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Old 09-02-2009, 12:07 PM
 
Location: Montgomery Village, MD
516 posts, read 1,377,488 times
Reputation: 234

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Oh I also wanted to add you may not be able to get into New Market for under 200k either.. although that's one of my favorite towns in Frederick County.. It feels like a resort town.. it's gorgeous!!!! But a bit on the expensive side for Fred Co.
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Old 09-02-2009, 12:20 PM
 
Location: Woodbridge, va
924 posts, read 2,607,374 times
Reputation: 451
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamaecho View Post
Well... we have two kids, and two dogs.. two cars.. we make it work
When we first moved here we lived in an apartment in Germantown.. it was really nice. It was considered for "moderate income" so you had to make income guidelines.. I think you couldn't make over 42k I believe with three individuals (we only had one child when we first moved here).. but they were REALLY nice apartments (The Fields Apartments (http://thefieldsapts.ketsco.com/germantown/overview.html - broken link))

And as far as 80k being rough.. I just don't see it... I mean, we live a relatively normal life.. we aren't eating raman noodles, etc.. we use coupons, shop for great deals. but we aren't stingy with our money.. we just have a budget that we stick to Perhaps it's where I'm from.. a very small town in Indiana.. I'm not used to McMansions and the whole deal.

But, we do what we do so that I can be a stay at home mom (working very, very part time for a friend who is a photographer)
Yeah I never did any kind of income based housing... Plus there wasn't a whole lot of that around in southern MD...

I was making 42k a year which after taxes and health benefits for me came out to just under 2k/month... I always got hosed because I didn't own a house and didn't have kids...

$2000
-1100 (rent)
- 100 (electric)
- 40 (gas)
- 220 (car payment 99 Honda civic)
- 150 (car insurance)
- 55 (phone)
___________________
$335

So I had $335 to spend on groceries, gas, random expenses, copays, etc...

Maybe I just needed to have 10 kids and live off of the government...

Although now at 21 I make a bit more money and live comfortably down here in Jacksonville FL...
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Old 09-02-2009, 12:28 PM
 
Location: Montgomery Village, MD
516 posts, read 1,377,488 times
Reputation: 234
Quote:
Originally Posted by tercel95 View Post
Yeah I never did any kind of income based housing... Plus there wasn't a whole lot of that around in southern MD...

I was making 42k a year which after taxes and health benefits for me came out to just under 2k/month... I always got hosed because I didn't own a house and didn't have kids...

$2000
-1100 (rent)
- 100 (electric)
- 40 (gas)
- 220 (car payment 99 Honda civic)
- 150 (car insurance)
- 55 (phone)
___________________
$335

So I had $335 to spend on groceries, gas, random expenses, copays, etc...

Maybe I just needed to have 10 kids and live off of the government...

Although now at 21 I make a bit more money and live comfortably down here in Jacksonville FL...

I'm not sure if you are trying to assume we are living off the government, as we aren't, in any capacity... but okay. We did live in moderate income housing for two years or so.. but I hardly count that as "having 10 kids and living off the government".... even when we were making under 20k in Indiana we weren't 'living off the government'..


But regardless, to answer the OP.. we live in MoCo, on 55k, with two kids, two dogs, two cars, etc comfortably. So you can for sure live on 80k in Frederick county comfortably.... In fact, we look forward to when we can move to Frederick Co...
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Old 09-02-2009, 12:40 PM
 
Location: Columbia, MD
553 posts, read 1,709,165 times
Reputation: 400
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamaecho View Post
Well... we have two kids, and two dogs.. two cars.. we make it work
When we first moved here we lived in an apartment in Germantown.. it was really nice. It was considered for "moderate income" so you had to make income guidelines.. I think you couldn't make over 42k I believe with three individuals (we only had one child when we first moved here).. but they were REALLY nice apartments (The Fields Apartments (http://thefieldsapts.ketsco.com/germantown/overview.html - broken link))

And as far as 80k being rough.. I just don't see it... I mean, we live a relatively normal life.. we aren't eating raman noodles, etc.. we use coupons, shop for great deals. but we aren't stingy with our money.. we just have a budget that we stick to Perhaps it's where I'm from.. a very small town in Indiana.. I'm not used to McMansions and the whole deal.

But, we do what we do so that I can be a stay at home mom (working very, very part time for a friend who is a photographer)
Being low income opens doors to all sorts of programs. If your income were 65k, you wouldn't be able to live in moderate income housing, and your housing costs would probably double or triple. [I'm assuming your utilities were included in your rent in your apartment].

Once you get above a certain threshold your taxes will go up, your tax benefits get phased out dramatically, and your access to programs like moderate income housing go away.

