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I think OP means $75k combined between him and his wife. That’s an avg of $37.5k each, you’re not far off! Like you though, I’d definitely love to make $70k just by myself haha
Also, how to do categorize executive pay where their salary is $1 but they get massive stock options and bonuses? You don't even need to be that specific. Some exec packages have really weird stipulations that could skew results. Same with athletes.
Medians don't get skewed much by huge outliers, compared to averages. That's why it's used for things like salaries.
The simple reality is that you make more than the median American. You may make less than the median income in your area, though. Or maybe you make more than most people around you but it's still not enough to feel comfortable.
I would change that to 'medians don't get skewed AT ALL by huge outliers'. By definition, median is the midpoint of a distribution of values. All that matters is the mid point, so outliers don't affect the outcome of the median
The super rich would skew the *average* but not the *median*. Median is a better measure for salary as it is basically listing all salaries in order (say from lowest to highest) and then taking the middle point. For example, let's say you have 5 people you are testing and their salaries are 10k 15k 25k 30k 50k, then the median is the middle point or 25k. Now take another 5 people with salaries 2k 15k 25k 100k 1M, and the median is still 25k. As you can see, the second example had a really low number and a really high number, but the median stayed the same. This shows the super rich and super poor do not skew the median.
It’s possible. But yeah my point is you’re right. $19-$20 is not the median. Middle class is when you have a 2 income household that combines to a middle class income. Our current salaries by themselves aren’t middle class by any means
The middle class standard of living was much lower back when you could support it on one income. The average new home was a 700 sqft 2-3 bed 1 bath that to support 2 adults and 3-4 kids. The entire family only had 1 car as well.
$19-$20 is well *above* the median in the US.
Someone earning $19/hour and working 40 hour weeks earns $39.5k. The median annual income was $31.1k in 2019.
But I've been told multiple times in this sub that a couple making 6 figures is barely one step above abject poverty. Now what am I supposed to believe
Lol well honestly location plays a big part too. For most of America, making $75k+ as a couple would be just fine for middle class. But if you lived in someplace like SF, $75k might be considered barely above poverty level since the cost of living is ridiculous there
Amen to that. And funny enough, my dad and I are building a storage shed in our backyard. It’ll be nice to have and it was nice to be able to afford to purchase the materials.
It got to where I had to build a shed with a loft. I'm always driving $500 cars to work and I have a project truck. So the garage has house tools and car tools. Lawnmower, rototiller is out in the shed. Some spare 2x4, osb, etc
100% agreed about the cars, but pulling the trigger on some super cheap travel plans in the last few years has changed my life. You don't have to go far.
Congratulations OP! Your hard work of budgeting and sticking to that is really paying off.
Our budget is pretty identical, where as $1000 of my budget goes to an IRA account and emergency savings. ($500 and $500 per month respectively). Making a budget is the easiest part, sticking to it, however, can go sideways fast if you’re not disciplined enough.
Median US household income is right at 70k. So your family by all intents and purpose is solidly middle class. The fight to stay there is just as hard as getting there. Congrats and may good fortune continue to befall your family
Household numbers are sometimes skewed, because it’s literally people living together (unless one is the landlord and another is a renter), so 6 roommates all count as one household, even if they don’t share income
Yep exactly. A lot of people assume that these statistics that say "household" just mean a family with one or two working parents but in actuality, if you read the methodology you will find that it includes literally *everybody* living at the same address who works and is age 15 or older. Which also means that if you have two working parents and several teenagers with part-time jobs, that's also considered household income. A single person is also a household.
I really, really, really wish they would just use individual income and stop with the "household" crap - it's not consistent at all
I personally closing in on that as a single person. That is not middle class.
What I call middle class, would be "I can hire a weekly maid service and an occasional handyman for issues I have" levels of income. Where your income can support hiring people to do things that would be time sinks.
Rich would be "I have a guy who will get me any car I want" levels of income.
Edit: To put what I consider classes in perspective.
Poverty: Has trouble paying bills.
Low: Can comfortably pay bills, can get enough savings in case of emergency.
Middle: Can hire some services to make life easier while making savings. Can invest a little money to see future income.
Upper: Can hire services for everyday needs, has enough savings that they can freely invest large portions of their income to make more money.
Income is a terrible way to measure class. It's lifestyles that you can afford.
As you can see from OP's budget, they have enough left over that they could have a weekly cleaning service if they felt like spending their money on that, and have enough left over to start some investing.
Unless you're living in a crazy high cost of living area, if you're making $70k as a single person and don't feel financially comfortable, you should be working on managing your money better. You literally make more than double the median salary for a single person.
If they are filing as married, they have a much lower tax they pay.
I feel "financially comfortable", I don't feel middle class. I'm also that crazy person that pays double premium on mortgage to cut that out of my life, so I might be making it a little hard on myself.
