Frugal living for a family in California? (Los Angeles, Sacramento: for sale, 2009)

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

Those are some beautiful views Derek. There is a reason why so many people move from CA to CO and vice versa. They are two very beautiful states.

Yes, CO really does offer ppl a lot when they are looking for a change from CA. I told my wife we would have stayed if they could have moved CO to the coast. But for those who don't visit the beach that much and don't mind living in the middle of the country it is pretty hard to beat. We have some family who moved there and *don't* plan to come back to CA. But never say never...

It is a good place to live more frugally that is for sure. We met a couple who had 12 kids and lived on 40K/year. And they owned their own home. They do seminars on frugality, one of which we had attended. The ways they save on things are incredible.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

We met a couple who had 12 kids and lived on 40K/year. And they owned their own home. They do seminars on frugality which we had attended. The ways they saved were incredible.

Care you share any of their tips? Anyone who can raise 12 kids on $40K a year has my attention.

Again, those images are breathtaking. You had to be in the right place at the right time to get that last one.

[MtnSurfer]

Actually I was just looking for their web site but couldn't remember their names. Then my wife reminded me. Here it is: The Jeub Family. They actually have 13 children and homeschool. LOL... They did their seminar at one of our homeschool meetings in CO.

Their seminar was very practical. A lot the savings were a done through the way the bought food. This was always done on sales, with coupons, and in bulk. While we try to apply some of the same principles were are in no way as diciplined as they are. They have appeared on the Learning Channel and other talk shows.

Personal Finance Motivation Through TV: The Jeub Family | The Passive Dad

The video they did with TLC was really good. I'll see if I can find it.

Derek

[ndfmnlf]

If you paid cash for a house in California, would you say that the cost of living is pretty much equivalent to the rest of the US? Most cost of living calculators I've used puts the cost of housing as the leading cause of high overall cost. Perhaps if you could buy a house outright, that eliminates the need for a mortgage. In the Sacramento area, you could probably buy a decent house for $300K.

[dweej]

Originally Posted by ndfmnlf

If you paid cash for a house in California, would you say that the cost of living is pretty much equivalent to the rest of the US? Most cost of living calculators I've used puts the cost of housing as the leading cause of high overall cost. Perhaps if you could buy a house outright, that eliminates the need for a mortgage. In the Sacramento area, you could probably buy a decent house for $300K.

I think it might be more financially savvy though, if someone has $300K cash to use for a house, to buy a nicer home elsewhere for only $200K (or even less!), and use the rest of the money to pay off other debts (if you have any) or purchase other smaller properties as rentals for some additional income. $300K cash could go a long way toward earlier retirement if you choose not to spend it all on a modest house just to live in CA. I guess it's about priorities .

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by ndfmnlf

If you paid cash for a house in California, would you say that the cost of living is pretty much equivalent to the rest of the US? Most cost of living calculators I've used puts the cost of housing as the leading cause of high overall cost. Perhaps if you could buy a house outright, that eliminates the need for a mortgage. In the Sacramento area, you could probably buy a decent house for $300K.

Its true that the cost of housing is the big difference at least in the parts of California that people in the rest of the country dream about. But a lot of little things here add up to make life more expensive. Income taxes are high, property taxes are high because property values are high, sales tax is high, car registration fees are high, businesses are over regulated and those costs get passed on to you, electricity is expensive (at least down here in SoCal), and so on.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Its true that the cost of housing is the big difference at least in the parts of California that people in the rest of the country dream about. But a lot of little things here add up to make life more expensive. Income taxes are high, property taxes are high because property values are high, sales tax is high, car registration fees are high, businesses are over regulated and those costs get passed on to you, electricity is expensive (at least down here in SoCal), and so on.

I would agree with this for the most part. After just moving from CO to CA we notice that many things are more expensive. I think housing is the biggest factor. But as EscapeCalifornia mentioned there are others related expensives such as higher property taxes, income tax, utilities, gas, food, etc... My wife just told me our gas and electric bill this past month was $300. This is to heat a single story smaller (older) house. In CO we could keep our larger 2 story house heated all Winter for significantly less. The other thing is most homes in CA are much older, especially those sold ~300K. So they can become a money pit when you consider replumbing, replacing the electrical, the heating system, re-insulated, replaces all the windows with double panes, etc... to create a more fuel efficient home.

One really does pay more for live here. It is the cost of the 'lifestyle.' For some it is not worth it. But for many others it is. Hence the prices remain relatively high. Being CA natives we knew what we were in for in moving back from CO. We counted the cost and so are not surprised. It just is what it is. Most of our family is here and we really love living near the coast as well as the other things that the state offers. If we didn't have relatives here we probably would have moved to Portland next. But the job market there is really weak now especially in this down turn.

While some ppl live frugally here by choice other do so out of necessity based on these higher costs.

Derek

[jaynetarzana]

Living in California can save you money on vacations because the place you live is already so beautiful that there isn't as much of a need to "get away" to someplace else. And if you want to take a vacation, you usually don't need to drive too far from where you live for some great recreation.

[ubu]

Originally Posted by ndfmnlf

If you paid cash for a house in California, would you say that the cost of living is pretty much equivalent to the rest of the US? Most cost of living calculators I've used puts the cost of housing as the leading cause of high overall cost. Perhaps if you could buy a house outright, that eliminates the need for a mortgage. In the Sacramento area, you could probably buy a decent house for $300K.

I think it depends on what you do. There are some professions where you pretty much get paid the same where ever you live. In that case, moving to a place with a lower cost of housing probably is a good idea. But in general incomes in Sacramento are probably lower than incomes along the coast.

In the foothills above Sacramento are getting a fairly high flux of retirees from the bay area because their incomes in retirement are basically the same whether they live in the bay area or in the foothills, but the cost of living is much cheaper in the foothills so the retirees are moving to take advantage of that.

But in terms of recruiting highly skilled people from the bay area, that is more difficult because salaries in Sacramento are less.

I image the same is true for moving to Colorado. If the housing is cheaper who cares if your income drops as well?

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

Living in California can save you money on vacations because the place you live is already so beautiful that there isn't as much of a need to "get away" to someplace else. And if you want to take a vacation, you usually don't need to drive too far from where you live for some great recreation.

Yep, we already have our Spring family vacation planned for Yosemite - housekeeping camp. Then of course with Big Sur in our backyard and the NorCal lost coast not too far away there really is a lot to do here.