Cost Of Living Today versus 30 years ago

[mickeyfan2]

And savings is at an all time low. Think there's a connection?

Actually this is not the cause IMHO. It is the low interest rates and the lack of a need for a down payment (80/10/10, 80/20, interest only type mortgages) that caused this. Now the low rate of savings is another discussion that is happening on another thread.

Does your wife work? Could she get a night job (after you get home) to help save for the downpayment. BTW we bought the land and paid it off before starting the home. That way we had more than 20% down on our home. We could have bought a home soon than 30, but built only wanted to have one home, our dream home, so we waited a little longer. This was the right decision for us.

 

[boomhauer]

Actually this is not the cause IMHO. It is the low interest rates and the lack of a need for a down payment (80/10/10, 80/20, interest only type mortgages) that caused this. Now the low rate of savings is another discussion that is happening on another thread.

Does your wife work? Could she get a night job (after you get home) to help save for the downpayment. BTW we bought the land and paid it off before starting the home. That way we had more than 20% down on our home. We could have bought a home soon than 30, but built only wanted to have one home, our dream home, so we waited a little longer. This was the right decision for us.

My wife works a full time job, which requires her to work 2 nights a week. I wouldn't let her work anymore.

My concern is, sure, we can save money for a year or 2, have the money for a down payment, buy a house, but then - Would I be able to ever save any money?

I plan on making serious changes this year in my 401k and what I invest in so that I can start saving alot more money. Not sure which corners I'm gonna cut, but I'm gonna be 30 next month, and I better start cutting somewhere.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

My wife works a full time job, which requires her to work 2 nights a week. I wouldn't let her work anymore.

My concern is, sure, we can save money for a year or 2, have the money for a down payment, buy a house, but then - Would I be able to ever save any money?

I plan on making serious changes this year in my 401k and what I invest in so that I can start saving alot more money. Not sure which corners I'm gonna cut, but I'm gonna be 30 next month, and I better start cutting somewhere.

You could start with cutting down on vacations for a few years.

In fact start a journal tracking EVERYTHING you buy on a DAILY basis. You might be surprised to find how many extras there really are that you can cut.

 

[cardaway]

My concern is, sure, we can save money for a year or 2, have the money for a down payment, buy a house, but then - Would I be able to ever save any money?

The difference would be the equity you would have and that's huge.

Based on what you said your rent is, we were in the same boat once. Saved up the extra until we had enough and then got a house and ended up with a house payment lower than the rent check we were paying. Remember, the first house isn't going to be your dream house.

 

[Crankyshank]

I'm from MA and most of my friends have houses or condos that they bought between the ages of 25-28. They used FHA, put vacations on hold, bought small if they lived in a high home cost area, and saved up. Paying $1200 a month in rent is ridiculous when you could be paying the same on a house.

When our rent got to $950 for a 2BR/2BA apt we decided enough was enough and we got a house with $0 down. Sure it's small and it needs work but at least we have equity instead of throwing money away. The problem with a lot of people is they expect their first house to be their forever dream house

 

[golfgal]

Growing up all of my parents friends had houses. My parents were about 22-24 when they bought their first house. Their friends were all probably about the same ages give or take a few years. DH and I bought our first house when we were 24. Both my parents have college educations as did pretty much all of their friends so I don't know if that makes a difference or not. Most of our friends bought houses with in a year or so, give or take, of when we did. Our first house was about 1000 sq ft, not including the basement.

 

[hmgolden]

I'm 26, DH is 25. We live in Dutchess County, NY. The housing prices here are a bit out of control, much like the rest of the Northeast. We don't make a lot of money, but we live comfortably and we do have our 'toys', but we have no cc debt. We bought our first home last year. We did this simply by making choices. We don't have fancy cars my any means (DH has a 97 Altima, I have a 04 Sentra that we do have a loan for), we don't eat out very often, we don't have the nicest clothes, but we have a HOME. We are no longer putting the large amount of money we were putting in our savings account every month, but we are still saving money by living a little more frugally than we did before (less take out food!). When I get my first paycheck of the year that has my raise in it, the 'new' extra money will automatically go into our savings account. That's the choice we make.

Many in our generation don't make the choice. They get everything they want when they want it and they put it on the credit card. Some day that's going to come back to haunt them.