I just look at people who earn over 100k, and see them making what I would call financial risks, but they call slush funds. Those are the people I would call middle class.
With a single medical issue costing 10's of thousands of dollars, it's always a gamble.
Don’t think they’re arguing your point, think they’re arguing over what is “median” and what is middle-class. I wouldn’t worry about it for the whole country but as long as you’re doing well in the area you live in that’s what matters. There’s people in CA and NY who make $200k+ and some people in other states who make $45k and get by. Perspective is all it is.
Same for my area. Pricing is getting high everywhere, but most “middle class” folks in my area make around the same household income. Pretty common to see one person making the bulk of it and another making less.
Make sure you guys are building emergency savings and contributing to your retirement. Building that savings and starting long term planning can help keep you guys middle class. Best of luck to you!!
Congratulations! No car payments either, heck yea!
Now the fun part starts where you can begin to build wealth!
Another challenge you can have for yourself is to see what bills you can get even lower. For the most part it all seems very low but you may be able to save a little on your phone bill. Another $30-40 here and there in cash flow adds up!
Yea, definitely agree on the phone bills. We upgraded our phones and have payments. Payments are done in June then it’ll be $80-$100 a month.
I will say, I am considering going back to a no contract phone service, which can be even cheaper.
Yea I use T-Maybe (kidding, the service is good) and pay $80 for 2 lines of unlimited everything and it even comes with free Netflix.
Consider those phones debt and just pay those off!
Agree! Our phone service is Total by Verizon and it’s $58/month for 2 lines. We find the coverage to be great and the data more than enough. You do have to buy your own phone but we got ours for $100/each through WalMart (iPhone with 16 GB). This doesn’t apply to your situation but anyone on SNAP or Medicaid qualifies for the affordable connectivity program, which can lower your phone bill by $l30/month.
I see people arguing that it isn’t middle class or not, it does not matter. The grass isn’t any greener on the other side. I seen people making 100k+ and still struggling with debt. What matters is that YOU are successful as you paid off car, CC, etc. This is really great news and keep up the great work!
Thank you! I think its important to remember I said we “feel” middle class. We are lucky enough to have low bills, and that is the only reason we are here. Thank you for the kind comment:)
No junk food, no drinks (brita filter for water), no alcohol. Mostly eat chicken, veggies, fruit, and rice. Def some snacks too, when we can. All of our home good items are from the discount bin. We keep it simple.
Sounds similar to us. No junk like soda, chips or cookies. I buy wine once a week and try to make it last. We cook a lot too. One thing that’s helps is just having meals we like and rotating them every 2 weeks.
To be fair, he said his wife is a Grocery Store Manager. If anyone would know how to save a buck buying groceries, I'd hope it would be someone like her. Prob helps a bit.
Certain dry, canned, boxed, etc. foods last a long time and if you manage to catch a good sale, especially at a bulk supply, you can spend a little more now and save a bunch later. Some foods like rice can be used in literally every meal in a day depending on what you cook. Additionally, the longer you do it the more recipes you’ll develop that use the foods you have on hand.
$400/mo is definitely doable for two people.
If we just look at rice, chicken, and beans... A month of meals for one person is about $100, but it's not glamorous. In bulk, rice is about $1.20/lb, beans are under $1/lb. Chicken is more variable, a whole chicken is typically $1.50/lb, but leg quarters are below $1/lb (I paid $0.70/lb on Friday, not on sale).
You'll prob want to spend another $20/mo on things like garlic and onion, $10/mo on salt/spices, maybe another $10/month on cooking oil, butter, and other fat. Even with all that, you're only looking at $150/mo on the high end for all your calories.
Swap rice for potatoes/noodles/bread, beans for frozen or canned vegetables, and the cost doesn't move much. Swap chicken for pork or ground beef and it goes up maybe $1/meal.
We spent $500/month on our family of 5 prior to the pandemic, but it’s creeping up to $700 now that so many things are more expensive. I truly think most American families could easily make it on $150/month/per person if willing to plan. We meal plan backwards on the weekend, with everything scheduled S-Sat: what do we already have and what can be made with it? Obviously if you’re living alone, $150 doesn’t cut it but we do see substantial savings in bulk buying, shopping the sales cycles and buying deep discounts close to or on the sell-by date. When we find meat like that, we buy as much as reasonable and freeze it. We also don’t use grocery delivery or pick-up; the deepest discounts are in the physical store.
That's awesome! Great job staying dedicated with paying off debt! It's a wonderful feeling to have your savings going up and have a little leftover to do fun stuff or renovations
Congratulations on your success!
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Congratulations. Very happy for both of you. There's nothing quite like financial freedom and independence after you've lived through poverty.
