Can You Afford Your Lifestyle?
I think this has to be a question all of us ask ourselves at least three times a year, particularly as we are all getting raises, more exposure to the "finer" things of life, etc.I didn't start asking myself this until around this time last year. The reason why is because I was opened up to the world of J.Crew. While I can't wear EVERY single thing they offer (the hip-page area of pants just aren't forgiving enough--- even for a petite black woman!), I DO like the style. I started buying clothes from there... not whole outfits or whatever, but if they had nice cashmere sweaters and I knew they'd look good on me and they'd last forever, why the heck not?
But I started thinking--- does what I wear and where I live dictate my lifestyle? In my opinion, you betcha. And can I afford it? Uhhhh.... and since that hestiation is there, I've been watching myself!! LOL!!!
I remember having a conversation with three of my coworkers.. I just happen to be moseying on along and they called me into the conversation. They asked "Can you live comfortably in the DC area on 90K a year?" I almost choked and said "Absolutely." But when someone broke it down, I understood the dilemma. The guy had student loans from undergraduate school totalling to almost 100K (gosh darn!!) that he was still paying off; a car loan from a car he bought because his previous car just got messed up; a $2500 mortgage per month; and some credit card debt that was totaling to around 10K. Wow. And while he wasn't a baller, he did like to look nice, so you have to add in the whole gym membership stuff, good food, nice clothes, etc.
I'm adding this up now... if one were to make 90K a year, take out taxes, take out 5% of retirement, that's around 4800-5000 per month of take home pay (and I'm assuming that a person is having a bunch of crap taken out of their taxes or what not). That sounds good to me! However, take a closer look: after taking away the mortgage there's only 2500 left. GOSH DARN IT! Take away another 500-600 bucks for gas, water, phones, DSL and misc bills. Then you have your student loans which totals up to around 750-850 bucks a month. Then you have to eat, and that's around 250 a month (and that's frugal). Another 300 for personal care (haircuts, dry cleaners, gym memberships, washing clothes) and another 200 for possible entertainment. So that leaves you with 600 extra which would likely go towards paying off the credit cards, car insurance, car note, etc. And very little left for savings. I guess my coworker was right--- some would qualify this as barely making it.
But then let's be real, though. There are ways to make it work and make your savings grow. Do you really need a car? DC has a great Metro system. While it can be somewhat inconvinient, and take a bit of time, you can take the Metro. You don't really need a car. I've been doing alright without one for forever. I have to admit--- sometimes it's a pain not having a car but you can rent one for a half a day and just do what you've to do and you're done for the month. That would equal a fraction of paying for gas and insurance for a whole month!
I guess your lifestyle is dependent upon the choices you make. You can't have everything, particularly if you know you're being stretched by some of the things you already have. Unless you're rich up the wazoo, if you're like every other 20-something year old, then I'm afraid you're going to have to wait for either the big house, nice car, nice clothes (which need to be put in the dry cleaners which means extra dough), nice vacations, top of the line groceries, the nicest resturants, etc. I guess our generation is being told we deserve all of this stuff and we're all entitled to it. Well, can you afford it? That's the big question.
posted by Chopin Girl @ 12:45 PM
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