I think our parents generation was much more discrimating about what was a need, what is a want. A cell phone is rarely a need. Starbucks is hardly a need when you can make the same cup of coffee at home for a fraction of the cost. High speed internet is not a right. But many people our age think they are and think they couldn't live without them. I remember when my parents got us basic cable when I was 10. My brother and I thought we were living in the lap of luxury! I think us 20 somethings, and those younger than us are used to having things handed to us - and when we have to pay for them it comes as a bit of a shock!

 

[boomhauer]

When our rent got to $950 for a 2BR/2BA apt we decided enough was enough and we got a house with $0 down. Sure it's small and it needs work but at least we have equity instead of throwing money away. The problem with a lot of people is they expect their first house to be their forever dream house

See - Another issue is, we have LOTS of space right now. We have the 1st and 2nd floors of the apartment. We've got 2 living rooms, 2 kitchen areas, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. It's great. Problem is - No equity.

The difficulty factor between finding an affordable 2 bedroom home and a 3 bedroom home is much more than I think anyone truly realizes.

 

[pamlet]

I agree with the OP that housing costs have increased dramatically. But it still boils down to choices. Over the years I've known folks to move to another state so they could own a home - I also know that WE made the choice to buy a doublewide on 1/2 an acre 13 years ago.... for 53,000. Even by the standards in those days that was a deal! I couldn't touch it today for under 100,000 probably - it hasn't increased as regular housing - but I still have my fenced 1/2 acre...

My husband and I were talking about the housing here in San Antonio - and the VAST developments of houses 400,000 and up. I can't IMAGINE how couples buy these homes. He pointed out that WE made other choices than a fancy house. We have multiple computers (and have had them for 10 years.. upgrading quite often). Keeping up with the technology in computing has put my oldest son on his career path - at 21 he's making a LOT more money than we did at his age. We've taken some GREAT family vacations.. I was able to "retire" 2 years ago to be a stay at home mom... We've got plenty of "we wants" .. that if we have to cut we can..

When I cut work I cut our income by over a 1/3 - but since we didn't have a house payment (we paid off our place in 10 years) it didn't hurt as badly.. We also eat mostly at home now - since I'm here to cook and not working until 7 - 8 and picking up BBQ, Chinese or Pizza..

 

[cardaway]

See - Another issue is, we have LOTS of space right now. We have the 1st and 2nd floors of the apartment. We've got 2 living rooms, 2 kitchen areas, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. It's great. Problem is - No equity.

Well then never move. You seem to be dead set against anything anybody posts even it was very successful and exactly like your situation. If you're looking for your first house to be like that, then I don't think anybody can help you.

 

[Crankyshank]

I think people who have spent any time perusing the real estate ads and going house hunting over the past 3-5yrs are well aware of how difficult it is to find affordable housing. More than well aware in fact. It's one of the most popular topics of discussion around here - second only to gas prices.

Regarding the space issue in an apt vs a starter home - you can always add square footage to a house and it's something that's yours and it's equity

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I'm starting to feel that we are beating our heads against the wall. The OP just wants to whine. It's a choice he's really not ready to make at this time. He wants the perfect house at the perfect price to just fall in his lap, without making any lifestyle changes.

 

[Crankyshank]

*shrug* I'd personally live in a shack if it meant having my own washer & dryer and not living with my mil.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

*shrug* I'd personally live in a shack if it meant having my own washer & dryer and not living with my mil.

Amen. I have had my MIL over my house for the last three days, and I am ready to jump off the nearest causeway. Luckily this is the last day. After dinner tonight, off she goes.

 

[boomhauer]

I'm starting to feel that we are beating our heads against the wall. The OP just wants to whine. It's a choice he's really not ready to make at this time. He wants the perfect house at the perfect price to just fall in his lap, without making any lifestyle changes.

I beg your pardon.

Sorry - If You don't like what I have to say, then don't reply. I don't expect ANYTHING to fall into my lap. Personally, I don't even want a house. I'm perfectly content where I am. This thread took a like of it's own, and I just added to it. I started asking about comparisons between living today and 30 years ago.

You don't know me or what my intentions are. You wanna badmouth me - PM me.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I beg your pardon.

Sorry - If You don't like what I have to say, then don't reply. I don't expect ANYTHING to fall into my lap. Personally, I don't even want a house. I'm perfectly content where I am. This thread took a like of it's own, and I just added to it. I started asking about comparisons between living today and 30 years ago.

You don't know me or what my intentions are. You wanna badmouth me - PM me.

I wasn't bad mouthing you, I was stating what I was seeing happening on this thread. For eveything that everyone else posted about making choices, your first house may not be your dream house, etc. you had some kind of excuse. That's all.

