Anyone living on $2,000 month? Can I make it in your city? (Oklahoma City: coupons, rental) - (OK) - City-Data Forum

christosNY · 06-24-2009, 06:38 PM

I work for a world-wide company, and I have the opportunity to move to just about anywhere. My wife and I would only net $2,000 month though, worst case scenario. We have 2 kids.
Currently, we're making around $1600 in Troy, NY. We're struggling because my wife is having a hard time finding full time work.
Oklahoma City has been recommended to me and it sounds like a nice place.
I'm wondering though, does anyone make $2,000 month or know someone in that area that does? How are they getting by? We don't have any credit card payments or anything, but we'd like to allow for maybe $200 for car payments in case ours break down.
Also, I'm a fulltime student at my local community college and I'll be transferring to a 4yr school when done. Are the schools good there? I'm taking classes in human services.
Thank you.

sasafras · 06-24-2009, 10:49 PM

Yes, you can make it work here if you are smart with your finances. Hell, you can make $2000 work in Florida if you make the right sacrifices.

Plenty of schools here as well (Oklahoma University, University of Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma City University).

BlackMM · 06-30-2009, 09:04 PM

Depends on your standard of living. You can live modestly on 2K a month. Move to eastside OKC and you can live like a king.

FourOhFive · 07-02-2009, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackMM

Depends on your standard of living. You can live modestly on 2K a month. Move to eastside OKC and you can live like a king.

Live like a king until you get robbed. There are two good community colleges here that I know about--Oklahoma City Community College & Rose State Community College.

karibear · 07-02-2009, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by christosNY

I work for a world-wide company, and I have the opportunity to move to just about anywhere. My wife and I would only net $2,000 month though, worst case scenario. We have 2 kids.
Currently, we're making around $1600 in Troy, NY. We're struggling because my wife is having a hard time finding full time work.
Oklahoma City has been recommended to me and it sounds like a nice place.
I'm wondering though, does anyone make $2,000 month or know someone in that area that does? How are they getting by? We don't have any credit card payments or anything, but we'd like to allow for maybe $200 for car payments in case ours break down.
Also, I'm a fulltime student at my local community college and I'll be transferring to a 4yr school when done. Are the schools good there? I'm taking classes in human services.
Thank you.

Well, I'm not in OKC, I'm in a more rural area, but I do very nicely on a little over half of that. I don't have kids to feed, but I do have 3 medium to large dogs, a horse, 2 goats, and a picky bird - and darned if they don't all want to eat, too! I have a mortgage I can afford but I don't drive, so I don't have to worry about car, insurance, etc, but I do have a boatload of credit card bills which I am paying off [long story] and retiring, one at a time.

However, your lifestyle will determine whether or not you can get by. There are a lot more opportunities for being frugal in a city than there are in a small town, it just depends on what you want. If you are worried about your car, I wouldn't consider those 'up to' payments, I'd start socking away some every month in a savings account so if/when you need it, you can pay cash. It's pretty easy - I have some friends who just emptied all their change into a carboy every Friday for a couple years and ended up with enough to take a low budget trip around the world for three.

Floridamom1970 · 07-05-2009, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by christosNY

I work for a world-wide company, and I have the opportunity to move to just about anywhere. My wife and I would only net $2,000 month though, worst case scenario. We have 2 kids.
Currently, we're making around $1600 in Troy, NY. We're struggling because my wife is having a hard time finding full time work.
Oklahoma City has been recommended to me and it sounds like a nice place.
I'm wondering though, does anyone make $2,000 month or know someone in that area that does? How are they getting by? We don't have any credit card payments or anything, but we'd like to allow for maybe $200 for car payments in case ours break down.
Also, I'm a fulltime student at my local community college and I'll be transferring to a 4yr school when done. Are the schools good there? I'm taking classes in human services.
Thank you.

I am the poster who recommended Oklahoma City. I moved here with my husband and three kids (well two actually since our eighteen year old son moved here with us last March)in October of 2008. Our total household income is a bit over $2000 monthly (not much over though). We are doing okay. It is rough at times as I do have a few credit cards to pay off but I plan on taking care of most of my debts as soon as I get my next tax refund.

We moved to the northwest side near Bethany and Warr Acres, both of which I would consider moving to when I buy a house. It is a short drive to downtown/Bricktown. Shopping and entertainment are only a short drive away.I was driving down Kelley Ave last week. If I did not know better I would not have guessed that I was in a city of over 500,000 people. This was over by Kelley and 83rd.There are bad parts of town for sure, but so far I love it here.

AnnabelleSaunders · 07-09-2009, 10:48 AM

You can definately live here on $2,000..i do it every month!

Emery'sMommy · 07-20-2009, 11:38 AM

Yep, we made it for under 2k a month for a few years when we first married.
More than likely, you'll be able to buy an older homes w/3 bedrooms for under 100k and end up paying less per month than you would vs a rental home or large apt. That being said, the best advice is to not spend more than 1/3rd of your monthly income on rent/mortgage. That would put you around the $600-700/month mark or a little more if you're calc gross income.

Some areas to look at with less expensive housing (that aren't in the ghetto either) are Yukon, NW Okc, Bethany and South Okc (by that I mean south of I-240!) More than likely you should be able to find an older home (by that I mean built before the 90's) that might need some cosmetics updates in a well-established safe neighborhood.

crumbcake · 07-23-2009, 11:00 AM

My husband and I live pretty well on $2100 a month. I work full time and have employer paid insurance. He is retired and is on Social Security income and has Medicare and limited VA benefits. So, we only have our copays in that department. However, we do have quite a few major bills (unlike you) and a newer car, so you'd probably be just fine. I have become a thrift store junkie, but end up with only the finer things. And coupons are a terrific help. coupons.com is terrific! The cost of living here is low. Hope you join us!