And as most will attest, the biggest budget killer in DC metro is housing, then probably day care.
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Old 09-02-2009, 12:54 PM
 
Location: Woodbridge, va
924 posts, read 2,607,374 times
Reputation: 451
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamaecho View Post
I'm not sure if you are trying to assume we are living off the government, as we aren't, in any capacity... but okay. We did live in moderate income housing for two years or so.. but I hardly count that as "having 10 kids and living off the government".... even when we were making under 20k in Indiana we weren't 'living off the government'..


But regardless, to answer the OP.. we live in MoCo, on 55k, with two kids, two dogs, two cars, etc comfortably. So you can for sure live on 80k in Frederick county comfortably.... In fact, we look forward to when we can move to Frederick Co...
I wasn't referring to you specifically... I was just referring to the frustration I had trying to do things the "right" way and on my own...

Maybe we have different opinions on what "comfortable" is... I now live in a much cheaper area and make 58k/year... I finally feel like I am "comfortable" down here but I couldn't even imagine being able to afford kids or anything like that... You must spend absolutely nothing...
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Old 09-02-2009, 01:03 PM
 
2,293 posts, read 3,953,761 times
Reputation: 2111
Quote:
Originally Posted by mamaecho View Post
It always makes me laugh when people say over 50k isn't adequate.

We moved here three years ago, making 35k... living in MoCo.

Currently, we live in MoCo making 55k.. now are things tight sometimes? Sure.. but for the most part we are making it and are relatively happy financially.....
There's a major difference between what we want and what we actually need. That's why we're experiencing this credit crisis.
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Old 09-02-2009, 01:29 PM
 
Location: Montgomery Village, MD
516 posts, read 1,377,488 times
Reputation: 234
Quote:
Originally Posted by trickymost View Post
Being low income opens doors to all sorts of programs. If your income were 65k, you wouldn't be able to live in moderate income housing, and your housing costs would probably double or triple. [I'm assuming your utilities were included in your rent in your apartment].

Once you get above a certain threshold your taxes will go up, your tax benefits get phased out dramatically, and your access to programs like moderate income housing go away.

And as most will attest, the biggest budget killer in DC metro is housing, then probably day care.

Actually we paid all our utilities... From pricing around, the rental prices were pretty comparable.. we could have rented from a couple of other apartment complexes for around the same price as we paid for the "moderate income" apartment.. We were payd 1060 for a 2 bdrm.. you could go to the Hamptons (at the time anyway) and pay less than 1000 for the 2 bdrm.

So the prices were not triple or even double what "normal" prices were.
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Old 09-02-2009, 01:33 PM
 
Location: Montgomery Village, MD
516 posts, read 1,377,488 times
Reputation: 234
Quote:
Originally Posted by tercel95 View Post
I wasn't referring to you specifically... I was just referring to the frustration I had trying to do things the "right" way and on my own...

Maybe we have different opinions on what "comfortable" is... I now live in a much cheaper area and make 58k/year... I finally feel like I am "comfortable" down here but I couldn't even imagine being able to afford kids or anything like that... You must spend absolutely nothing...

I understand where you are coming from. I do get highly annoyed at people who constantly feed off the government, food stamps, subsidized housing, etc, etc,... but like I said, we were paying about the same as other apartments in the area (of course not the higher end apartments.. but for similiar ones)...

As far as spending absolutely nothing, I disagree with that.. I just have a budget that I stick to. I spend around 100 a week for groceries, and then we have a set budget for "fun" activities.. We have one car payment.. etc.. I mean, no I don't go to the mall and splurge on whatever I want, but we aren't "wanting" for anything.. We may not have the biggest tvs, or the nicest cars, but we are comfortable. Granted, when we were making less times were tougher, but hey, that's what happens in life, and God willing we will continue to move forward.
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Old 09-02-2009, 01:35 PM
 
789 posts, read 2,566,894 times
Reputation: 129
It's all relative. Standard of living and quality of life varies from person to person, regardless of income. Casing point - two friends, both of them make $200k. One lives way below his means in a modest house, old cars and complains about everything and is miserable. The other, lives in a house value at 650k in today's market, drives relativey new cars, takes his wife to dinner etc, and lives life to the fullest. So there -
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Old 09-02-2009, 01:40 PM
 
Location: Montgomery Village, MD
516 posts, read 1,377,488 times
Reputation: 234
Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyc View Post
It's all relative. Standard of living and quality of life varies from person to person, regardless of income. Casing point - two friends, both of them make $200k. One lives way below his means in a modest house, old cars and complains about everything and is miserable. The other, lives in a house value at 650k in today's market, drives relativey new cars, takes his wife to dinner etc, and lives life to the fullest. So there -

Haha well I agree with that.. You can be happy regardless of how much or little you make

My only point is that it's more than possible to live here in MD without making a trillion dollars
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