is shared with multiple families and the never-ending blare of the large screen television (keeps children from fighting in such close quarters).

[jld]

Thanks for your explanation, Daisy.:)

[StartingOver]

Where I live the law states that children at the age of six and of different sexes must be in different rooms. But a family of what ever amount could still be in a 3 bedroom. Parents, boys and girls. Where I live a car isn't luxury as we don't have public transportation.

 

Because we chose to homeschool we do live frugally. We have no cable, just basic internet ( dial up ), only one phone line, prepaid cell phones ( about $15 a month each ). Rent here is from $500 - $700 for a 2 bedroom, $700 - $1200 for a 3 bedroom, which we will need in a couple of years. Next to rent groceries is our biggest bill, only because of my daughter allergies, I have to cook most things from scratch. We do pay insurance on our vehicles, and our medical insurance is very inexpensive ( It wasn't last year !! ). We still pay about $400 a month in prescription copays.

 

We are close to rock bottom for us, I don't know what else we could cut, except maybe that $31 I spend for internet and a land line. ( I would still have to have a cell phone even if I cut off home phone service, because of my children's medical conditions. )

[silliness7]

I didn't know there were laws for how many people you could have in a dwelling. I have never heard of a family who started out in a 3 bedroom home, say, and over the course of years had 5 or 7 kids, and then by law had to sell the place to buy something bigger. This really happens?

 

I could be wrong but I think if you OWN your home you can fill it with as many people as you want. It's only an issue if you are renting. We have 9 and are renting...it's an issue.:tongue_smilie:

[jld]

Thanks, Rebecca. Do you rent a house?

[Renee in NC]

I didn't know there were laws for how many people you could have in a dwelling. I have never heard of a family who started out in a 3 bedroom home, say, and over the course of years had 5 or 7 kids, and then by law had to sell the place to buy something bigger. This really happens?

 

We have to rent, so we are restricted by those laws.

[Renee in NC]

Where I live the law states that children at the age of six and of different sexes must be in different rooms. But a family of what ever amount could still be in a 3 bedroom. Parents, boys and girls. Where I live a car isn't luxury as we don't have public transportation.

 

Because we chose to homeschool we do live frugally. We have no cable, just basic internet ( dial up ), only one phone line, prepaid cell phones ( about $15 a month each ). Rent here is from $500 - $700 for a 2 bedroom, $700 - $1200 for a 3 bedroom, which we will need in a couple of years. Next to rent groceries is our biggest bill, only because of my daughter allergies, I have to cook most things from scratch. We do pay insurance on our vehicles, and our medical insurance is very inexpensive ( It wasn't last year !! ). We still pay about $400 a month in prescription copays.

 

We are close to rock bottom for us, I don't know what else we could cut, except maybe that $31 I spend for internet and a land line. ( I would still have to have a cell phone even if I cut off home phone service, because of my children's medical conditions. )

 

The conversation came up in another thread about how much more even the poor in this country have than the people in many other countries. There were several posters who were pointing out that while that may be true, our society dictates a certain minimum standard of living. If you don't meet that, you can be in danger of CPS getting involved with your children's lives.

 

The rental laws were just one example. As Daisy pointed out, sometimes families will put one family in each bedroom of a house. In Material World, there were several families that lived just this way! Here it is against occupancy laws in many places. Laws against having children of the same gender in the same bedroom are ludicrous to me! Is it preferable to have a family be homeless than to have older of children of different genders share a room?

 

Electricity is another area - if someone had children and lived in a home where the electricity had been shut off, they could be in trouble. There is an expectation that you will have electricity. (We won't get into my rant about houses built after the 50s that don't *function* without air conditioning!)

 

BTW, there is public transportation here, but it is prohibitively expensive for our family. They don't have transfers, so you have to buy a day pass or pay for each leg. A day pass is $3, but with 7 people it is cheaper for me to drive there. I could get 7 monthly passes for $280, but that is quite a bit to pay all at once.

[Ravin]

Out of curiosity, I looked up the regulations for Tempe. Apparently, you can have a family in which everyone is of at least the 3rd degree of consanguinity (according to the city's chart), and/or a maximum of 3 unrelated individuals in a single-family home. For us, that means we could add another unrelated roommate if we wanted. It seemed a little fuzzy to me about what if there are two families living together? For example, if DW#2's kids moved in? She's not technically related to us, but they're related to her.

