Lets Just solve it all this way. any aspiring politician must drive Obamas rusty hole car, and eat off of Romneys old ironing table in a persons basement that makes 50k a year. They must live that way for a year then go off and get rich.

Originally posted by OccamsRazor04

Originally posted by MaMaa
I guess I always assumed middle income was anywhere from 50K-100K. We live comfortably on 60K for a family of 6 in Colorado. We don't have fancy stuff, but we do ok, our cars are paid off and we have no real debt to speak of other than our mortgage. And even though we are in what I thought was middle income, we do better than most around us.

So 4 children. The estimate in America is $11k per child per year. With 4 children you spend $44k/yr. That leaves 16k for housing/saving/cars/other expenses. I personally spend about $5000/yr on gas and food (only buying cheapest food possible). Now add on housing, which is 10-15k/yr. You are now broke, hope you dont have tuition reimbursement. Oh, you also can look forward to at least $40k more sending your kids to college. $60k with 4 kids is barely making it. I make $30k single with no kids and I can barely get by.

There is no way that we spend 11k per kid every year, I don't give a crap who is estimating that, it simply isn't true for me. I'm a fairly smart shopper, but we also grow a good portion of our food, have chickens for eggs and I cook from scratch so that helps to stretch our food budget. We are not broke, but we are not exactly ahead and saving as much as we would like. As for college, I am not planning on paying for my kids college expenses, they have always been aware of this. Scholarships, grants, loans, ect... They will be responsible for their college education, although they are welcome to live at home while going to school if they are going to a college close enough to do so.

We live smart, we are frugal and I even manage to go on vacations.

Originally posted by StargateSG7

Originally posted by Ratisch
$25,000 is middle class? Where in this country can you live comfortably on $25,000 a year? Gas cost 4 bucks a gallon. Bread is $2.39 a loaf. Hamburg is $4.79 a pound. How can a family making $25,000 survive let alone be considered to be middle class? In my book $25,000 is poverty. ......

I kinda laugh at man Americans who think they're areas of the country is expensive.

Here in Vancouver, Canada...i just bought a loaf of bread for $4.67.

That same hamburger is over $7.00 a pound

Gas is $5.82 a gallon today

A gallon of milk is $4.98 instead of the $1.99 you pay.

My movie ticket is $13.00 PER PERSON!

Apartment rent for a 1 bedroom is $900 per month or for my 2 bedroom $1100/mnth + $300/month in utilities.

cell phone plans are usually in the $40 to $60 a month range.

Cable is between $35 to $70 a month

a bus ride is $5.00 ONE WAY (3 zone cross city)

Life is cheap where you live in the US compared to many other places in the world.

edit on 2012/9/16 by StargateSG7 because: selling

I think Canada would grow even faster if your gas was only $3 a gallon.

- More disposable income -

Originally posted by MaMaa

Originally posted by OccamsRazor04

Originally posted by MaMaa
I guess I always assumed middle income was anywhere from 50K-100K. We live comfortably on 60K for a family of 6 in Colorado. We don't have fancy stuff, but we do ok, our cars are paid off and we have no real debt to speak of other than our mortgage. And even though we are in what I thought was middle income, we do better than most around us.

So 4 children. The estimate in America is $11k per child per year. With 4 children you spend $44k/yr. That leaves 16k for housing/saving/cars/other expenses. I personally spend about $5000/yr on gas and food (only buying cheapest food possible). Now add on housing, which is 10-15k/yr. You are now broke, hope you dont have tuition reimbursement. Oh, you also can look forward to at least $40k more sending your kids to college. $60k with 4 kids is barely making it. I make $30k single with no kids and I can barely get by.

There is no way that we spend 11k per kid every year, I don't give a crap who is estimating that, it simply isn't true for me. I'm a fairly smart shopper, but we also grow a good portion of our food, have chickens for eggs and I cook from scratch so that helps to stretch our food budget. We are not broke, but we are not exactly ahead and saving as much as we would like. As for college, I am not planning on paying for my kids college expenses, they have always been aware of this. Scholarships, grants, loans, ect... They will be responsible for their college education, although they are welcome to live at home while going to school if they are going to a college close enough to do so.

We live smart, we are frugal and I even manage to go on vacations.

So what you are saying is at $60k your kids can look forward to their own college bills, you have to grow your own food, you have chickens, are barelyu able to save, and you are very frugal, yet $100k is rich? You are barely making it. Your description of your life confirms that Romney is right. When you can barely survive on $60k, $200k is not rich. It's at the tip top of middle class, upper middle.

Originally posted by OccamsRazor04

So what you are saying is at $60k your kids can look forward to their own college bills, you have to grow your own food, you have chickens, are barelyu able to save, and you are very frugal, yet $100k is rich? You are barely making it. Your description of your life confirms that Romney is right. When you can barely survive on $60k, $200k is not rich. It's at the tip top of middle class, upper middle.

Even if I made more I wouldn't pay for my kids college. We don't 'have' to grow our own food or have chickens, we do it because it's healthier than the crap in the stores. I was frugal when we were dirt poor and I still am now, that has not changed with more money. However I never said.. least I don't think I said that 100K is rich. I'm just saying 200K is not middle class. We are debt free and maybe it's just perception, but I'd hardly say we are just barely making it. Yes we certainly could save more, but the fact that we save at all is better than a lot of 'average' people. I would suspect for most 200K a year would be rich.