Cost of Living for Family of 3 (Portland: sales, coupon, rent)

[Arshness]

I was wondering if you guys could just give me an idea of your cost of living?
Not rent and utilities, because that will vary hugely across the neighborhoods and I have info on that otherwise.

What I especially want to know is:
What does it cost to feed your family in Portland?
Eating mostly at home vs eating out a lot?
Other costs that may be higher than other areas of the states?
(Like if clothes were particularly expensive or something like that.)

We don't smoke, and don't go to bars, so that kind of thing doesn't matter much to me.
But I'm really curious about this otherwise.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Really? You want us to guess how much you eat and how many new clothes you buy?

Rent and housing is extra high. Power bills are about average. You can look at your current electric bill, see how many kw you use and then call the power company in Portland and ask for cost per kw and taxes.. People tend to use the same amount of power wherever they are. The difference is, you'll want to ad $150 to that electric bill if you are moving from a place where you never use heat to a house in portland that has electric heat.

Food has gotten expensive everywhere. You can look online and read the grocery ads to see what it will cost you to buy whatever is on sale.

Salaries and wages in portland are low, so plan on reduced income.

Clothes can be $2 at the thrift store to hundreds of dollars for a pair of designer jeans.

Gasoline is higher than gasoline on the east coast.

[SETabor]

We also have to guess whether the family of 3 includes a kid who may or may not need day care or private school.

[FSF]

I'll take a shot at this. IMO, it doesn't cost all that much in Portland for the things you describe. Meaning, it won't be much higher, if at all, than where you're coming from. Clothes can be bought at tons of different places and with the prevalence of sales and so forth, you can buy at Macy's or Nordstrom Rack or something like that for pretty cheap these days, depending on your income.

Food will only cost a lot if you like to feed fresh foods and cook organic and shop at places like Whole Foods. But that's true anywhere. If you buy TV dinners, regular meats and poultry, canned goods, etc. then it's probably cheaper at Winco than most other metros around the country.

I do think food at pubs and mid to higher end restaurants and so forth are cheaper than most other desired metros. But if you don't eat out much, the point might be moot.

[VelouriaPDX]

We are a family of four but our kids are still tiny. We easily spend $150+ a week on groceries, plus around $50 a week on take-out and beer and wine. I shop at Trader Joe's, New Seasons, and Fred Meyer. I buy about 50% organic. I don't coupon or watch sales. If I needed to slash our grocery budget I could buy non organic food and shop at Winco.

Owning a pet is more expensive here than elsewhere. Our vet bills are much higher than when we lived in New England plus our dog eats expensive food because he is allergic to chicken.

Child care in Oregon is also among the highest in the country. I don't use child care myself but I've read full time infant care is more expensive than state college tuition.

Finally, I've always felt the state income tax is fairly high, property tax about average as far as I can tell.

[AndyAMG]

We don't have sales tax on anything. That's all you really need to know.

Portland is a pretty average US city for cost.

Eating out... depends. National chains: same price, gourmet bistro: whatever the market bears.

Gas is about 2.85 right now.

[VTHokieFan]

Very expensive

[Arshness]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Really? You want us to guess how much you eat and how many new clothes you buy?

Is there a particular reason to be that rude?
I didn't ask you to guess anything about my family. My question was "What do YOU spend on this?".
I was hoping to see some answers that gave other people's experiences and thus I could infer from that.

It's not really necessary to be this acerbic. If the question pisses you off that much, just don't answer.

We also have to guess whether the family of 3 includes a kid who may or may not need day care or private school.

Yes, we have a kid, but no, we have no need for day care of private school. We're an unschooling family.

I'll take a shot at this. IMO, it doesn't cost all that much in Portland for the things you describe. Meaning, it won't be much higher, if at all, than where you're coming from. Clothes can be bought at tons of different places and with the prevalence of sales and so forth, you can buy at Macy's or Nordstrom Rack or something like that for pretty cheap these days, depending on your income.

Food will only cost a lot if you like to feed fresh foods and cook organic and shop at places like Whole Foods. But that's true anywhere. If you buy TV dinners, regular meats and poultry, canned goods, etc. then it's probably cheaper at Winco than most other metros around the country.

I do think food at pubs and mid to higher end restaurants and so forth are cheaper than most other desired metros. But if you don't eat out much, the point might be moot.

Thank you! This is useful and much appreciated. I do want to get more into the fresh foods cooking, but more interested in the market than Whole Foods. We do want to eat out and enjoy the local food culture as well, so thanks for the info on that.

We are a family of four but our kids are still tiny. We easily spend $150+ a week on groceries, plus around $50 a week on take-out and beer and wine. I shop at Trader Joe's, New Seasons, and Fred Meyer. I buy about 50% organic. I don't coupon or watch sales. If I needed to slash our grocery budget I could buy non organic food and shop at Winco.

$150 a week is about what we spend here for a family of 3, so that helps me compare. Thank you!

We don't have sales tax on anything. That's all you really need to know.

Portland is a pretty average US city for cost.

Eating out... depends. National chains: same price, gourmet bistro: whatever the market bears.

Gas is about 2.85 right now.

Yes, I know there's no sales tax. That makes everything automatically about 9% cheaper. Heh.
Thank you for the info!

I appreciate the helpful responses! We're doing our best to make an informed decision about the expense versus being in the area we want to be in!