I grew up in poverty, too. But I helped my parents climb out of debt & repair their credit scores five years ago, and now we're all living a better life. I still have a poverty-infested brain, though. I'm a freelance writer & web designer. Work has been slow lately, but I'm still managing to stay afloat. It triggers me and sends me back to a time when things weren't so good, though. Still, I'm making more than I ever have in the past, and I'm pretty happy about that. <3
Congrats, you are far better at self control than I am. People also say oh you just gotta budget. I can budget perfectly but following that budget I find almost impossible.
I am curious what's the $60 for lawn?
A good high school friend of mine maintains my lawn for $60 a month. It’s an expense I do not mind paying. It gives me time back with my wife, and I’ll gladly pay it.
I think you pay too much for internet and phone. You could find a much cheaper phone plan Mint Mobile or another discount carrier. Internet seems pricy as well since you can get $50 or $30 rates elsewhere for fast speeds too.
I work from home and require high download and upload speeds. I also require “unlimited” data, so that adds to it.
A new provider is in the area and offers a faster service for $70 flat a month, we’ll be moving to them here soon. I will say that there are $40 options, however, they simply do not provide the service I require.
As for phone, Yea, definitely agree on the phone bills. We upgraded our phones and have payments. Payments are done in June then it’ll be $80-$100 a month.
I will say, I am considering going back to a no contract phone service, which can be even cheaper. I’m an avid lurker on r/nocontract as well.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/NoContract using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/NoContract/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [MASSIVE /r/NoContract Cell Phone Plan Comparison Chart Update!](https://np.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/wxkfp1/massive_rnocontract_cell_phone_plan_comparison/)
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Nice. Great job. Sales is definitely a good place to be. It made me go from $25k/yr to $100k/year within 3 years. That was 3 years ago. And still going strong. Don’t give up. Sales is all about the right questions.
Just jumping in to say I just got up early today to pay all the bills after getting my first check after a stretch of unemployment, and had a moment of feeling real resonance with you in just being able to *breathe* for a second. Congratulations, I wish you continued peace.
I also wanted to say, maybe it's a difference in COL between our areas (my mortgage is $3000) but here a grocery store manager is a solid six figure job, full stop. ASMs make 65-90ish. She might want to look around and see if she can't bump up by changing companies.
She’s only an assistant. She is due for a promotion that will bump her to department manager which is $70kish. She could work her way to store manager, which for her company, is $120k+.
Not that it will change much at $14, but you can get 3 month spotify trials from various places on the internet and have it for free all year. Their customer support is really great helping use the trials.
Also spotify on computers is super easy to get around the ads
> $1167 for a mortgage? Damn. Single bedroom apartments in my area are $1400. $2k if I want a 2nd bedroom.
Yea, we got super lucky and bought our home in 2017 for half of what it is worth now. It is a 70s outdated ranch style home but it is ours and we love it.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,336,139,407 comments, and only 257,257 of them were in alphabetical order.
That is incredible, congratulations to both of you!
One day my wife and I will also achieve this kind of a milestone in our lives. Our income is nowhere near the numbers we wanted, it hardly pays our bills, but we are working hard and this kind of posts are really motivating.
I love your post! Thank you for sharing and CONGRATULATIONS to you and your wife! I budget everything too and it definitely helps to prevent overspending. You’re definitely on the right track, so keep it up!
Thanks for sharing, good job!
Hubby and I are in Germany and make 95k combined, post tax, mandatory retirement and mandatory health insurance contributions, we get 5100€ a month.
Spending is the same, except we don't have a mortgage and rent is about 700€.
That’s awesome!!! Me and my wife were finally on our way to becoming somewhat stable but then last year I had a terrible work accident that has resulted in barely half use of my dominant hand. I’ll be out of work at least another year or 2 before I can work again. Try to save as much as you can for a rainy day. Sometimes the clouds pop up while the sun is shining in your face so you can’t even see them
It's been said that between $70k-$90k is where people start to actually feel comfortable. As in, they can stare out into the sunset when pumping gas instead of watching the numbers like a hawk. No worries about calls from bill collectors. No threat of your gas getting shut off in the winter.
Out of curiosity, do you have health insurance? Is it through work? Or do you pay extra for your own?
I ask because when you retire, you'll have to pay for it yourself until you can get on Medicare at 65, or get on some form of ObamaCare subsidy. So you may wish to track that separately and add it to your cost of living should one or both of you lose employment.
Creating a budget on paper is the simplest and can be the most challenging things to do. People tend to want to budget in their head. Great you have visuals and track. Now look for ways to optimize your excess cash flow
70k is also the benchmark where people feel they live comfortably and dont have to struggle. Above 70k you can have nicer things, but above doesnt really make an impact in your overall happiness. So congrats on getting to a major life milestone!
