MLB: Yeah I think you missed my earlier response-
We lived here before for several years on the upper east side on 100k, 125k with side gig stuff. Granted we were young twenty somethings with non-mustachian habits, so we ended up spending most of the income. We ate out frequently, took cabs all over, my fun time was spent shopping, and then we put our kiddo in a pricey preschool (15k per year for part time). We went on a few spendy vacations to the caribbean/mexico and I continued dabbling in my hobbies outside of parenting. It was by no means a hard life, even though some people might think that number does nothing in NY. We also didn't have a car.
We were able to get the three bed by looking in the winter months. It also was at the start of the Great Recession. (We were early-exiting our mouse infested 1750 studio). We looked around with an agent and found this nice place vacant- It had been for 3 months (we thought there were some underlying issues, but nope! it just had a small kitchen for the space). The rent had been reduced from 3700 to 3200 during this time. My husband made an offer of 2400 and they agreed without any counter. We were really surprised and practically ran to their office to sign. Then rent only increased 50 the entire time we were there. It also included gas, heat, and water, sewage and trash (like most places here).
So, currently, I've viewed places from 2500-3800 in rent and you can find 2-3 beds all within that range, doorman or not, in and out of manhattan.
Currently, we will be coming in at over 50% savings rate, while living a decent life. Once I get settled again I'll start making more cuts and see how life is going! Then we'll consider purchasing a home, or not, regardless we'll have the money to work with depending on where we decide to park it.
We looked at the suburbs of Jersey, but with the 2 kiddos they wouldn't see Dad during the week with that commute! We can always earn more money to help mitigate the extra in rent. Travel is $89 on the path here. We do have a car now, but I'll probably ditch it as everything is nearby.
Our taxes will actually be less by living on the Jersey Side rather than in the City (about $650 per month less- city tax).
And! I'm going to keep looking at Jersey suburbs while I live here!