How do you "Survive" on L.I

and by survive I mean, pay the mortgage / rent, pay food and utility bills etc, daycare, all other misc bills AND have a life....or do you find yourselves just paying your bills and trying to find it a little luxury here and there.

I ask because both DH and I work full time, we have one child, no daycare expenses as I take care of her as well, we both make good money BUT we always seem to be paying bills and our mortgage is big...I have attached a table so if you dont think its too much info can you click what your mortgage / rent payment is per month.

Just curious..maybe we are doing something wrong

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

between our mortgage, car payments, everything that goes into having a home, we are between 3-4K a month, if not more, because that doesn't include MY bills.

Thank goodness DH is an amazing saver! We are not extravagant, but we try to enjoy ourselves here and there too.

One big way to save $$$, DIY home improvements! DH has learned to do so much just because he refuses to pay someone to do something he can do/learn to do himself.

He cuts the lawn, we landscape together, he renovated our whole bathroom by himself, which is awesome!!!

It's tough, but we get it done.

Oh, I forgot to add, we also have a renter which helps BIG TIME with the mortgage!!!! Duh!

Message edited 4/13/2007 1:24:01 PM.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

We don't struggle, but we don't live large either. We pay our mortgage and bills (and we didn't get any money from our parents to help us buy our house either) and still have money left over to go on vacation, go out to dinner etc.

That being said, I don't own expensive pocketbooks, we only go on one large vacation a year, we cook dinner most nights, we don't own a very expensive car (we still have an SUV, just a cheaper one).

It's all about saving in areas that you can while still leaving room for treating yourself. The other day I went clothing shopping and spent $150 and felt a little guilty, because I never spend that much at one time.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

Posted by lorich

Posted by curliegirl

One big way to save $$$, DIY home improvements! DH has learned to do so much just because he refuses to pay someone to do something he can do/learn to do himself.

He cuts the lawn, we landscape together, he renovated our whole bathroom by himself, which is awesome!!!

It's tough, but we get it done.

Amen! ITA!

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

I don't know how people on LI do it, I really don't. DH and I were just talking about this because the amount of money that comes out of our account every month is mind-boggling, and we don't even live on LI!

I calculated it today, and our basic expenses, meaning our mortgage, daycare, phones, cable, energy/gas, student loan, and money set aside for my daughter's education, come to over $5k.

That doesn't include food, gas, clothing, etc. I can only imagine how much more difficult it must be for people living on LI!

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

If you look at our monthly bills after we pay the mortgage, taxes, insurances, car payments & all household bills, we are at $6600.

Both DH & I work full time & make good money. We don't live an extravagent life but don't live with the bare minimum either. We still have enough money leftover to go to dinner & take 2 vacations a year. My DH is an amazing saver & we are able to what we need to do. I don't spend money like crazy though, I buy what we need verses what we want!

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

even with renting our monthly bills are very high

mainly b/c we have 2 car payments-

but we cut out other things that we used to spend alot of money on - like take out, - we used to order in 2 to 3 times a week- I don't get my nails done anymore (perm French)

I used to shop every week- now I really only shop when I need something

we don't plan on staying here- I would much rather live the way I used to live- I enjoy shopping and having nice stuff- sorry but it's true

and I am not willing to buy a house here and not be able to live that way- a

so in 18 months we are moving to another state- where we can buy a large home for about what we pay in rent - and luckily my DH can transfer his job and I am sure I can find something as well

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

we work two jobs each. One f/t and one p/t. With that we have enough to live nicely. We still don't live large.

This allows us the extras and to go on vacation and to help my parents.

Could we do it on just two jobs? Yes, but we would cut out stuff to do it.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

We bought a house that needed upgrading. We do it in a priority list and on budget. We go out (take out, etc..) but we are also frugal. We bargain shop. We do grocery coupons. We don't entertain a lot. We don't drink much, we don't smoke (those may look minor but they do add up to a lot of $$).

In short, we don't buy anything we can't afford. We resist impulse purchases.

