Monthly budget estimate (Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond: salons, apartments, rental)

[bluefeather1978]

Hi all,

My family will be relocating to Seattle soon and I had specific questions on cost of living and how much we might be able to save with a salary of ~ 140 K. Some info about us:
- Family of 4 with 2 boys aged 3; both will be attending preschool and one will be eligible for state special ed services. I will be looking out for jobs but we are assuming right now that there wont be any income from my side.
We'll be looking to stay in good school districts at most 30 minutes commute distance away (husband would love to cycle to work !). We are looking to rent 2+den or 3 bedroom homes. We plan to lease only one car (mid range sedan).
My questions are:

1) We are assuming our take home paycheck would be ~ 8.5 K - is this a fair estimate ?
2) I have the following outlay for expenses based on our hours and hours of research on COL !. Does this look about right ? Would there be any other expenses ?

- Home (Rent) - 2,500
- Kids' education - 1500 (one is on state services)
- Utilities - 250
- Car lease - 500
- Gas - 250
- Cable, internet, phones: 250
- Groceries - 750
- Entertainment - 1000 (movies, eating out and travel around the area)

Does this sound about right ?

3) Finally, is it a good idea to look at apartments with 2 toddlers ? Is it the 'done' thing or would we be the odd ones out ?

Thanks all for your time in advance !

[Hemlock140]

People commute by bike from as far away as Bellevue, Issaquah and Sammamish, over the I90 bridge but it takes a die-hard cyclist. You will be OK on the rent for that. A home came up for lease near us recently at $2,750 that's 3,000 sf, 5 bedrooms 2.5 BA on 1/3 acre lot, in a great school district. Our home is about that size, and winter utilities can be over $300 but in a 3BR that's well insulated your goal should be achievable, less in summer. To be within 1/2 hour by car and the best schools I would look at Mercer Island, parts of Bellevue close to I90, Redmond, Kirkland. Seattle itself has nice areas and in general the schools are not as good as the eastside but there are some good ones. I can't tell you which but others will, most likely. We have a high gas tax but we are still at a fairly low $3.25-30/gallon. We have a fairly high cost of living but that's mostly housing, and there is no state income tax which helps. Private schools are going to be another high cost, the best have waiting lists and are very expensive. State services are available but the paperwork and time involved is a nightmare. It will help that one of you is not working at first.

[flyingsaucermom]

Your budget seems okay... but I don't see your car or rental insurances and car registration... I don't see anything for copayments on dental/medical... I don't see anything about car maintenance (is that included?) or "personal/household needs" like hair cuts, salons, spas, decor, toilet paper, dish towels.. i.e. consumer products. I don't see kid activities such as swim lessons, t-ball, karate, etc.. These things add up. I would try to find a budget template online and really be honest and exact. You're likely to find out that you bleed money in all sorts of unexpected, but small, ways. At least I did

As for the affording Seattle on that income.. yes, you can and you can have toddlers in an apartment too (you will want to be discriminating though).

[tobester]

Where is the job? That will dictate commute time (obviously). Does your husband want a 30 minute cycle time to work?

[Jalhop]

Even at $140K you've got to be frugal here to save significantly. A take home paycheck of $8.5K looks good. For my tastes I'd plan on rent at $2200 and buy a nice used sedan or minivan at $20K (at a yearly depreciation of around $2K) rather than lease one for $6K a year. I'd skip a landline phone and you may not need cable especially now that airwave signals are digital; we use AppleTV/Netflix/free Hulu only. My internet/phone would be $100 a month if I was buying today. As flyingsaucermom points out you're missing some big items. Our grocery bill is about $100 a month per person. If you get a place with a fireplace (not the decorative kind) you can save quite a bit on utilities. Get the right rental and you won't want for air conditioning.

Travel is my major item. Being in the corner of the US, once you've exhausted the nearby attractions you've got to buy a flight to get to something new, or spend two days driving to/from.

[shaylahc]

Your utilities and internet/phone seem low. We pay $200ish every 3 months for water, $175 every 3 months for trash/sewer, and about $300 a month for gas/electric (can be less in the summer). Cable and cell for us runs $300ish together. Also $750 a month may not get you far in food depending on how picky you are (does it have to be organic/cage free/grass fed/blah blah blah) and once your boys get to their teen years, you can expect that amount to double.

Otherwise, looks pretty good. Don't forget car insurance, which tends to run high here (we pay $180 a month for 2 cars)

[shaylahc]

Originally Posted by flyingsaucermom

Your budget seems okay... but I don't see your car or rental insurances and car registration... I don't see anything for copayments on dental/medical... I don't see anything about car maintenance (is that included?) or "personal/household needs" like hair cuts, salons, spas, decor, toilet paper, dish towels.. i.e. consumer products. I don't see kid activities such as swim lessons, t-ball, karate, etc.. These things add up. I would try to find a budget template online and really be honest and exact. You're likely to find out that you bleed money in all sorts of unexpected, but small, ways. At least I did

As for the affording Seattle on that income.. yes, you can and you can have toddlers in an apartment too (you will want to be discriminating though).

I agree with this. My husband makes about what your family makes OP, we have 4 kids, and saving money is really hard. We pretty much spend it all as we make it. Rent and groceries alone eat up over 50% of our take home pay. We'd be living like kings back in NC, here....not so much :-/

[Cubey]

My god.. WTF is wrong with you if you can't live on $140k a year and not live like a king and still save a crapload of money?

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by Cubey

My god.. WTF is wrong with you if you can't live on $140k a year and not live like a king and still save a crapload of money?

Let's not do this again. This same exact statement was said by someone during the summer over a similar thread.

First, it's not 1 person, it's 4. Second, it's not adults, there are 2 children (more expenses). Third, their professional class which means their needs and expectations in life are different than those who aren't.

[Cubey]

It's more like 2 and a half people, in terms of costs and expenses. Children don't use up as much income as adults. They don't have rent, car payments, utilities. In fact, most of that is covered from the "head" of the household. So you could almost narrow it down further.