midwifetanya

Hi All!



Was hoping for a little advice!
Living an 'average' lifestyle.. is $65K enough money to live comfortably for a family of 5 (3 kids, 6,3, 1) in Charlotte North Carolina if we are renting? with little other outgoing?
Thanks in advance.
Tanya

mellybrown

what would you class as average??

md95065

It all depends what you mean by an 'average' lifestyle and how sure you are that you will have "little other outgoing" other than rental expenses.

You need to consider things like how many cars you are going to have (and how much it will cost to insure them) and how much you are going to be spending on health insurance. Are you going to need to pay for day care for the kids and what kind of schools are you going to send them to?

That having been said, Charlotte isn't a particularly expensive place to live.

The only way that you can really answer this question is to do some research on the actual cost of housing, health care, insurance etc in that area and them come up with your own budget and see whether or not it works for you.

I suspect that the answer is that you can live on that amount, but that for a familty of 5 it might be a bit tight - it all depends what your expectations are.

lisag8070

hmmm..things are going to be a bit tight...seen as though theres five in the family...

will you need two cars or one?

What sized apartment..3 or 4 bedroom..or even house?

will the young uns be going to day care?

are you both going to work?

do you need to buy all the furniture or are you bringing any?

Someone who lives closer by may be able to tell you exactly what you'd be looking at...but I would hazzard a guess at

$1-1800 for apartment or even a house
$600-800 for two nice/new cars..(but you could half this if you get older cars)
$100 for electric (or even more if you run the AC a lot)
$70-100 cable..(or you could bundle and pay $120 for cable, phone and internet, depending on how "basic you want the cable"
$150-300 per month for car insurance (this depends on whether you have any driving experience in America and hold a US Drivers Licence for the past 3 yrs)


and of course this is not including gas and food bills..and of course the all important Health Insurance

again just a guess

midwifetanya

Hi Guys,


Thanks for your replies!

Sorry to ask such a vague question....well, half of the health insurance premium is covered by the employer, we will just have one car, no daycare, standard state school...no other debt ie loans, credit cards etc
Thanks Tan

midwifetanya

Hi,


Yes, we will ship the furniture from here, and would probably be looking at a 4 bed house. Is the $600-$800 per month for cars for a loan repayment or running costs?
I may well be working...but initially not
Thanks,
Tan

NC Penguin

You might want to try this cost of living comparison calculator:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/movecalc....4356421927971

I would enter Raleigh, NC in the upper field and Charlotte, NC in the lower to get an idea about cost of living.

lisag8070

oh its loan payments..but like I said thats for nicer newer cars...again it depends on whether you have any credit rating here...if you do great..if you don't...the interest rate will be higher..but if you've got enough money to but an older car outright..this might be an option..

Dan725

I'd say no "to live comfortably". You might just about scrape by.

MsElui

also beware of just trying to get by on one car - they dont walk anywhere here (except in big cities) so unless you wish to drive your partner round to work and back etc - or be without a car all day then you will need 2.

dbj1000

Too bloody right MsElui! I've seen way too many unhappy trailing spouses on this site alone whose lives have been made miserable by the assumption that hubby can take the car to work while wife and kids hang around at home and quickly find that walking anywhere just isn't an option.

dbj1000

From that link, Charlotte NC is <3% cheaper than Plano TX to live in.

...so I would say to the OP "hell no!", $65k would certainly not be enough for our family of 4 to live easily or comfortably. Sure, you could scrape by, but I definitely wouldn't move across the world for that kind of salary, and the associated standard of living.

midwifetanya

Thanks guys...
Very helpful info....looks like I may have to re register as a general nurse and get back out to work....or re think the whole thing.
Tanya

scrubbedexpat091

Average household income is 62,000 a year in Charlotte. So 65k is already better then the average.

Steerpike

I second (third?) that message!