Author Topic: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month  (Read 7921 times)

gopackgo2

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SuperSecretName

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2015, 01:04:34 PM »
as someone in the DC area, 4K/month (i'm sure this is gross and not net) with 2 kids is really cutting it close.  especially leaving an abusive relationship and starting over.  have some compassion.

Kaspian

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2015, 01:07:58 PM »
^^ I knew that would happen.  :/

vivophoenix

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2015, 01:37:02 PM »
as someone in the DC area, 4K/month (i'm sure this is gross and not net) with 2 kids is really cutting it close.  especially leaving an abusive relationship and starting over.  have some compassion.

What does leaving an abusive relationship have to do with budgeting?
I could understand if she wanted to go to paid counseling but that's a different topic altogether.

she probably is leaving with the clothes on her back. that means, no savings, no car, no household goods, probably no child care and other resources people forget they needed when first starting out.

dycker1978

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2015, 01:39:53 PM »
This is net..


"I'm in NoVa so similar COL. 4000k would be net amount. Can't do 2 bedroom cause 1 boy and 1 girl. "


vivophoenix

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2015, 01:50:19 PM »
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/459185.page

is  battered woman, who is attempting to regain her freedom, asking budgeting questions really comedic ?

you're right, shame on her for asking for some help!


anyone who mocks her is tone deaf and probably bored with their existence.

KCM5

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2015, 01:52:16 PM »
She'll be fine. But she's leaving an abusive relationship. Maybe she's never dealt with the finances before - she's just gotten a job. I can see how she's concerned. I hardly think its amusing that a person would ask that question. She's going through a lot of life changes and good for her for asking the questions.

eae550

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2015, 02:44:21 PM »
if you are judging her- look at the DCUM forum asking how much people pay for childcare- the numbers are astounding in that area...as are the rents prices. I think she can do it, but it's not going to be a cakewalk for anyone, even the very frugal. DC is very doable in your 20's with roommates, and gets difficult with kids.

zephyr911

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2015, 08:45:16 AM »
This is net..


"I'm in NoVa so similar COL. 4000k would be net amount. Can't do 2 bedroom cause 1 boy and 1 girl. "
Lifestyle creep is a bitch.
That is not mockery.
Anyone who thinks they can't afford what they "need" in this day and age should be forced to sit down and read the entire Little House On The Prairie series.
Then they can explain how every man, woman, and child within the family needs their own physically separated living quarters, barely a century after the US was settled by families who built one-room houses by hand and lived in them with all the kids they could pop out.
With no climate control other than a wood stove.
We're all capable of so much more than we think.

Bob W

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2015, 12:37:45 PM »
This is net..


"I'm in NoVa so similar COL. 4000k would be net amount. Can't do 2 bedroom cause 1 boy and 1 girl. "
Lifestyle creep is a bitch.
That is not mockery.
Anyone who thinks they can't afford what they "need" in this day and age should be forced to sit down and read the entire Little House On The Prairie series.
Then they can explain how every man, woman, and child within the family needs their own physically separated living quarters, barely a century after the US was settled by families who built one-room houses by hand and lived in them with all the kids they could pop out.
With no climate control other than a wood stove.
We're all capable of so much more than we think.

I happen to live near the town the Little House books were written.  (they were written in Missouri in Mansfield.  Nice museum.   Pa's fiddle is there)   I happen to agree that lifestyle creep has gotten ridiculous.   In Engler-Wilder's home town they now have a drive up liquor window so you don't have to git outa yer car!


By the way,  is there really such a thing as "Northern Alabama?"

gimp

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #10 on: March 31, 2015, 12:53:02 PM »
Quote
I'm in NoVa so similar COL. 4000k would be net amount. Can't do 2 bedroom cause 1 boy and 1 girl.

Yes, yes you can. The kids will survive sharing a room. I remember 1-bedroom apartments for families with multiple kids.


partgypsy

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2015, 12:58:20 PM »
She could get a 2 bedroom and share 1 bedroom with her daughter, boy get a bedroom. Or she can sleep in basically the living room by putting up a screen or divider. My grandparents had a house but they rented the top floor, and there were 2 rooms that could be used as bedrooms. My mother got 1 bedroom, her brothers shared a room, and the parents slept in a pull down "murphy" bed in an alcove in the kitchen (the pantry was changed into a closet).

If you need to do it you can do it. My friend had 3 kids and lives in a 2 bedroom. The mom gets the smaller room and the kids all share a bedroom.
My Dad when he first moved to the US lived in a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment that held 2 families. Beds in a number of places, no privacy.
I feel for her though. It must be scary to start over and figure out how to both hold a fulltime job down while taking care of 2 kids. the working and childcare issue is bigger than the 2 or 3 bedroom apartment issue.
« Last Edit: March 31, 2015, 01:02:25 PM by partgypsy »

Megma

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #12 on: March 31, 2015, 02:00:45 PM »
Since he's abusive, she should leave regardless the budget and if she thinks they can make it or not.

I am surprised more of the commenters did not say that, only talked about if boy and girl sharing a room was ok....

infogoon

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #13 on: March 31, 2015, 02:07:05 PM »
By the way,  is there really such a thing as "Northern Alabama?"

Sure, some people call it "Central Pennsylvania".

MoneyCat

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #14 on: March 31, 2015, 02:08:42 PM »
I live on $1200/mo in New Jersey and do just fine.  (The rest of my pay goes to pay student loans and goes into investments).  This woman might be starting out in a difficult place, but she'll be okay.

zephyr911

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Re: Woman wonders if she can get along on 4K per month
« Reply #15 on: April 02, 2015, 11:41:47 AM »
I happen to live near the town the Little House books were written.  (they were written in Missouri in Mansfield.  Nice museum.   Pa's fiddle is there)   I happen to agree that lifestyle creep has gotten ridiculous.   In Engler-Wilder's home town they now have a drive up liquor window so you don't have to git outa yer car!

By the way,  is there really such a thing as "Northern Alabama?"
Doesn't every state have an end in all four cardinal directions?
There's no formally defined southern line to Northern AL, and we don't actually like to claim Cullman because it's a historical epicenter of KKK activity and still wears that with a modicum of pride, but I took a SWAG.
Huntsville is one of the more cosmopolitan parts of the state, due to frequent professional turnover. I'm here after 9 years of coming and going because it's a fountain of DoD/NASA money with stupid-low COL and huge real estate opportunities. If I landed today knowing what I do, I'd have a 2BR condo paid off in a year; rinse and repeat to turn a rent snowball into an avalanche of FIRE cash. Which is kinda what I'm doing, only with minor delays imposed by less-than-perfect property selection at the outset.

Sure, some people call it "Central Pennsylvania".
Trololol... xD
« Last Edit: April 02, 2015, 11:43:49 AM by zephyr911 »