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How do you pay $1200 a month on a $180,000 house? Even on a 15 year note, that's 30% interest. Wow. Refinance time. And $10,000 for tuition? Yikes. Those are some busy students. I just checked and tuition is $100 a credit hour. Fifty credits a semester. Impressive. And I thought taking 19 units was hard.
How do you pay $1200 a month on a $180,000 house? Even on a 15 year note, that's 30% interest. Wow. Refinance time. And $10,000 for tuition? Yikes. Those are some busy students. I just checked and tuition is $100 a credit hour. Fifty credits a semester. Impressive. And I thought taking 19 units was hard.
On a 30 year loan at 4% 180,000 is about 890 a month. Plus they're including $250 on top of that. Maybe they're also paying PMI.
I don't know if they're self employed but if you take 33% off the top of 100k, and subtract all of their expenses you end up with $8,436 a year.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Did we forget property taxes? Most people have an impound account for tax and insurance and add it to the loan payments. In my case that's another $500/month.
I can't wait til my sons get to college and only cost me $15,000/year in tuition. I'm paying $21,000/year in daycare for a 4 year old and 4 month old. At least a portion of it is deductible :/
Feeling poor is just that - a feeling. It is not an objective, rational, factual calculation. It depends on what one wants in the way of housing, cars, vacations, entertainment, clothing, and more, and it depends on what and whom one compares oneself to. It is relative.
Are granite counter-tops a necessity or a luxury? How about designer clothes? It comes back to attitude. A Honda Fit is probably just as reliable as a Mercedes or a BMW, but depending on the neighborhood one lives in, it might be "embarrassing" to drive a Honda Fit or other similar car. Again, it's attitude.
Some of those figures make me shake my head. $1000/mo on food? Even for a family of four, that is insane. They must eat out a lot, or only buy high end brand name food without ever using coupons.
It seems like the author's biggest gripe is that their house is a liability right now because it's underwater. Not much more of substance in their complaints than that. Also, it's her own fault for having a $300/mo car payment.
"we pay an extra $250 a month to the mortgage company. That way, we will at least have the option to move if we need to in the future without ruining our credit. "
They waste a ton of money. 1k on food. $300 on car insurance means they've probably had past issues. How do you spend 15k sending your kid to HCC? It's $100 per credit.
This is just your typical person who wastes money and lives beyond means.
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