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

We are just starting out and will be purchasing our first home soon.
Our mortgage pymt. will be about $2600-$2700 month (putting 20% down), and all expenses before saving will be close to $5,000. We both work 2 jobs, and DH works all the overtime he can. It is really crazy how expensive it is to live on LI. I don't know how we will do it. I am already feeling the crunch of us both workign so much and what that does to our morale. We will see what the future holds for us, hopefully with raises it will get easier over time.

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

I also think it's somewhat "easier" to handle if you work in NYC. LI jobs typically don't pay as much. That's just my experience.

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

Only talking mortgages we have 3:
$2499
$1961
$2600
Total $7060

Offset by $4000 of rental income and an additional $700 a month from ILs who went in on our house with us as an investment.

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

Thanks for all the honest replies. Its good to know we are not the only ones in this situation. I try to tell myself that we could move somewhere else that is cheaper and maybe we could have a more relaxed life instead of always chasing money to pay bills and live....but its having the guts to make the leap and hope its the right decision.

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

Well we are lucky in a few ways. Our mortgage is tolerable (~2200). We both have great jobs and we both are savers. I don't buy new clothes unless I really need something, I cut coupons, shop at BJ's, I bring breakfast, lunch & dinner to work with me (I work 13 hour shifts), DH comes home for lunch. We have a budget which we stick to, but we are also able to accomodate unexpected expenses. There are a lot of things that I would like to do in the house, but I will wait until I can afford it. We are still able to go on vacation and out to dinner from time to time. I think the key is knowing what you are able to do and sticking to it.

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

DH and I make good many and we both rented and saved for a few years to put a nice downpayment down. We also bought a less expensive house than we could have afforded to avoid being "house poor." There is more to our life than being a prisoner in our own home. We also don't drive fancy cars and have limited dinners out and such.

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

DH has a very-well paying job, I have a pretty decent paying job, we don't spend extravagantly, don't eat out much and live in a 1 br apt with a 9 1/2 month old baby. I have a pretty low lease payment and DH just bought a new car after driving his last one into the ground. DH's parents paid his student loans and mine are very low (less than $100/month).

DH has this "cash is king" mentality regarding saving for a house so we are hoping to make a nice down payment on a house we can live in for a while and make improvements. I think we might be buying something in the fall or winter.

Message edited 4/13/2007 6:41:52 PM.

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

Our bills including mortgage, taxes, cars, insurance total around 4000 a month
that does not include food, cell phones, gas, etc

and we are starting a massive construction project on our house that we have been waiting 6 months to get approved for
Pics in my album

FH does all this on one salary.

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

We rent and are able to save a significant amount of money each month.

We don't spend beyond our means but we dont live frugally either.

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

we work a lot and have no time to spend our money!!!!!

we didn't "max out" on our house. my car is paid for and as much as I would like something impressive and fancy, it has all the features that i like and it is in great shape.

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

DH and I both make very good money and have almost no debt. We know what we can afford to spend on a monthly basis and so we are used to budgeting our $$ accordingly. Our mortgage is reasonable and it allows us to make improvements to our home without going into debt or taking out huge loans. I've learned by his example to be very careful with $$. We are due to have our first child in a couple of months and while I know LI is expensive, I wouldn't trade being able to be closer to family for living somewhere else. We live within well within our means.

Message edited 4/13/2007 9:40:26 PM.

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

We don't live on Long Island and with the high taxes I don't think we will move east. We are in Brooklyn.

We have 4 mortgages (soon to be 5 with the house under construction) but right now the rental income pretty much covers those expenses.

If you add in the other regular expenses: cell phones, co-op maintenance fees, co-op parking fee, home phone, electric, student loans, home owners insurance, Home Owners Assoc fees (rentals), car insurance, jewelry insurance, cable t.v. bill, internet access, groceries.....it's a ton of money.

The saving grace is we make very good money, we are not huge spenders (well not what I think are huge spenders) and many of my expenses are a tax write off. Although we have a car & SUV we don't have car payments. DH refuses to use credit cards and we save as much as possible. We are talking about having a child in the next 2 years and we are saving for that now since I may not go back to work right away.

Sometimes I do think about selling everything and just moving back home with my dad though. Can you imagine - DH and I living in my old bedroom with dad downstairs Life was so much easier when daddy paid all the bills and I had no idea about real life & responsibilities.