We have a rather "simple" lifestyle but it fits both of us so it's fine!

Message edited 4/13/2007 2:33:50 PM.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

This subject has to be the one that turns our stomachs the most. Definitely not easy and it has taken a lot of discipline to make sure we are okay. DH is a great saver but I am a lose spender. I have been much better now but that's because the reality of the baby coming is sinking in - fast.

In a month of four paychecks between us:

two covers the mortgage

one covers all other misc bills like LIPA, Keyspan, Optimum etc.

one cover the cc (unless we are over) which also includes gas for cars, food shopping, etc.

With the baby we have to cut back so that one paycheck covers daycare. Which can be done but it will be tight.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

Wow! I really don't know how you guys do it!

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

We first bought a condo before we got married, and that has gone up quite a bit so when we sell that will help our house downpayment. We usually carry lunch, we vacation once a year, we rarely eat out, rarely go to movies... Sounds like a fun existence! Seriously, we watch a lot of DVDs and don't spend a lot on entertainment. I don't shop as much or get my hair highlighted as often, but I don't feel like I am missing out on anything that I want.

We'll be fine when we buy a house, but if we have say 2 kids, having to pay the $2400 a month per daycare will be a stretch.

Message edited 4/13/2007 2:51:19 PM.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

I'm not sure we will be able to survive on LI - not the way DH and I would like to live our lives. that's why moving OOS is always a topic of conversation at our place.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

I honestly have no idea how we are able to pay all of our bills monthly. We just do.

Our monthly bills are probably about $6000.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

We moved to VA after our wedding!

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

We would never be able to buy a house now on our salaries. We were very lucky to get in over 10 years ago when prices were extremely cheap and we have a very low mortgage.
We don't go on yearly vacations though as we can not afford that with paying for daycare, after-care and summer camp.
I cut coupons and now try and only go clothes shopping for us when needed.
We do have cc bills which we pay on time each month but there is always something that is needed, car repair, dentist, something for the house, etc.
I have gotten better with the need and want thing so I am hoping once my son goes to fulltime school we can pay more of the cc's faster.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

we just do it. luckily we both have very good jobs (and if FH could ever get a teaching job on LI we would be set )

while id love to drive a mercedes and go shopping all the time, it aint happening any time soon!

we also didnt buy more house than we could afford - our preapproval was for $100K more than what we ended up paying for our house. We have a fixed rate mortgage as well.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

yup....we just do it. We both work hard and are so lucky to have good jobs. We do not live beyond our means. We don't have fancy cars with high payments, thank goodness. And lucky for us we really don't like traveling too much, so we don't. We do little things we enjoy. We take lunch everyday to work and opnly eat out occasionally.


But... we are ok with all this.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

I think that where ever you live if you are just starting out it will be a struggle. Luckily for me, my husband and i each owned our own condo prior to getting married, so we were able to sell those and pool the profits to buy a very nice home. As far as continuously affording it, we both make good salaries in NYC that we would NEVER get in most other parts of the country. We could move to Chicago, LA, San Fran and probably get comparable salaries, but ultimately we need to live near a big city with a strong financial services presence where the real estate is never going to be cheap....

I am an accountant though, so I made sure that when we have kids and when i am no longer working, we will still be able to afford our home. Like Meaghan, we could have gotten a much larger mortgage, but I dont want to live with that kind of debt hanging over our heads.

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

Together we have a very decent income. Unfortunately, we still can't afford to buy a house AND have me stay home to raise Charlie. I never dreamed I would not raise my child where I was raised, but as of September, we are probably moving out of state

Re: How do you "Survive" on L.I

We survive okay. We don't have a big mortgage because our house was "cheap", but we have spent every penny on it the last 2 years (bonuses, tax refund, etc.). We pay our bills, go out to somewhere casual once a week and have one nice vacation and maybe two weekends away each year. But, we don't have much in savings because of our house renovations. Now that the house is finished, I can't wait to start building up a nice nest egg (I hope!)