Your personal economy

[Wasabi Poptart]

Seriously though, I make about 8k a month after taxes.

After mortgage, credit cards, car payments, utilities, student loans, phones, TV, Internet, food, gas, dog, kids, and wife expenses I have approximately.....

SHIT in my wallet at the end of the month.

Basically this. My husband doesn't make 8k a month, we rent instead of own, and I don't have to pay back my student loans yet, though. However, after all the rest is paid, and with our son's birthday coming up fast as well as the birth of our daughter being around the corner, we are holding our budget together with Bondo and duct tape before pay day (which is twice a month).

 

[JCM]

Seriously though, I make about 8k a month after taxes.

After mortgage, credit cards, car payments, utilities, student loans, phones, TV, Internet, food, gas, dog, kids, and wife expenses I have approximately.....

SHIT in my wallet at the end of the month.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I'm ending up every month, but much of that is because of upcoming weddings, oldest kid's graduation year (prom, homecoming, etc), and that kind of thing. heh.

Basically this. My husband doesn't make 8k a month, we rent instead of own, and I don't have to pay back my student loans yet, though. However, after all the rest is paid, and with our son's birthday coming up fast as well as the birth of our daughter being around the corner, we are holding our budget together with Bondo and duct tape before pay day (which is twice a month)

Ouch.

While I constantly bitch on how expensive shit here its (a PS3 costs R$1900, equivalent to about 900 dollars), at least Im happy I owe nobody any money, and while Im sttill stuck in brazilian middle class, it does give enough to buy the daily dvd, game and pay for a trip twice a year.

Now if my government would just stop increasing the price of food by 50% through taxing, I might even live confortably.

 

[Wasabi Poptart]

Ouch.

While I constantly bitch on how expensive shit here its (a PS3 costs R$1900, equivalent to about 900 dollars), at least Im happy I owe nobody any money, and while Im sttill stuck in brazilian middle class, it does give enough to buy the daily dvd, game and pay for a trip twice a year.

Now if my government would just stop increasing the price of food by 50% through taxing, I might even live confortably.

I don't want to give the impression that we don't live comfortably. I don't work. My husband makes enough, and daycare is expensive enough out here, that we're better off with me staying at home. A lot of people can't do that. I certainly can't complain about not having the things I want, because that would be completely untrue. We may not have the latest and greatest, but we have plenty of nice things. Since we have been buying baby necessities and planning for a birthday party we've been spending a lot more than usual. It's doable, but tight since I have been paying it all out of our cash funds instead of putting anything on our credit card. No point in putting it on the card if we can pay for it right away.

 

[sixpackshaker]

I have a sister in law that for a while had to be a stay at home mom. her added income did not cover the cost of daycare.

Luckily my Mom moved in with them, kicked sis'in'law out into the workforce and stayed there 2 years to watch the little children. I still don't know how my dad kept his house together with mom out of town so much.

 

[Chazwozel]

Ouch.

While I constantly * on how expensive poop here its (a PS3 costs R$1900, equivalent to about 900 dollars), at least Im happy I owe nobody any money, and while Im sttill stuck in brazilian middle class, it does give enough to buy the daily dvd, game and pay for a trip twice a year.

Now if my government would just stop increasing the price of food by 50% through taxing, I might even live confortably.

I don't want to give the impression that we don't live comfortably. I don't work. My husband makes enough, and daycare is expensive enough out here, that we're better off with me staying at home. A lot of people can't do that. I certainly can't complain about not having the things I want, because that would be completely untrue. We may not have the latest and greatest, but we have plenty of nice things. Since we have been buying baby necessities and planning for a birthday party we've been spending a lot more than usual. It's doable, but tight since I have been paying it all out of our cash funds instead of putting anything on our credit card. No point in putting it on the card if we can pay for it right away.

Oh yeah, me too. We don't live paycheck to paycheck or anything, and my wife is an extreme money saver. It's not like we're just getting by. If I honestly wanted to, I could probably go to a dealership and drive off with a Corvette, but I'd rather save up for traveling.

 

[Le Quack]

Unemployed and mooching off my parents. Life is good.

 

[Math242]

dayum, some salaries are high in the US.

anyway,

after taxes (motherfucking belgian taxes, lots of them) i earn around 1850€

i have a fuel card from my company and i don't pay for my cell phone.

Mortgage: 430€ / month (my father helped me with that or it would have been 850) for a 2 bedroom 90m² appartment that i thus own.
Groceries: +-150/200€
Internet+ cable TV: 60€
utilities: free (thanks to the walloon region, long story)
Credit card expenses: around 70-100€
Parties: 2-300 a month


so yeah, life is good

 

[@Li3n]

Not things like "how much did you give that hooker last night"

Dammit, and i was so eager to share....


Apparently our medium income has shot up to just under 400 euros lately... though if they take into account the salaries that are like 1000x bigger then of the next guy in the food chain that our "great" leaders like to give out it's bound to be a bit skewed.

On the up side a good internet connection is like 10$ around here, and most people have other means of obtaining income that won't show up in any official sources... so if people stopped throwing everything on the streets and treated each other better it would be a pretty nice place to live...

 

[Math242]

where do you live?