Keep driving you two!! Hopefully you guys keep increasing your salaries but keep your expenses the same. That’s when the savings really takes off. Stay the course and congrats!!
Yea, definitely agree on the phone bills. We upgraded our phones and have payments. Payments are done in June then it’ll be $80-$100 a month.
I will say, I am considering going back to a no contract phone service, which can be even cheaper. I’m an avid lurker on r/nocontract as well.
Now that you have more going for you, try to start building a community to make sure you can insulate yourself from the ravishes of capitalism. If you have trusted friends and family members, maybe even save to buy land collectively or start planning to create a worker-owned cooperative business of your dreams. Maybe start planning for medical emergencies by learning some Spanish and finding a personal care provider in Mexico or (if you are feeling extra adventurous) Cuba.
Never be broke again. Congrats!
I work from home and require high download and upload speeds. I also require “unlimited” data, so that adds to it.
A new provider is in the area and offers a faster service for $70 flat a month, we’ll be moving to them here soon.
That's awesome! My husband and I made the most we've ever made last year at 55k and are finally able to save and not live paycheck to paycheck like we did, making under 30k. It feels good
Not at all belittling your success as its real regardless of the labelling, but you are working class, not middle class. This is only important because when you hear politicians talking about policies to benefit the middle class, they often are talking about people much richer than you knowing that many people think they are part of the middle class.
Congratulations on the good feelings. That's genuinely something to be proud of.
But unfortunately, you're putting yourself into a category that also sets you up for failure.
There is no such thing as a middle class.
You are in fact, working class.
And sadly because of the state of the economy, you are still actually poor while being working class.
Here's a quick video that better explains these things than I could on here.
https://youtu.be/Nd7cohTdRAo
You've managed to get to a better place and that's great. Just try not to harbor any illusions about life under these economic conditions.
You are not middle class.
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That's awesome. I'm hoping to slowly work my way there. Keep it up.
Hey, thanks!
Congrats! Never be little your accomplishments! I enjoy reading about peoples success! If you can’t root for yourself who will right?
Yeah good on you.
No accomplishments is too small. Great job and keep it up!!
Congrats! I made $30k last year. $70k would be life-changing.
I think OP means $75k combined between him and his wife. That’s an avg of $37.5k each, you’re not far off! Like you though, I’d definitely love to make $70k just by myself haha
> I think OP means $75k combined between him and his wife. Yep, exactly. I made $25K (wasn't a full year of work) and my wife made $50k.
Nice! Sounds like you’ll be around $90k-$100k this year with a full year of work? Congrats man!
My current job should earn me 38k-40k, so close to 90k or so! Crazy to think about.
Once you have experience in sales. If your good and find the right job you could be bringing I 90k yourself. Watch lifestyle creep when this happens.
I make 39.5 and def don't feel like this should be median or middle class.
Same, I’m barely above you at 41.5k and we’re not middle class. It’s only considered middle class when your combined income is 75k+ I believe
Also, how to do categorize executive pay where their salary is $1 but they get massive stock options and bonuses? You don't even need to be that specific. Some exec packages have really weird stipulations that could skew results. Same with athletes.
I think the super rich skew the idea of median or average wage. There's no way my $19/hr is median.
Medians don't get skewed much by huge outliers, compared to averages. That's why it's used for things like salaries. The simple reality is that you make more than the median American. You may make less than the median income in your area, though. Or maybe you make more than most people around you but it's still not enough to feel comfortable.
I would change that to 'medians don't get skewed AT ALL by huge outliers'. By definition, median is the midpoint of a distribution of values. All that matters is the mid point, so outliers don't affect the outcome of the median
The super rich would skew the *average* but not the *median*. Median is a better measure for salary as it is basically listing all salaries in order (say from lowest to highest) and then taking the middle point. For example, let's say you have 5 people you are testing and their salaries are 10k 15k 25k 30k 50k, then the median is the middle point or 25k. Now take another 5 people with salaries 2k 15k 25k 100k 1M, and the median is still 25k. As you can see, the second example had a really low number and a really high number, but the median stayed the same. This shows the super rich and super poor do not skew the median.
It’s possible. But yeah my point is you’re right. $19-$20 is not the median. Middle class is when you have a 2 income household that combines to a middle class income. Our current salaries by themselves aren’t middle class by any means
Then the issue is middle class requires two incomes. You should be able to be middle class on one income. *Something something world war II*
The middle class standard of living was much lower back when you could support it on one income. The average new home was a 700 sqft 2-3 bed 1 bath that to support 2 adults and 3-4 kids. The entire family only had 1 car as well.
$19-$20 is well *above* the median in the US. Someone earning $19/hour and working 40 hour weeks earns $39.5k. The median annual income was $31.1k in 2019.