 

Badly written law, imo, and often not enforced because I've known plenty of college students who got together and had 4 unmarried roommates in a house. As long as they didn't throw wild parties, etc., no one bothered them.

 

Apparently you can cram as many kids as you want into a house here. I assume there's some kind of loophole for unrelated foster children--that probably has its own regulations. I know my mom would be allowed to have up to six kids in her house, based on the size of the bedrooms in her 3 bedroom--and even one more if it was a baby under 1 that could be in a crib in her room. She refuses to keep more than 4 kids, 2 per room is plenty in her opinion. She has a rather low opinion of people who "rack and stack" foster kids to maximum occupancy.

 

One's own kids are of course another matter. You gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.

 

DD's bedroom is small, but we've decided to go ahead and add another baby to the mix ASAP. We'll have to move into a 4 bedroom within a couple of years, though. We'd be more comfortable in a 4 bedroom now, I think (it'd be nice if DSS's didn't have to sleep on the hideabed in the living room, especially for their 1 month in the summer), but this works. It's going to take a fair bit of legwork to find a 4 bedroom somewhere.

 

When we had 4 adults and a baby in a 2 bedroom townhouse, it was...cramped. (DH and I and DD, and BIL and his GF at the time).

[LittleHouseHomeschool]

This has been such an interesting discussion!

 

I live in a low income, immigrant area of town. All the folks who live around us are from Cuba. They are an amazing people! You all have no idea what thrift, a good attitude and a few smarts can do for you!

 

There are laws in my neighborhood that say that farm animals cannot be kept, but no one obeys those laws and no one enforces them either. (Maybe the local officials figure to enforce these laws would cause children to go hungry?) I don't know...I just know there are a lot of chickens and pigs in my neighborhood. :lol:

 

My next door neighbor has a self sufficiency "farm," in his backyard. A pig, many chickens in a pen, a beautiful veggie garden and a herd of chihuahuas to guard everything. :tongue_smilie: He brings in extra income by making yard decorations. (Molded cement bird baths, etc...) He owns his own yard and maintenance company and apparently he is doing very well. He has added onto his home and has upgraded the interior beautifully. This family is impressive and initially sparked some of my own goals to become more self-sufficient and less reliant upon paid services.

 

Just today, my son is out at a local food ministry. He is volunteering for two weeks so that he can learn to raise his own Tilapia...in the backyard!

 

Meantime, a neighbor down the way, tore down an existing home and built a beautiful home in it's place. Yep, self sufficiency is hard work, but it is the way to go if you want to do better for yourself nowadays.

 

As for me, I've decided to begin a vermi-compost bin so that I can use "worm tea," (organic earthworm waste) to keep bugs/pests off my veggies and other plants. I'm expanding my garden and hope to get it up to a size where we can pull things from the garden on a regular basis or preserve them.

 

In addition, my oldest son did a self designed course called Traditional American Skills so that he could learn self sufficiency skills. Basketweaving, carpentry, vermiposting, fly fishing, hunting, home repair and maintenance, gardening - including trees, building a home from logs, keeping chickens, etc, etc... We used a reader's digest book as a "spine," called Tradition American Skills. Then we added to it's information by using Boy Scout Merit Badge books and library resources. Then we added in a ton of hands on projects. Fun!

 

The way our economy is...and the way it looks like it's going to be for a long time to come, tells me that my family needs to be able to provide for ourselves rather than rely on paid services...which are going to get more and more painfully expensive.

[Scarlett]

Ok, I'll use myself as an example and tell you what I could cut--realistically---while continuing to be a fairly 'normal' American citizen.

 

Swim $70

Piano $50

Cable and landline $100 (but then I might feel it necessary to get ds10 a cell phone at around $20 per month as I leave him a lone for short periods of time).

 

The house I am buying is only going to have a mortgage of $350-(including taxes and insurancne) because I am 45 and using 25 years worth of marital equity as a down payment. If I had no downpayment I could buy NOTHING for $350 a month. The cheapest 2 bedroom duplex or apt would run us around $500 (without going to an area of the city that would be unsafe).

