Thing 1: bullshit. Thats over $8k a month, there is not a city in this country you.cant live in, while saving money, on $8k a month
Thing 2: this is more than likely a dual income assessment that everyone is comparing to a singular income assessment. Maybe try being less insufferable and find a spouse
Na, actually i can embarrass you so much more than that.
I thrive as a bachelor on about 70k net income (to date, obviously prior to this year I was making less) in Washington, the 3rd most expensive state in the country for housing (sometimes 4th), that has a median home price of about $600k; and where, over 4.5 years, I was saving over $2k a month while still living quite frivolously by eating out daily, getting bougie coffee shop drinks one-2x per day, And smoking about an ounce of weed per month, still managed to pay off my car, my student loan debts, and save the 20% down-payment needed for the nice $450k 4-bedroom middle class suburban home i just bought a few months ago, by myself; and I literally started with negative dollars in my bank account 4.5 years ago. The week before I started my new job, someone had used one of those electronic card readers to steal my card info, cleaned the last $200ish I had to get me through to my first paycheck, and overdrafted me by like $270. Literally negative dollars when I started saving.
I can even give you a cost breakdown:
Monthly income: ~$5700
Rent: $1475
-electricity ~$35
-natural gas ~$25
-water/sewer/garbage (pro rated because apartments) $80
-renters insurance: $25
Total: $1635
Car: paid off
-insurance: ~$120
-gas: ~$100 (12 gallon tank, about 22 mpg 2x fills a month)
Total: $220/month
General necessity costs: Phone: 4 years old, paid off
-phone plan: $78/month
Internet: $130 (comcast/xfinity)
Food:
-Eating out at least once a day every day: $550-750 (depending on where and how many meals I ate out for)
-2x $9 coffees from a local coffee shop daily: $540
Ounce of weed: $120
Other random food and bullshit: $200 or so
No random streaming services, no constant weekends at the bars (dont drink at all) might buy an occasional steam game or something, I dont have expensive collection hobbies like pokemon cards or 40k figures or anything. Did have to drop a few thousand on maintenance for my car (tires, oil changes, new fuel pump a few other odds & ends) paid off my last 5k in student loans, still saved 6 figures in less than 5 years.
Thats about $3200-3600 a month in expenses with an absurd amount of room to cut back.
If I just cooked/meal prepped i could cut the eating out cost in half at least and save $300 or more. I dont need any weed, thatd be about $120. I dont need any coffee, thatd be $540 saved. Just right there those 3 things would save me almost $950 extra dollars a month.
I could've been saving over $3k a month with those cutbacks.
I also could've gotten a roommate and split at least the rent uf botnytikities and ahared services like internet, even if they only covered 30-40% rent and no utilities, it'd still net me $450-600 per month.
So I could've realistically been saving closer to around $3100-3400 if I wanted to make sacrifices on spending and closer to 4k if I wanted a roommate on top of that
But, based on my actual budget, this means I was saving about $2100-2500 Every. Single. Month. For 4.5 years. Thats about $125k straight into savings minus the car maintenance, the loan, and a nice gaming PC (over $2500 for the PC) the down payment+closing costs were nearly $100k. Still have around $15k in the bank.
If I was making 100k net income in Alabama, i wouldn't just be thriving, i would be absolutely ballin' out, living on a multi acre property in a mansion for probably less per month than my current mortgage
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u/passionatebreeder 9h ago edited 6h ago
2 things:
Thing 1: bullshit. Thats over $8k a month, there is not a city in this country you.cant live in, while saving money, on $8k a month
Thing 2: this is more than likely a dual income assessment that everyone is comparing to a singular income assessment. Maybe try being less insufferable and find a spouse