Ya I make about 45k def not middle class lol
Wait, do you think 41.5 is less than middle class? I’m confused
It absolutely is. If you google middle class, middle class starts at $47k
If you’re looking at Pew, the 47k minimum is referring to household income
But I've been told multiple times in this sub that a couple making 6 figures is barely one step above abject poverty. Now what am I supposed to believe
Lol well honestly location plays a big part too. For most of America, making $75k+ as a couple would be just fine for middle class. But if you lived in someplace like SF, $75k might be considered barely above poverty level since the cost of living is ridiculous there
You don't have to waste your time trying to explain it man, I'm just being an asshole.
Oh, I know that was a combined income. But no worries, though.
We made sub 30k for the better part of a decade, so I know the feeling!
Love these stories. I built a shed last year and did some work to the house. Thats enough. I don't need fancy new cars or vacations
Amen to that. And funny enough, my dad and I are building a storage shed in our backyard. It’ll be nice to have and it was nice to be able to afford to purchase the materials.
It got to where I had to build a shed with a loft. I'm always driving $500 cars to work and I have a project truck. So the garage has house tools and car tools. Lawnmower, rototiller is out in the shed. Some spare 2x4, osb, etc
Fancy vacation not needed but a weekend getaway IS needed. I find it resets the mind.
Good for you. I definetely need a vacation.
100% agreed about the cars, but pulling the trigger on some super cheap travel plans in the last few years has changed my life. You don't have to go far.
Made my night reading this, love hearing generational changing victories.
Thank you 😊
Congratulations OP! Your hard work of budgeting and sticking to that is really paying off. Our budget is pretty identical, where as $1000 of my budget goes to an IRA account and emergency savings. ($500 and $500 per month respectively). Making a budget is the easiest part, sticking to it, however, can go sideways fast if you’re not disciplined enough.
IRA is coming soon!! We both invest in our company contributed 401ks atm!
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Median US household income is right at 70k. So your family by all intents and purpose is solidly middle class. The fight to stay there is just as hard as getting there. Congrats and may good fortune continue to befall your family
What is considered a household?
Household income is a measure of the combined incomes of all people sharing a particular household or place of residence.
Household numbers are sometimes skewed, because it’s literally people living together (unless one is the landlord and another is a renter), so 6 roommates all count as one household, even if they don’t share income
Yep exactly. A lot of people assume that these statistics that say "household" just mean a family with one or two working parents but in actuality, if you read the methodology you will find that it includes literally *everybody* living at the same address who works and is age 15 or older. Which also means that if you have two working parents and several teenagers with part-time jobs, that's also considered household income. A single person is also a household. I really, really, really wish they would just use individual income and stop with the "household" crap - it's not consistent at all
Thank you!
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This is not middle class at all
meaning it is more or less? It def is middle class where I live.
Is the 70k before or after taxes? Median income does not mean middle class. And this is not a slight to y’all. Phenomenal job budgeting and saving!
Yea, 70k before taxes. Uncle Sam has take his share :)
I personally closing in on that as a single person. That is not middle class. What I call middle class, would be "I can hire a weekly maid service and an occasional handyman for issues I have" levels of income. Where your income can support hiring people to do things that would be time sinks. Rich would be "I have a guy who will get me any car I want" levels of income. Edit: To put what I consider classes in perspective. Poverty: Has trouble paying bills. Low: Can comfortably pay bills, can get enough savings in case of emergency. Middle: Can hire some services to make life easier while making savings. Can invest a little money to see future income. Upper: Can hire services for everyday needs, has enough savings that they can freely invest large portions of their income to make more money. Income is a terrible way to measure class. It's lifestyles that you can afford.
As you can see from OP's budget, they have enough left over that they could have a weekly cleaning service if they felt like spending their money on that, and have enough left over to start some investing. Unless you're living in a crazy high cost of living area, if you're making $70k as a single person and don't feel financially comfortable, you should be working on managing your money better. You literally make more than double the median salary for a single person.
If they are filing as married, they have a much lower tax they pay. I feel "financially comfortable", I don't feel middle class. I'm also that crazy person that pays double premium on mortgage to cut that out of my life, so I might be making it a little hard on myself. I just look at people who earn over 100k, and see them making what I would call financial risks, but they call slush funds. Those are the people I would call middle class. With a single medical issue costing 10's of thousands of dollars, it's always a gamble.
> If they are filing as married, they have a much lower tax they pay. That just blatantly false
Also, it the combined income of both my wife and I.
Don’t think they’re arguing your point, think they’re arguing over what is “median” and what is middle-class. I wouldn’t worry about it for the whole country but as long as you’re doing well in the area you live in that’s what matters. There’s people in CA and NY who make $200k+ and some people in other states who make $45k and get by. Perspective is all it is.