 

For monthly expenses that is all I could cut! Wow. Other things I can think of that I know I could get by without...eating out, having the dog groomed (I do this RARELY but always feel guilty), having my hair colored (I have also started limiting this...only had it done twice this year), ITune apps for ds, various other gadgets for ds10.

 

I do tend to live frugally, and typing this all out makes me realize that! I have felt sort of out of control the last year during this divorce and I'm looking forward to having a set amount of money coming in and getting a real control on my money so as to hang on to the little savings I have.

 

I LOVE this board for this type of stuff...you really make me think.

 

I bought 2 beautiful dresses and 2 bag/purses for $45 at a reconsignment shop last week. The dresses were both high end and in perfect condition. I could not have bought ONE for less than $150 even on sale. For $45 I could have bought two cheaply made dresses at Wal-Mart or Target and they would not have lasted 2 years. I will be wearing these 2 dresses for MANY years.

[Renee in NC]

Yvonne, that is so neat! I do think in some areas the laws may say one thing, but the officials look the other way. You gotta let people live, ya know?

 

If we lived in an area where more people were like your neighbors, we would have chickens. Where we are now the neighbors would report us....

[Scarlett]

(We won't get into my rant about houses built after the 50s that don't *function* without air conditioning!)

 

This probably explains how we survived without AC when I was a kid. I am only 45 but very few people had AC. The middle school I went to did not have AC...we had big windows that we opened in the hot part of the year (Sept, Oct, April, May) and we were fine---weren't even allowed to wear shorts!!! I do remember being VERY hot and miserable at times in our houses...but AR gets miserable at times...it just does. The worst times were early evening if we were getting ready to go somewhere...you couldn't dry your hair without sweating like a pig. Nighttimes we set a box fan in the window of our bedrooms....of course NOW we can't leave our bedroom windows open for fear of someone breaking in and killing/raping/kidnapping/robbing us or our children. Sad.

[Renee in NC]

Scarlett, that is great about your mortgage. You learn what you can live without very quickly when you have to. I know I could not live without A/C in this trailer! If we had to live without A/C I would have to find a cinderblock house on a slab built in the 50s or earlier. I'd also live on beachside in order to get the best cross breeze!:D

 

Now that our septic system has been fixed, I might use cloth diapers. Actually, I may just try to potty train him!

[Renee in NC]

This probably explains how we survived without AC when I was a kid. I am only 45 but very few people had AC. The middle school I went to did not have AC...we had big windows that we opened in the hot part of the year (Sept, Oct, April, May) and we were fine---weren't even allowed to wear shorts!!! I do remember being VERY hot and miserable at times in our houses...but AR gets miserable at times...it just does. The worst times were early evening if we were getting ready to go somewhere...you couldn't dry your hair without sweating like a pig. Nighttimes we set a box fan in the window of our bedrooms....of course NOW we can't leave our bedroom windows open for fear of someone breaking in and killing/raping/kidnapping/robbing us or our children. Sad.

 

I am not afraid of someone breaking in (at least not in this neighborhood.) I know that in some of the bad neighborhoods people have bars in their windows. I went to schools without A/C and if it got over a certain temperature, they would close school early.

 

FL is miserable 9 months out of the year!:tongue_smilie: Not really, but there is *no* cross breeze in this trailer. We have tried, especially when it is 72 or less outside, and it gets miserable in here. I think it is the metal box aspect!:lol:

[Jan in SC]

This is such an interesting idea, so I decided to check around. I found a 3 bedroom single wide with hardwood floors, central AC, patio, and nice backyard. It is in a good neighborhood, close to everything and the rent includes water/sewer. It's $565 a month.

 

I have never looked for the minimum before, but it was very interesting to search. I've never lived in a trailer before, so I have no idea if they are safe. It certainly doesn't seem like a bad price, though!

[cathmom]

I seem to remember somebody on one of these threads mentioning the number of TVs poor people have, but now I can't find it. So I'll just post here.

