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Know_not_Scotty_does

@ Know_not_Scotty_does @lemmy.world

Posts
3
Comments
234
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

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  • My kids are young but yeah, that cost is going up with groceries and them growing. Its impressive how quick you can eat money.

  • Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

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  • HEB is significantly more than Aldi where we do most of our shopping. We do a HEB trip roughly once a month or every other month to get the stuff Aldi doesn't carry.

  • Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

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  • They lump trash and water together since the city provides them. Water bill is like $40 by itself, trash and recycling make up the rest.

  • Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

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  • Great, you saved us ~$10/week.

    I won't argue the climate benefits nor the moral or ethical implications of consuming animal products because frankly, those are justified. Strictly budget wise, beans vs chickin is marginal in percentage which is what the post was about.

    Loads of people in this thread said "this is me" or "this isn't me" but no one else shared their itemized budget.

  • Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

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  • Yeah, clean record for 8+ years I am older than 35. Its gotta partially be the area. We got a homeowners insurance quote on one of the houses we looked at, regular house, $400k price, they wanted $16k per year in homeowners insurance... Not in a flood zone, no historical damage, no extra risk factors.

  • Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

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  • The car are all fully paid for and have been for a while. Only one gets driven at a time and my commute is about 5 miles. The collective value of the cars is less than 35k. Other than my wrx, the others have 250k+ miles.

    I won't argue on the house, I will also say I don't really care. We aren't strapped for money, our needs are met, we contribute to savings at a good rate, and when interest rates drop we will refinance the house which will free up ~$600/month or we will reduce the loan term. Our interest rate went from 2.25 to 6.7 percent when we moved.

    Its real easy to say "your house is too big' without knowing anything about where someone lives or their circumstances.

  • Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

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  • My bad, its $185/month, just checked. The drivers, comprehensive coverage, my old truck, wife's old suv, and my wrx. Progressive was cheaper by a significant margin vs state farm.

  • Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

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  • Don't forget about my one $7.70 coffee per week. That's what is the issue.

  • Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

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  • I mean, if you don't have a choice, you make it stretch or you go hungry. There is a big difference between a poverty budget and something "average" though.

    I just don't consider spending at the level we do to be particularly extravagant and it is still expensive now.

  • Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

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  • Couple of observations. I am the sole earner in our house. I am fortunate that I make about $140k and we live suburban Texas. In our family of 4 our basic expenses are as follows.

    Mortgage is $2100/ month

    Homeowners insurance $400/ month

    Property tax $200/month

    Car insurance $185/month

    Electricity $250/month (average)

    Natural gas $40/month

    Water+trash $200/month

    Internet $90/month

    Streaming (disney/netflix/audible) $45/month

    Groceries $400-600/month

    Gas $200/month

    Toll roads $50-100/month

    Cell phone $200/month

    Coffee once a week $40/month

    Date night food (once a week) $500/month

    Fucking health insurance for the family is $750/month (my contribution, my employer pays the majority)

    Roughly $6250/month give or take.

    We don't have consumer debt, no car notes, no child care (stay at home parent cares for the kids) no daycare, and no paid child activities.

    That is just our fixed expenses, something always comes up so obviously there is more but its inconsistent.

    My car is a 2019 wrx that was $30k we paid it off last year but the note on that was $470/month. I couldn't get that car for that price today.

    We have an older suv for my partner and I have an old pickup that sits unused unless we need to make a hardware run, those vehicles are paid for, no loans and have been for 10+ years.

    Our last house was purchased for $191k in 2016 and we sold it for $295k this past year.

    Our insurance went from $1200/year to $4800 per year on that house before we sold it. Similar thing with property taxes.

    Unless you have managed a 10% return or salary increase, your money doesn't go as far as it used to.

    I am happy to pay my fair share of taxes. For what I am paid, I feel like its reasonable to contribute more in taxes based on my earnings, but as a result, my take home is obviously not $140k. So when you figure fixed expenses are ~$75k, plus my 401k contributions, savings for my kids college fund, and incidentals for stuff like car tires, birthdays, christmas, house repairs, medical expenses, etc, its relatively easy to eat up the remainder of that pool.

  • Americans with six-figure incomes are in 'survival mode'

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  • I want to see a budget of $200/month on food. I have a family of 4 and shopping at aldi on what I consider a reasonable budget (getting fresh fruits/veggies, chicken breasts, some frozen fruits/veggies, cereal, pasta, rice, eggs, and bread for a week is $100+ I am sure I could cut cost some but nothing we are spending on is crazy.

  • what everyday technology do you think future generations will find completely baffling?

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  • I think you need to think about the rate at which technology has advanced in the last hundred years in general, then look at how it changed in the 10 year increments in that period then extrapolate out what has plateaued vs ramped up.

    Broadly speaking, there have been major changes but the telephone existed in 1925, so did refrigeration, powered flight, and cars.

    Medical tech is really where I think the biggest difference has been, and where I think we will continue to see major changes. If you compare our medical knowledge of diseases, cancer, and genetics today vs 1925 it seems huge (to an outsider). The difference between a computer in 1950 and today is largely scale and computer power, yeah, its improved but it still fundamentally does math in the same basic manner. Quantum computers may change that some but its still essentially math.

  • Made toaster steak tonight.

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  • The trick is to lightly salt it the night before and keep it uncovered in the fridge overnight, then cook it really low temp (like 225-250f) in the toaster oven for like 30 minutes or so and then sear it in a pan at the end. It comes out excellent.

  • What's something completely normal today that future generations will look back on and be absolutely baffled by?

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  • The old expression "the solution to polution is dilution" is fucking horrifying. Bioaccumulation and environmental persistence were known well even in the 50s with mercury and things like ddt but the industrial lobbies were just real good at preventing meaningful legislation or regulations. Now we get all the downsides.

  • Trump Claims You Need ID to Buy Groceries in Postelection Meltdown

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  • I wouldn't accept one of his checks even with an I.D.

  • Elon Musk Announces Plan to Control Climate by Surrounding Earth in Adjustable Satellites

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  • The scale of this sort of thing is laughably huge. He's an idiot.

  • Removed

    Azure is having issues

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  • Ah yes, more reasons to local host.

  • Have you or someone close to you converted to Linux recently (with Windows 10's end of support)?

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  • I did not, but I started on fedora silverblue and rebased to bazzite because the bazzite installer wasn't working for me a year ago. I think all in all, I prefer gnome even as a wondows expat.

  • The tragic change a single year has made in America

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  • One semantic point, "it did happen here" is inaccurate, it continues to happen and what little road blocks were in place ammounted to the suggestion of a speed bump in practice. This is still going on and will continue because it has not been stopped.