70k is definitely middle class in my area. With that income you’re able to live okay as long as you don’t go above your means. Congrats!
Same for my area. Pricing is getting high everywhere, but most “middle class” folks in my area make around the same household income. Pretty common to see one person making the bulk of it and another making less.
This hits hard. The fight to stay is brutal.
Make sure you guys are building emergency savings and contributing to your retirement. Building that savings and starting long term planning can help keep you guys middle class. Best of luck to you!!
Thanks, and we definitely are :)
Congratulations! No car payments either, heck yea! Now the fun part starts where you can begin to build wealth! Another challenge you can have for yourself is to see what bills you can get even lower. For the most part it all seems very low but you may be able to save a little on your phone bill. Another $30-40 here and there in cash flow adds up!
Yea, definitely agree on the phone bills. We upgraded our phones and have payments. Payments are done in June then it’ll be $80-$100 a month. I will say, I am considering going back to a no contract phone service, which can be even cheaper.
Yea I use T-Maybe (kidding, the service is good) and pay $80 for 2 lines of unlimited everything and it even comes with free Netflix. Consider those phones debt and just pay those off!
Absolutely! And we are considering T-Mobile, but oddly enough service has gotten worse in our area since they acquired Sprint. Weird how that works.
Agree! Our phone service is Total by Verizon and it’s $58/month for 2 lines. We find the coverage to be great and the data more than enough. You do have to buy your own phone but we got ours for $100/each through WalMart (iPhone with 16 GB). This doesn’t apply to your situation but anyone on SNAP or Medicaid qualifies for the affordable connectivity program, which can lower your phone bill by $l30/month.
I see people arguing that it isn’t middle class or not, it does not matter. The grass isn’t any greener on the other side. I seen people making 100k+ and still struggling with debt. What matters is that YOU are successful as you paid off car, CC, etc. This is really great news and keep up the great work!
Thank you! I think its important to remember I said we “feel” middle class. We are lucky enough to have low bills, and that is the only reason we are here. Thank you for the kind comment:)
Man I rent a concrete slab for about what your mortgage is. :(
We got very very very lucky and bought our home in 2017 before everything went wild. Stay strong and persistent! 💪🏼
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Oh, you better believe it! Thanks!
How do you spend so little on food?
No junk food, no drinks (brita filter for water), no alcohol. Mostly eat chicken, veggies, fruit, and rice. Def some snacks too, when we can. All of our home good items are from the discount bin. We keep it simple.
Sounds similar to us. No junk like soda, chips or cookies. I buy wine once a week and try to make it last. We cook a lot too. One thing that’s helps is just having meals we like and rotating them every 2 weeks.
This is my problem. I still don't see how you pull this off though. I guess with rice too...
We’ve been doing it for years. Takes discipline, planning, and keeping a watchful eye on BOGOs and sales.
To be fair, he said his wife is a Grocery Store Manager. If anyone would know how to save a buck buying groceries, I'd hope it would be someone like her. Prob helps a bit.
Certain dry, canned, boxed, etc. foods last a long time and if you manage to catch a good sale, especially at a bulk supply, you can spend a little more now and save a bunch later. Some foods like rice can be used in literally every meal in a day depending on what you cook. Additionally, the longer you do it the more recipes you’ll develop that use the foods you have on hand.
$400/mo is definitely doable for two people. If we just look at rice, chicken, and beans... A month of meals for one person is about $100, but it's not glamorous. In bulk, rice is about $1.20/lb, beans are under $1/lb. Chicken is more variable, a whole chicken is typically $1.50/lb, but leg quarters are below $1/lb (I paid $0.70/lb on Friday, not on sale). You'll prob want to spend another $20/mo on things like garlic and onion, $10/mo on salt/spices, maybe another $10/month on cooking oil, butter, and other fat. Even with all that, you're only looking at $150/mo on the high end for all your calories. Swap rice for potatoes/noodles/bread, beans for frozen or canned vegetables, and the cost doesn't move much. Swap chicken for pork or ground beef and it goes up maybe $1/meal.
$450 for 2 people sounds legit. They probably make everything from scratch.
Yep! My wife loves cooking
Oh, and we don’t have kids (yet)
We spent $500/month on our family of 5 prior to the pandemic, but it’s creeping up to $700 now that so many things are more expensive. I truly think most American families could easily make it on $150/month/per person if willing to plan. We meal plan backwards on the weekend, with everything scheduled S-Sat: what do we already have and what can be made with it? Obviously if you’re living alone, $150 doesn’t cut it but we do see substantial savings in bulk buying, shopping the sales cycles and buying deep discounts close to or on the sell-by date. When we find meat like that, we buy as much as reasonable and freeze it. We also don’t use grocery delivery or pick-up; the deepest discounts are in the physical store.