 

We make less that that living wage calculator says for our area. That's for 2 adults/2 kids, and we have 2 adults, 6 kids. But we have 3 TVs. Why? We only had one for many, many years, which we bought a long time ago on sale, one was given to us free, and one we paid $5 for. We have a lot of stuff (too much!), but nearly all of it was given to us or bought used. We have bought one new piece of furniture in our marriage of 16 years, unless you count cheapo $30 bookcases. You cannot blame poor people for having stuff. Stuff is readily available in this society used, and sometimes poor people have wealthier, generous relatives. Just because a family has stuff doesn't mean that they are actually better off than they claim.

[fivetails]

I don't know if there are any laws about the number of people living in one apartment/etc here - if there are, they aren't enforced. Many, many people share their homes - if you don't have at least one parent working "on site" (oil sands) then it's very difficult for a family to afford the crazy rents.

 

Even people who *own* their homes often have boarders - they buy/build the home intending to rent out the bedroom/basement/etc.

 

Bedrooms rent for around $800/month here, sometimes more.

[cathmom]

Our neighborhood also has covenants against farm animals, even though we are out in the country, but nobody cares. I drove down the other road in our development a while ago and saw that somebody has horses! Our neighbor across the street had chickens - they got rid of them because they were a pain. Our neighborhood is very much "live and let live." We all have at least an acre of land.

[cjbeach]

It definitely depends on where you are.

I really wanted to move home (suburbs in NJ) then I realized that there is no way I could afford it now. Where we are now is substantially cheaper. I looked at renting back home but to rent a 3br shack-equivalent was $1400/month. A normal house (clean) was $2K - easy. Stellar schools but astronomical housing costs. The C.O.L. is higher, as are the incomes.

 

My BIL moved from N.J. with his gf to Central PA. They will be renting a small FARM for $525/month (w/3br house). Sheesh! But there is NO work in the area. I don't know how they're making it on their limited income.

 

We're in a temp rental for $850 and it's a tight 2br near Renee (the OP) and there is not a lot of work here. The closer you get to the bigger cities, where you'll make more $, the more you spend.

 

My minimum is having stores around me for necessities, a 3br house, small backyard for play or park within walking distance, food for 5 people, community-type activities for the kids, dance, music lessons, commutable shopping, commutable entertainment. We are basic cable to NO cable people. Need internet for dh's work.

[Mejane]

Where I live the law states that children at the age of six and of different sexes must be in different rooms.

 

Wow, I find that really intrusive. They actually have a law for that? :confused:

[mbeaser]

I was curious about laws around here. I should preface this by saying that I live in the country. I didn't find any applicable laws, but found an interesting study about the minimum cost of living in Indiana for someone to have the "necessities" without using public assistance: http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2005/fall/article1.html

 

My rent is $450 a month (utilities are about $200 a month for gas/electric). The cabin I live in could be considered anything from a 1 bedroom to a 4 bedroom, depending on how you count bedrooms and how the loft (DS's bedroom) is viewed ;) The main bedroom is huge and could easily be partitioned to make 2 rooms. It works very well for us. Before we lived here, we had a 2 bedroom apartment in a smallish town and the 3 kids shared a room (DS on top bunk, the 2 girls shared the full size bottom bunk after younger DD moved out of the crib). The landlord didn't care where I stuck what kid, as long as I paid the rent ;)

 

ETA: I wonder how the level of government "oversight" on housing standards correlates to the level of oversight on homeschooling....just kinda made me think since Indiana has low oversight on both.

Edited June 7, 2010 by mbeaser

[StartingOver]

Wow, I find that really intrusive. They actually have a law for that? :confused:

 

Yes, it isn't always enforced. Many landlords use it to make you rent a larger house. And CPS will use it in some cases.

 

I have neighbors, grandma and grandpa, their son and his wfe, and two daughters. Someone else called CPS because they all live in a tiny 1 bedroom. Well it wasn't an issue since both children were girls.

[Macrina]

There are five of us in a 2 bedroom. It's 900 sq feet apartment total. 1 bathroom, a kitchen and a dining room/schoolroom. 5 rooms total if you count the bathroom. We've got one more year in a government savings program for first time home owners then we'll buy and be out of here. We pay $500 a month, which is pretty reasonable for this area with the cost of living. Our rent is 1/6 of our monthly income.