Message edited 4/13/2007 11:30:27 PM.

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

We barely scrape by.

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

We are ok for now. We are renting. We are both making ok money and I just started a business on the side so that will help. We are trying to save a lot now to buy a house next year.

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

Our mortage isn't to bad. We pay $1687 a month, when we first bought it was $1511, but taxes went up.

We have a 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath in Manorville SD.

What is killing us is electric. Out electric bill is like another mortgage. I hate LIPA, I really believe they are overcharging us and all LIslanders/

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

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

Our mortgage isn't bad at all and with all our other expenses we still have a good amount left over every month. We have no car loans, student loans or debt. Everything is paid in full.

DH also agrees Cash is king and we are saving for a , we have alot put away so far.

We go on one trip a year and don't have to pay for daycare so we are able to save that much more

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

we don't have student loans, child care or car payments, but we do have one kid in college and another going in 5 years.
I'm known for never paying full price for anything. I only buy clothes/shoes for my family during sales or with awesome coupons. We don't give in to trends-no huge flat screen here till our 5 yr old TV dies.
We buy discounted/discontinued stuff for our home, get things for free or cheap of craigslist, sell stuff we don't need anymore the same way.
We do ALL of our own home improvements, its takes time but looking forward to getting stuff done is half the fun.
We only have one cablebox & not even ALL the channels. We have a decent cell phone plan & are very careful not to go over.
We did more traveling in the past & will again in the future but for now we are putting those funds into the house.
We love to cook & entertain rather than go out. I'm a BIG coupon shopper, I average about $50 savings off a $150 purchase per week.
we bring breakfast, lunch, coffee from home.
My car is 7 years old w/135,000 miles, DH's truck is 5yrs old w/155,000 miles.
We have no immediate plans of getting new vehicles.
We are VERY energy conscience in our home, compact flouresent bulbs, energy star appliances, put on a sweater if you're cold
We take advantage of free or low cost recreation. There are beautiful parks all over this island that are EMPTY because nobody uses them.
I get books & DVDs from the library rather than buying them.
I take great craft, computer, cooking classes there too.
LI Libraries have GREAT kid programs that are free!
We kayak & canoe rather than own a power boat.
The first year was the hardest, now we just find that although everything gets paid our original savings goal is harder to meet because of increases in many of our bills.
I think lots of people around here are struggling to keep up, just stick to your budget & keep working hard!

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

Kelly - great points about the library! you already pay for it thru taxes, why not take advantage of the programs?

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

I LOVE my library....people on lI are SO foolish. They b!tch about how high the taxes are, yet borders books is packed & the library is empty!!!!
Did you know you can go online, request the books you want-even if your libary has to borrow them from another library-they will pull them, call you & hold them till you pick them up?

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

the hardest part was getting DH to stick to a budget. But he does it and I'm so proud of him! (He was SO bad at that.) He brings his lunch to work most of the time (I don't b/c there's no place to put my lunch..boss won't get a microwave or anything ) We make choices -- last night we chose going out to dinner instead of a movie. When we were renting we would've done both. I buy a lot of pre-viewed dvds at blockbuster. 2 for 20 vs. 30+ for one movie in the theater! our credit card bills will be paid off in a few months and we only have one student loan payment and no car payments. We adjust andmake it work.

Do we enjoy life? Sure we do. Do we spend the way we did when we were renting last year? no way.

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

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

We were doing ok but childcare costs will put us on the scraping by list.

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

If I told you how much we paid in just mortgage, taxes, and daycare alone, it's enough to vomit AND pass out...

but we do it because we were
a. DH was sick of renting
b. the parking in Long Beach was driving me INSANE
c. the commute was crazy for me
d. this house was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

DH and I make pretty decent money right now and I have been dumping all I can in the savings while working on my show...

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

I dont know how we do it but somehow we do. Neither Dh nor I make great money and our big expenses every month are daycare and our mortgage.(We do pay a little ahead so we know that that eats some of the money but will save us in the long run) We both have 98s and are dreading when one of them needs to be replaced and we will have to add a car payment to the mix. We try not to buy things we dont need and dont eat out often - we both bring our meals to work, and buy with coupons -- but I wish we were able to save more. I am hoping I will get a new job soon that will pay me more and then we can save the extra money.

Message edited 4/14/2007 9:55:27 AM.