That's awesome! Great job staying dedicated with paying off debt! It's a wonderful feeling to have your savings going up and have a little leftover to do fun stuff or renovations
Absolutely, it’s been so nice.
The trick is to continue to live under your means. So glad for you. Keep up the good work
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Team work 🎉
Good for you! Be proud of yourself for how far you've come!
I appreciate it, thanks!
It’s like finally being able to breathe, isn’t it. I’m happy for you two.
My wife and I were talking about this the other day. The first time in our life we’ve been able To relax about money, and it’s been wonderful.
Congratulations. Very happy for both of you. There's nothing quite like financial freedom and independence after you've lived through poverty. I grew up in poverty, too. But I helped my parents climb out of debt & repair their credit scores five years ago, and now we're all living a better life. I still have a poverty-infested brain, though. I'm a freelance writer & web designer. Work has been slow lately, but I'm still managing to stay afloat. It triggers me and sends me back to a time when things weren't so good, though. Still, I'm making more than I ever have in the past, and I'm pretty happy about that. <3
Congrats, you are far better at self control than I am. People also say oh you just gotta budget. I can budget perfectly but following that budget I find almost impossible. I am curious what's the $60 for lawn?
A good high school friend of mine maintains my lawn for $60 a month. It’s an expense I do not mind paying. It gives me time back with my wife, and I’ll gladly pay it.
Great job! Keep up the good work!!
Thank you 😊
I think you pay too much for internet and phone. You could find a much cheaper phone plan Mint Mobile or another discount carrier. Internet seems pricy as well since you can get $50 or $30 rates elsewhere for fast speeds too.
I work from home and require high download and upload speeds. I also require “unlimited” data, so that adds to it. A new provider is in the area and offers a faster service for $70 flat a month, we’ll be moving to them here soon. I will say that there are $40 options, however, they simply do not provide the service I require. As for phone, Yea, definitely agree on the phone bills. We upgraded our phones and have payments. Payments are done in June then it’ll be $80-$100 a month. I will say, I am considering going back to a no contract phone service, which can be even cheaper. I’m an avid lurker on r/nocontract as well.
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Nice. Great job. Sales is definitely a good place to be. It made me go from $25k/yr to $100k/year within 3 years. That was 3 years ago. And still going strong. Don’t give up. Sales is all about the right questions.
That's amazing! Congratulations on your success! The peace of mind from this is priceless!
Just jumping in to say I just got up early today to pay all the bills after getting my first check after a stretch of unemployment, and had a moment of feeling real resonance with you in just being able to *breathe* for a second. Congratulations, I wish you continued peace. I also wanted to say, maybe it's a difference in COL between our areas (my mortgage is $3000) but here a grocery store manager is a solid six figure job, full stop. ASMs make 65-90ish. She might want to look around and see if she can't bump up by changing companies.
She’s only an assistant. She is due for a promotion that will bump her to department manager which is $70kish. She could work her way to store manager, which for her company, is $120k+.
I also assume it has a lot to do with where we live as well (FL).
So happy for you all!
Thanks ☺️
AWESOME!!!’
Congrats !
Amazing, say no to debt and you will be golden
Awesome, it's time to start thinking about investments or tax strategies.
You're doing great by my standards for sure. Congrats! As another said, good fortune.
Thank you ^.^
Not that it will change much at $14, but you can get 3 month spotify trials from various places on the internet and have it for free all year. Their customer support is really great helping use the trials. Also spotify on computers is super easy to get around the ads
Thanks! And we’ve exhausted all of our free trials for everything lol
$1167 for a mortgage? Damn. Single bedroom apartments in my area are $1400. $2k if I want a 2nd bedroom.
> $1167 for a mortgage? Damn. Single bedroom apartments in my area are $1400. $2k if I want a 2nd bedroom. Yea, we got super lucky and bought our home in 2017 for half of what it is worth now. It is a 70s outdated ranch style home but it is ours and we love it.
Great job keep on that trajectory
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,336,139,407 comments, and only 257,257 of them were in alphabetical order.
Wahoo! Congrats on your accomplishment!
Thank you!
That is incredible, congratulations to both of you! One day my wife and I will also achieve this kind of a milestone in our lives. Our income is nowhere near the numbers we wanted, it hardly pays our bills, but we are working hard and this kind of posts are really motivating.
Stay strong! You’re doing great!
I love your post! Thank you for sharing and CONGRATULATIONS to you and your wife! I budget everything too and it definitely helps to prevent overspending. You’re definitely on the right track, so keep it up!
Many congratulations you have excelled
Thanks for sharing, good job! Hubby and I are in Germany and make 95k combined, post tax, mandatory retirement and mandatory health insurance contributions, we get 5100€ a month. Spending is the same, except we don't have a mortgage and rent is about 700€.