 

But I can't find the laws you all speak of. We have a boy and a girl sharing a bed room, and then my husband and I in one room with the toddler with us.

[Wheres Toto]

We have 5 of us in a 750 square foot house. The two littles (boy/girl) share a bed in one room (although usually sleep with us), oldest dd has her own room, dh and I are in a very small room (nothing but our bed). One bathroom, tiny kitchen, dining nook. We are getting ready to rebuild since the day will come when the littles can no longer share a room, much less a bed.

 

Our mortgage is over $1500/month. NJ is very expensive to live in. A 2 bedroom apartment in an area with a 1/2 hour or more commute to most jobs will be around $1,000/month. Renting a house of any size for under $1,000/month is pretty much unheard of. Trailers are only allowed in certain areas (more in South Jersey than North Jersey).

[coffeefreak]

Here, apartment rent is just as high as house rent. A 2-3 bedroom runs between $800-$1000 per month. There are cheaper 2-3 bedrooms, but they come without appliances, bad neighborhoods, smaller floorplans etc. The apartments may have their own "standards," but they don't tend to enforce them. That's why we decided to rent a house.

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

Edited June 7, 2010 by coffeefreak
too wordy LOL!

[vonfirmath]

This is such an interesting idea, so I decided to check around. I found a 3 bedroom single wide with hardwood floors, central AC, patio, and nice backyard. It is in a good neighborhood, close to everything and the rent includes water/sewer. It's $565 a month.

 

I have never looked for the minimum before, but it was very interesting to search. I've never lived in a trailer before, so I have no idea if they are safe. It certainly doesn't seem like a bad price, though!

 

I lived for 3 years in trailers -- 9th grade, 10th, and 11th. My sister raised her kids from pregnant with the second to 3 kids and the 2nd was 5 years old before they moved into a house. (A trailer they bought with cash and fixed up, so they only had lot rental and fixing stuff)

 

I'd do it again if encessary. Trailers are not that different from houses, except in the case of tornado warnings. You need a place to go during a tornado warning.

 

Oh and you also can not sell a trailer for anywhere NEAR as much as a house, since they can be picked up and taken elsewhere. Very few banks will loan on them. Without loans, they are limited in price to what a person has in cash/can self fund a loan on.

[Scarlett]

We have 5 of us in a 750 square foot house. The two littles (boy/girl) share a bed in one room (although usually sleep with us), oldest dd has her own room, dh and I are in a very small room (nothing but our bed). One bathroom, tiny kitchen, dining nook. We are getting ready to rebuild since the day will come when the littles can no longer share a room, much less a bed.

 

Our mortgage is over $1500/month. NJ is very expensive to live in. A 2 bedroom apartment in an area with a 1/2 hour or more commute to most jobs will be around $1,000/month. Renting a house of any size for under $1,000/month is pretty much unheard of. Trailers are only allowed in certain areas (more in South Jersey than North Jersey).

 

That seems very expensive for 750 sf. This is probably too personal for you to want to answer, but the first question I always ask is 'how much of your income do you have to pay in housing?'

 

Dave Ramsey recommends no more than 25%...I will be 19% in my new house....

 

Another question for all of you in the high COL areas...where decent housing can be up to 50% of your income...what makes you stay in those areas? I imagine that I would just pack up and move to a lower COL area...but who knows what I would really do if I had been born/raised in a certain area with all my family nearby.

[WarriorMama]

That seems very expensive for 750 sf. This is probably too personal for you to want to answer, but the first question I always ask is 'how much of your income do you have to pay in housing?'

 

Dave Ramsey recommends no more than 25%...I will be 19% in my new house....

 

Another question for all of you in the high COL areas...where decent housing can be up to 50% of your income...what makes you stay in those areas? I imagine that I would just pack up and move to a lower COL area...but who knows what I would really do if I had been born/raised in a certain area with all my family nearby.

 

We stay for work. My husband's job is here, and has no equivalent in a smaller city or town. I desperately want out of this city, but until we can manage to become self-employed, it's not going to happen. I know a ton of people who pay more than 50% of their income for housing...you'd have to be making a LOT of money here or be living in a really bad neighbourhood to pay less than 25%.