 

[boomhauer]

I wasn't bad mouthing you, I was stating what I was seeing happening on this thread. For eveything that everyone else posted about making choices, your first house may not be your dream house, etc. you had some kind of excuse. That's all.

Saying that I'm "whining" isn't badmouthing me? Hmmm.

I never said anything about first house being a dream house. I could live in a apartment the next 10 years, and as long as I have the room, be happy.

Why is it, that my REASONS are excuses? Because you don't agree with them?

Good lord - I hope you're not a moderator on any of these boards. Think how few threads we would have.

 

[dvcgirl]

I grew up in a middle class family and our lifestyle was nowhere near as extravagant as ours today. Vacations consisted of camping at the lake rather than 8 days at Disney World. As far as activities went, I was on the swimteam and drill team. My parents wouldn't have dreamed of shelling out what basically amounts to an additional car payment for me to participate in competitive sports. Furthermore, as others have stated, there just wasn't as much 'stuff' to blow money on....cellphones, nanos, Nintendo DS. It was a huge deal to me when I got my own phone for my room. Not a private line...just a phone in my room! Also, my parents didn't have college funds for either of us. Both my sister and I lived at home and worked our way through college. My parent's idea of helping us out with our college expenses was not charging us rent!

With the exception of college, that was a very typical middle-class lifestyle back in the 70's and 80's. I remember how shocked all of my friends were when I got a brand new Camaro for my 16th birthday. Everyone thought we must be rich. I was commenting to DH just the other day how I've noticed that you don't see as many teenagers working in fast food establishments or grocery stores anymore. He explained that they don't have to - their parents pay for everything. I suppose that is true. Expectations have changed.

You just described my childhood . The only difference is that my parents did contribute some to each of our college educations....basically, they had saved some and took out a couple of small loans. The rest we paid for. However, we all learned the real value of a dollar and we learned to live within and even below our means. My DH and I make a very healthy salary now, and we're able to save a great deal of that because of the lessons learned from our parents. But also, our parents had little choice but to live the way they did back then. There was no such thing as immediate credit. And they didn't have to worry about saving for retirement as we do because our fathers had reliable pensions. They also both worked at the same job for 30+ years. Those days are over....we're all responsible for our own retirements now. Well, to a large degree anyway.

To the OP, I've seen the post with your budgets and your costs don't seem off the charts to me at all. And dude, I'm not picking on you, but based on your budget and the fact that you're renting...you have a list a mile long of trips taken to WDW. I know, I know....you probably didn't put them on a CC, (perhaps your spouse works full time too), but back 30 years ago, somebody using 50% of a monthly paycheck on just the rent payment could not have afforded to go to Walt Disney World. No way...no how. Just an example of how things have changed these days. And this is something that I see *all* the time around here. People will comment in one thread that they make less than 40K, and in another thread that they're spending a week at the Grand Floridian this summer. In my mind, those two things could not possibly exsist together in the same world. Yes, it's possible they could have saved 5 years for that trip, or that Grandma payed for it, but it's more likely that it's being thrown on a CC...either all of it, or part of it. Or that the vacation to WDW will take place at the expense of the 401K contribution.

I think one of the reasons that my DH and I have done so well and be able to save so much is because we learned great lessons from our parents, and then went to college and onto successful careers. We learned early that the "Keep up with the Joneses" gig is a fruitless and ridiculous game. A life filled with things and stuff and precious memories in "Our trips to Disney" family album give no security. And so while both sets of parents in our family are enjoying really nice and worry-free retirements, well, we will end up far wealthier by the time we decide to retire...mostly by living our lives the way we do and not spending every penny we make. Remember...it's not what you make, it's what you keep. It's all about balance....

 

[bcvillastwo]

As the OP just said a few frames ago

I started asking about comparisons between living today and 30 years ago.

So what is the conclusion, is the standard of living better today or was it better 30 years ago? As I said early on, I the standard of living based on deflating todays prices to 1976 seems about the same based on making $50 K today with a median mid west house valued at $173,000 or so.

I tend to agree with one of the undercurrents in this thread is the many people today want it all right now. The fact of the matter is that for most people their incomes will go up over time and as a result they will be able to afford nicer things as their income increases.

Most people do not stay at their starting income level all of their lives.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Good lord - I hope you're not a moderator on any of these boards. Think how few threads we would have.

No worries. I couldn't be paid to be a moderator of any of these boards.