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mymaineaccount46 t1_ja3p4pc wrote

Reply to comment by metalandmeeples in Maine Child Care Subsidy by Dry-Date-6730

Those are real numbers so it's a bit wild to say they are unrealistic.

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Dry-Date-6730 OP t1_ja3vkfe wrote

Realistic to whom? Your user name suggests you don't live in Maine full time, which means you must have a certain level of income outside the norm for most Mainers.

I'm not trying to be rude, but your baseline for most Mainers is not accurate. $400 for groceries is not going to feed a family of 4 with today's prices. You left a little of $1700 for other expenses. That is not enough for car payment, sewer, water, electricity, oil Internet, gas, meds and other necessities.

I don't know your story, but with the evidence I have I cannot imagine you raised kids within the last decade.

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mymaineaccount46 t1_ja4d6am wrote

I'm a full time Maine resident. My income is low for what you see on this sub. Total household income for my wife and I is around $82k. I have a kid still in diapers. Paid for my car in full and my household shares 1 car. We don't like having a car payment. I feed my family for less than that most weeks and we eat pretty well.

I imagine you probably make more than I do individually and if you have a working partner probably more on a household level. Unless your a paraprofessional in education who make a true pittance.

Just because you don't want to believe what I'm saying doesn't make it un true. I've been very cautious with money over the years and I've been good with it.

Maybe post your budget if you can't make what's going on work? Someone could steer you in the right direction.

Edit: I want to add I'm really not trying to be a dick and I would gladly try to help on a budget. This site just tends to believe everything is impossible and there's nothing that can be done to make a situation work when that is often not the case.

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metalandmeeples t1_ja3yaj1 wrote

They are either trying to gaslight people or are just out of touch.

They also likely didn't budget $7750 to max out an HSA account. Without that we'd be in perpetual medical debt.

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mymaineaccount46 t1_ja4ct9h wrote

I don't have an HSA eligible insurance. We have an emergency fund and have never been in deep medical debt because we can afford our Copayments.

Not everything is gaslighting just because you don't like to hear it. What point is there to lie about finances on reddit of all places?

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metalandmeeples t1_ja4wos5 wrote

Where do you live in Maine? That could explain a lot here. We didn't have a choice of medical insurance plan so we have what we have. That's something else that is the norm.

The gaslighting comment isn't implying you're lying about finances, it's about you dismissing what is very clearly the norm as if it isn't the norm.

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metalandmeeples t1_ja3tr37 wrote

Maybe in 2005. I'd wager the average student loan borrower today is paying back at least $600/mo on the 10 year plan. Two borrowers? Double it, obviously.

As for childcare, others clearly disagree with you there too. Just look at the OP.

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mymaineaccount46 t1_ja4dczi wrote

I was in highschool in 2005. My debt is a very realistic number for attending a state school and graduating within the past decade.

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metalandmeeples t1_ja4s2eu wrote

The average is around $40,000 which is about what both my wife and I had. I lived at home until I was 28 (I'm 40 now) and paid them off. Most people I know that graduated in the last 10 years have ~$1000/mo student loan payments. Your story and my story are not the norm. The difference here is I'm aware of that fact.

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mymaineaccount46 t1_ja5263c wrote

I left at about average. I had 38k after graduation. There are many payment options to lower your monthly bill and you can always pay above the bill amount.

I don't know a single person who ended up with a $1k a month student loan payment and they've all graduated or attended college in the past decade.

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metalandmeeples t1_ja55ybr wrote

$38K on a 10-year plan is going to be a hell of a lot more than $300/mo. Considering two incomes are almost a requirement now to buy a house, unless your partner came from money they will likely have student loans of their own. We waited until our late 30s to have children because of this. Both of our parents had children in their early-to-mid 20s.

I'm not the one downvoting you by the way.

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mymaineaccount46 t1_ja5ylpy wrote

You don't have to be on a ten year plan. You can do 25 or income based. These generally lower your monthly payment and there is no penalty for paying more. I had mine on 25 but paid them back aggressively. Plus student loans have been paused for a long time now, and I think still are. It's not something that should have impacted most people's budgets for the past two years.

You're a bit older than me as I'm in my thirties. You may just think the situation is worse for people younger and it really isn't. There are options if people choose to pursue them and the opinion on this site really doesn't reflect reality.

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metalandmeeples t1_ja7byvt wrote

You don't have to, but there are many people out there who are not financially disciplined enough to be on a longer plan and pay anything more than the minimum. I don't think my original comment was focused enough and is mostly based on my own personal experiences. I live in a neighborhood about 30 minutes north of Portland that isn't too dissimilar from the one I or my wife grew up in. The difference, however, is that the parents here who have children are either older, have two graduate-level+ careers, and/or have family helping out with childcare. The couples that don't have children still have two white collar incomes. I grew up on a police officer's salary and my wife on a truck driver's salary. The average first time homeowner demographic is very different today.

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