 

Trapped by the need for decent employment...that's why we stay.

[WistfulRidge]

This has been a fascinating thread.

We currently live in a 2 bed 1 bath apartment that is a little over 600 square feet. The rent, while not a lot by some standards, routinely takes up at least 80% of our take home pay, sometimes it is right at 100%. (Granted this is mainly because I'm a SAHM and DH juggles work and school) Occasional grants, the occasional dip into our meager savings, and the asking for, receiving and hoarding of gift cards and cash for all birthday/Christmas presents has enabled us to exist at a fairly good level. We're lucky in that all utilities, cable, and basic (local only) phone are included in our rent or we'd *never* make it. Groceries is easily our next biggest expense - I don't need much to eat (extremely low metabolism), but the little is still nursing so I have to eat roughly double, or more, of what I'd normally eat or my milk production plummets and we have a very unhappy baby. DH also has an exceptionally HIGH metabolism and needs to consume 3,500+ (non-fluff) calories a day (roughly 500 calories every 2-2.5 hours that he's awake with a big snack before he goes to sleep) or he gets so weak that he passes out.

 

Realistically the only cost in our budget that we could shave out is the $9/month we pay for Netflix. I could probably get rid of my cell phone if I really had to, but it would only save us $15 because my husband needs a fairly high-tech phone that can handle his school stuff. I need to get back on the "strict grocery budget" horse and stop caving into my DH's puppydog look all the time when he finds something he would really like that is on sale. Outside of that though... we're scraping the bottom.

 

We've looked at moving elsewhere, but in reality it would either cost us more than the difference of rent in gas/transportation or we'd have to move into something on the "unsafe" side of dumpy. I've looked at getting a job, and had one for a while, but in reality it ended up costing us as a family - we were never happy and always felt rushed and stressed. I quit. The extra $200 a month wasn't worth the heart ache and missing that time with my family.

 

On the bright side, we're only here for another 2 years while my DH finishes up his Masters. We (he) hasn't decided if he wants to dive straight into the workforce or go on to get a PhD. He's good enough at what he does that he's been offered several all expenses paid + living stipend + medical/dental insurance package/acceptance to do get a PhD at several fairly prestigious business schools. So at least on the days that I'm going crazy and worrying over how we're going to manage to make ends meet each month I can see the light at the end of the tunnel :)

[Wheres Toto]

That seems very expensive for 750 sf. This is probably too personal for you to want to answer, but the first question I always ask is 'how much of your income do you have to pay in housing?'

 

Dave Ramsey recommends no more than 25%...I will be 19% in my new house....

 

Another question for all of you in the high COL areas...where decent housing can be up to 50% of your income...what makes you stay in those areas? I imagine that I would just pack up and move to a lower COL area...but who knows what I would really do if I had been born/raised in a certain area with all my family nearby.

 

That is actually slightly less than 15% of our current income. It will go up slightly when we rebuild. We stay here because DH works Pharmaceutical and a lot of the companies are located in NJ, they pay better in NJ, both our families are in NJ and last (but definitely not least) I have joint custody of oldest dd and wouldn't be able to move out of state with her.

 

Edited to add: We do have a full acre of land in a very quiet rural area that is still within 15 minutes of a lot of jobs and in an outstanding (in top 5 for the state) public school district.

[LisaKinVA]

Dave Ramsey recommends no more than 25%...I will be 19% in my new house....

 

Another question for all of you in the high COL areas...where decent housing can be up to 50% of your income...what makes you stay in those areas?

 

What keeps us here? DH's job. He has a specialized job that really is only in certain parts of the country (coastal areas). Right now, he works on the gov't end vs. the corporate end -- but his job is very secure (these days, security is a plus).

 

Our housing will be about 33% of our income, but that will go down over time. If my father moves with us, our housing will be less than 30% of our income faster, and also cut my father's housing expenses by 70%

[Renee in NC]

We're in a temp rental for $850 and it's a tight 2br near Renee (the OP) and there is not a lot of work here. The closer you get to the bigger cities, where you'll make more $, the more you spend.

 

 

 

Hey, how close are you to me? Are you living on S.C. Road?