 

[@Li3n]

As of 2+ years ago, in the EU.

 

[North_Ranger]

I won't give you the specifics, but here's some factoids:

Live in a condo my parents own. Gentlemen's agreement: I get to live here on a nominal rent (<$50 a month) as long as I study at the university, provided I keep the place clean and they can come and sleep over if need be (they live about 50 miles away, and most of the stores, government facilities etc. that they frequent are located here. So if they have business on two consecutive days, they will stay over instead of wasting gas on two extra drives).
Monthly expenses: c. $500
Groceries (one week's worth): c. $70-$80
Pizza (four toppings) at my local haunt (pizza/kebab restaurant): $10.45
Movie tickets (matiné/normal): $9.50/$13.95
Ground beef, 400g (little less than 1 lb.): $5.45
Eating at Arnold's (bagel + donut + drink): $9.50
Minute steak, mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables (once 1-3 month): $24.45
Shot of Jameson, straight up: $7

 

[@Li3n]

Groceries (one week's worth): c. $70-$80

Oh right, i forgot, for some reason out food costs more... i'd probably eat half of what i do now for that cash... then again i probably should.

 

[Futureking]

Unemployed and mooching off my parents. Life is good.

Employed and mooching off my parents. I save approximately 20% of my paycheck. I earn about 2000 MYR a month after social security contributions.

Planning to invest it once the local stock exchange cools off a bit.

 

[JCM]

Ouch.

While I constantly * on how expensive poop here its (a PS3 costs R$1900, equivalent to about 900 dollars), at least Im happy I owe nobody any money, and while Im sttill stuck in brazilian middle class, it does give enough to buy the daily dvd, game and pay for a trip twice a year.

Now if my government would just stop increasing the price of food by 50% through taxing, I might even live confortably.

I don't want to give the impression that we don't live comfortably. I don't work. My husband makes enough, and daycare is expensive enough out here, that we're better off with me staying at home. A lot of people can't do that. I certainly can't complain about not having the things I want, because that would be completely untrue. We may not have the latest and greatest, but we have plenty of nice things. Since we have been buying baby necessities and planning for a birthday party we've been spending a lot more than usual. It's doable, but tight since I have been paying it all out of our cash funds instead of putting anything on our credit card. No point in putting it on the card if we can pay for it right away.

Oh yeah, me too. We don't live paycheck to paycheck or anything, and my wife is an extreme money saver. It's not like we're just getting by. If I honestly wanted to, I could probably go to a dealership and drive off with a Corvette, but I'd rather save up for traveling.

This is exactly what I consider financial security.

It sucks that most people owe money, heck, I cant imagine living in a situation where I owe a bank/company for a car/house/credit card, and its always good to receive that paycheck knowing all of it is yours minus less than 300 for bills and taxes.

 

[klew]

While I constantly * on how expensive poop here its (a PS3 costs R$1900, equivalent to about 900 dollars), at least Im happy I owe nobody any money, and while Im sttill stuck in brazilian middle class, it does give enough to buy the daily dvd, game and pay for a trip twice a year.

Now if my government would just stop increasing the price of food by 50% through taxing, I might even live confortably.

A Nintendo Wii costs US$545 in Bermuda, games around $100, people generally fly to the US to shop over the weekends. Even paying upwards of 30% import duty tax on everything you bought in the US (plus an extra suitcase fee to bring it back) is still cheaper than buying it locally. Duty tax is the government's second or third highest revenue source.

 

[JCM]

While I constantly * on how expensive poop here its (a PS3 costs R$1900, equivalent to about 900 dollars), at least Im happy I owe nobody any money, and while Im sttill stuck in brazilian middle class, it does give enough to buy the daily dvd, game and pay for a trip twice a year.

Now if my government would just stop increasing the price of food by 50% through taxing, I might even live confortably.

A Nintendo Wii costs US$545 in Bermuda, games around $100, people generally fly to the US to shop over the weekends. Even paying upwards of 30% import duty tax on everything you bought in the US (plus an extra suitcase fee to bring it back) is still cheaper than buying it locally. Duty tax is the government's second or third highest revenue source.

Lucky bugger.

Here the tax is 60%, but Ive managed to buy a few PSPs and DSs from overseas (japanvideogames.com) by sending it thorugh UPS, which puts the price of delivery on the box, which the Englishless sods at customs think is the price of the product and charge 60% on it.

Which means instead of paying 60% on a $300 PSP bundle with two Msticks, I just pay 60% of the $40 dollar delivery.

Another workaround is having it sent in birthday wrapping, on your birthday.

 

[Chibibar]

Here the tax is 60%, but Ive managed to buy a few PSPs and DSs from overseas (japanvideogames.com) by sending it thorugh UPS, which puts the price of delivery on the box, which the Englishless sods at customs think is the price of the product and charge 60% on it.

Which means instead of paying 60% on a $300 PSP bundle with two Msticks, I just pay 60% of the $40 dollar delivery.

Another workaround is having it sent in birthday wrapping, on your birthday.

60%?????? yikes Custom tax?

man... and here I complain about buying at normal price. (or didn't buy since I'm still on the fence on 360. I got PS3 since my 360 died multiple time)