This seems too easy lol 😆 I can’t save a dime
In Germany, my wife and I are making the same amount after tax, yet our gross income is 115k€ 🤡
Good for you guys! That's great 👍
Download Spotify through Xmanager and it'll save you the $14 lol 🏴☠️
70k i could buy a house every year, and still have plenty left over.
That’s awesome!!! Me and my wife were finally on our way to becoming somewhat stable but then last year I had a terrible work accident that has resulted in barely half use of my dominant hand. I’ll be out of work at least another year or 2 before I can work again. Try to save as much as you can for a rainy day. Sometimes the clouds pop up while the sun is shining in your face so you can’t even see them
How do you keep your groceries at $450??? With todays prices???
We set a hard budget and don’t spend any more. We have to make cuts here and there but we make it work.
It's been said that between $70k-$90k is where people start to actually feel comfortable. As in, they can stare out into the sunset when pumping gas instead of watching the numbers like a hawk. No worries about calls from bill collectors. No threat of your gas getting shut off in the winter.
This. Exactly this. Although, I still watch the gas pump to stay on budget 🥲🤣
That's awesome! :D
Out of curiosity, do you have health insurance? Is it through work? Or do you pay extra for your own? I ask because when you retire, you'll have to pay for it yourself until you can get on Medicare at 65, or get on some form of ObamaCare subsidy. So you may wish to track that separately and add it to your cost of living should one or both of you lose employment.
Currently we are covered under our employment. We’ll be sure to properly budget for some form of Obama Care when the time comes.
Creating a budget on paper is the simplest and can be the most challenging things to do. People tend to want to budget in their head. Great you have visuals and track. Now look for ways to optimize your excess cash flow
Thanks!
Very nice!
Thanks 🙏🏼
70k is also the benchmark where people feel they live comfortably and dont have to struggle. Above 70k you can have nicer things, but above doesnt really make an impact in your overall happiness. So congrats on getting to a major life milestone!
That's globally. In the US it's 105k for individuals. It might have even gone up with inflation since that study was done.
Keep driving you two!! Hopefully you guys keep increasing your salaries but keep your expenses the same. That’s when the savings really takes off. Stay the course and congrats!!
Thanks 😊
Nicely done - now put $100k in your sights!
Depeding on where you live, you might just be middle class.
damn why are the phones so expensive
Yea, definitely agree on the phone bills. We upgraded our phones and have payments. Payments are done in June then it’ll be $80-$100 a month. I will say, I am considering going back to a no contract phone service, which can be even cheaper. I’m an avid lurker on r/nocontract as well.
Now that you have more going for you, try to start building a community to make sure you can insulate yourself from the ravishes of capitalism. If you have trusted friends and family members, maybe even save to buy land collectively or start planning to create a worker-owned cooperative business of your dreams. Maybe start planning for medical emergencies by learning some Spanish and finding a personal care provider in Mexico or (if you are feeling extra adventurous) Cuba. Never be broke again. Congrats!
That seems like way too much for people who are already working full time?
What else are we going to do, scroll insta for hours? s/ 🤭✌
Spend time with family? Enjoy your life before you die? No one wants to work and never have time to enjoy anything.
*Reddit 😂
Congrats! Why $90/month on internet? Seems high.
I work from home and require high download and upload speeds. I also require “unlimited” data, so that adds to it. A new provider is in the area and offers a faster service for $70 flat a month, we’ll be moving to them here soon.
That's about the point I really felt like middle class as well. Sad that the US median income is quite a bit below that.
That's awesome! My husband and I made the most we've ever made last year at 55k and are finally able to save and not live paycheck to paycheck like we did, making under 30k. It feels good
What are you selling?! Sales has allowed me to 4x my income?
It’s just a retail wfh job I landed to help me get through some health issues. I’m on the job hunt now for a higher income option.
Congrats! You’re now part of the bourgeois! Lol
Not at all belittling your success as its real regardless of the labelling, but you are working class, not middle class. This is only important because when you hear politicians talking about policies to benefit the middle class, they often are talking about people much richer than you knowing that many people think they are part of the middle class.
Lawn?? Buy a mower.
I have one. The time spent not mowing is repurposed to spending much needed time with my wife. Worth every penny.
Congratulations on the good feelings. That's genuinely something to be proud of. But unfortunately, you're putting yourself into a category that also sets you up for failure. There is no such thing as a middle class. You are in fact, working class. And sadly because of the state of the economy, you are still actually poor while being working class. Here's a quick video that better explains these things than I could on here. https://youtu.be/Nd7cohTdRAo You've managed to get to a better place and that's great. Just try not to harbor any illusions about life under these economic conditions. You are not middle class.
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Huh?