re: I managed to save $30k

Well, it's just kind of like I said," think of things in terms of salary numbers" "it's not about how much you make, it's about how much you spend"

It's basic math, try doing some of it.

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It's basic math

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Sure, but with a good amount of embellishment mixed in.

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You think I would stretch the the truth?

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I'm talking about the OP, bud.

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I'm a frickin Marine.

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I mean...

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I also did not have car notes. Both my wife and I were driving older vehicles that we owned outright.

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How much did your parents pay for the cars?

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they can't comprehend the possibility that they could have been saving money.

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Or maybe it's bullshite that someone at their income with a SAHM and a kid and saving $30k.

Maybe they live in a piece of shite trailer and eat canned green beans for dinner every night. If so, then they have nothing to brag about.

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In an emergency fund over 2 years when I was making only $45k out of college, married and had 1 child. And that was with my wife staying home. So what’s you “paycheck to paycheck” people’s excuses?

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This was either 30 years ago or you were living with family. My mortgage is 1400/month. Childcare is almost 2k/ a month. Your very fortunate to have been able to save money but not everybody grew up in the 70s or lives close to family.

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I'm not all over the map.

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You are. I asked really straightforward questions and you keep going on about random stuff.

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It would just take forever to tell you how it's done

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You've typed paragraph after paragraph, when all I asked for was a couple numbers.

OK, I'm back, and not drinking.
What numbers did you want?

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Well, it's just kind of like I said," think of things in terms of salary numbers" "it's not about how much you make, it's about how much you spend"

It's basic math, try doing some of it.

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It's impossible to do the math when you won't give any of the numbers that you claim to know.

But let's talk about spending. Don't you realize that you are a special case? You drive a truck, so you're away from home a lot. That greatly reduces a number of monthly expenses, most notably the utility bills and gas. Your wife manages a restaurant, so presumably she gets free meals for her and your kid. And both of your jobs allow you to take the kid to work. So right off top your situation allows you to save $1k/month over a typical family.

You also apparently owe very little on your home, so at some point either you or someone in your family put in a lot of money toward your living expenses. Most people are not so fortunate.



So let's go back to OP's claim and do the basic math more realistically without taking anything out of his take home pay for taxes like someone else did. He saved $15k out of $45k per year, so he and his family lived on $30k. That's $2500/month.

If they aren't shacking up with the extended family or living in the ghetto or a shack, a family of 3 is going to spend at least $600/month on rent or mortgage. So we have $1900 left.

It is extremely difficult to eat for less than $1/meal all month long, but let's assume your whole family can manage it and call it $300 for groceries. We have $1600 left.

Utilities for a small home or apartment shouldn't be too bad, but still $100 is probably the bottom end. $1500 left.

Let's say you get amazingly cheap insurance for the family at $200. We have $1300 left.

Let's face it, it's downright irresponsible these days for two parents to not have their own cell phones. $50/month minimum. $1250 left.

OP's wife stayed home, so with just one person driving you can probably get by spending only $50/month on gas if you don't go far. $1200 left.

You can drive a beater and only pay $100/month on it I guess. I guess insurance could be cheap at $50 (is that possible?), and oil changes might average $5/month for $155 monthly. $1045 left.

Miscellaneous household supplies, paper products, cleaning, toiletries, etc., let's call it $45 to leave an even $1,000.

So that's just what it takes to survive basically. $1500/month is gone just to not die or be homeless. That leaves $1,000/month to actually live, which includes more necessities such as buying clothes, repairing the car and things around the house, school supplies / diapers / whatever for the kid, doc visit co-pays, medicines, etc.


Don't act like it's easy. One illness in the family, or an accident, or vehicle trouble, or whatever can happen, so it takes a lot of luck to go along with the discipline. And that discipline involves not only not buying everything you see on TV, but not even having a TV. Or internet access. Or a pet. And absolutely NO activities that make life worth living.


So can it be done? Sure, anything can be done if you put your mind to it, I guess. But anyone who's doing it isn't posting on this website right now.

What you lined out there in general seem like solid numbers, for an average young couple just starting out. Maybe that's the difference, because I'm not young, and this time I was better off financially than in my previous marriages. I stand corrected, it would be difficult.