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Forum
-> Household Management
-> Finances
amother
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 Tue, Jul 16 2024, 9:52 pm
HI
Im just curious. no judgment at all
There were so many posters recently venting how difficult it is to make ends meet in this day and age. Many earned very good income. 150K, 200K, 250k or more
Im curious those below poverty level, are you making ends meet easily. How much are you able to save each month approximately? What stage of life, age are your kids?
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amother
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Tue, Jul 16 2024, 10:02 pm
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Getting by B"H but no extras really and not saving. 3 kids- toddlers and baby. Have medicaid and some SNAP
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amother
Ballota
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Tue, Jul 16 2024, 10:06 pm
| amother DarkCyan wrote: | | Getting by B"H but no extras really and not saving. 3 kids- toddlers and baby. Have medicaid and some SNAP |
Same basically. We live very simply and should cover our expenses but I haven’t been paid for a few months so we have been using savings
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amother
NeonPurple
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Tue, Jul 16 2024, 10:11 pm
I am on wic and medicaid and we are doing okay. I think we put away around a couple hundred each mo. 3 kids BH. We are putting away a bit each month. I am conscious of my spending on need vs wants and dress my kids in nice hand me downs and buy target clothes to supplement.
Keep in mind that even if we are doing okay those of you with 401k and retirement plans etc will be better off once the kids are older and move on
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amother
Pink
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Tue, Jul 16 2024, 10:15 pm
We have WIC, Medicaid and tuition vouchers (Brooklyn). We used to get SNAP but now make just above the limit.
We dip into savings every month, a few hundred.
2 little kids.
I'm finishing grad school soon so I'll start working but realistically we will probably end up in the lower middle class bracket and that's even scarier because we won't qualify for anything.
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amother
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 9:36 am
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Thanks everyone for your responses
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amother
Opal
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 10:36 am
We get medicaid, snap, wic and vouchers.
Our income dropped drastically in the last year.
We are struggling. We are living off a loan which will last us till September. And then - I trust in Hashem that he will provide. He will send us the clients and vendors for our products and services so that we can provide for our family.
My husband is due a few thousand from NYC work he did but that can take months to receive. That would tide us over till October.
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amother
Floralwhite
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 10:40 am
Husband lost job. I work full time.
Kids get Medicaid. We get wic for 1.
We don't put away and are using up our savings. We don't qualify for anything else.
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amother
Valerian
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 10:46 am
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Before my kids started school we were able to put money away and still qualify for programs. Now that we have kids in school we are burning through those savings. I don’t see how anyone could afford tuition and still be on government programs. If only we lived in a state that subsidizes tuition …
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amother
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 10:49 am
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It’s not hard to live on a low income when your family is small and your kids are little. We lived easily on approx $45k when we had 2 toddlers. We did get Medicaid. And we live in NYC where 3K and kindergarten are free in the yeshivas. Also, at that income you barely pay taxes, and get back a large refund as well generally.
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amother
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 1:01 pm
| amother Burgundy wrote: | | It’s not hard to live on a low income when your family is small and your kids are little. We lived easily on approx $45k when we had 2 toddlers. We did get Medicaid. And we live in NYC where 3K and kindergarten are free in the yeshivas. Also, at that income you barely pay taxes, and get back a large refund as well generally. |
True
The problem is that kids grow up quickly and expenses quickly get higher. Tuition, camp, teens need more expensive clothing and food etc.
Im curious to hear from those on programs who have older kids
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amother
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 1:15 pm
| amother OP wrote: | True
The problem is that kids grow up quickly and expenses quickly get higher. Tuition, camp, teens need more expensive clothing and food etc.
Im curious to hear from those on programs who have older kids |
It’s a very tiny minority of families who are super low income with older kids and are able to make it work. You won’t hear much.
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amother
Yolk
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 1:49 pm
| amother Burgundy wrote: | | It’s a very tiny minority of families who are super low income with older kids and are able to make it work. You won’t hear much. |
I think many are in chinuch.
They get free tuition for kids (especially of brother/sister school relationship)
Not sure how the money works if you are in education and pay tuition pre-tax, if that counts.
Or how parsonage works in the mix.
It’s the only way I see it working.
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amother
DarkYellow
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 3:38 pm
Large family. We get medicaid. No other gov program.
We get help before Yom tov (gift card for clothing and tomchei shabbos for food)
We obviously don't put anything in savings.
"Shop" at gemach!
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amother
Coffee
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 3:47 pm
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My state subsidizes medicaid to give free state insurance at a higher income level. 6 kids, 88k/yr and we qualified. Making ends meet but not saving at the moment. We get a $1k voucher before pesach and tuition breaks. Only 3 kids in school.
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amother
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 8:16 pm
| amother OP wrote: | True
The problem is that kids grow up quickly and expenses quickly get higher. Tuition, camp, teens need more expensive clothing and food etc.
Im curious to hear from those on programs who have older kids |
It's not really possible to be on programs 100% straight with older kids. Unless you get free tuition or something.
Jersey Care for children and the equivalent in New York have pretty high income guidelines, so that's different.
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amother
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 8:25 pm
| amother Blonde wrote: | It's not really possible to be on programs 100% straight with older kids. Unless you get free tuition or something.
Jersey Care for children and the equivalent in New York have pretty high income guidelines, so that's different. |
This is what we're talking about, no? Medicaid or equivalent. For each additional family member, the income limit is higher. Family of 8 can have income of almost 100k and get medicaid. Not speaking from experience, but I see how it can be doable with reduced tuition (with vouchers helping for partial)
Much fewer people have snap and much much people have housing assistance.
Wic is I think same like medicaid but only for nursing/preg mom and children under 5.
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amother
Gladiolus
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 8:40 pm
I have BH older kids and younger kids. We have money from an inheritance as our savings. Can't put money away on our salaries. If we took tuition breaks, we could probably break even, but we don't believe in doing that while we have the money from the inheritance to draw on. So we pay full tuition, estimate how much a family with our income would pay if we got a break, and pull the rest from savings. Our goal is for our income to cover that portion of tuition and the rest of our expenses, and BH we've been able to do that.
Our kids are on Medicaid. My husband has insurance through his job, but it doesn't cover me, so I have private insurance. When my kids were on my plan, it was so expensive that we were draining all of our savings so quickly...so even though I hated the idea of getting on a "program," I realized it was either that or asking for a tuition break (or waiting a couple of years until the entire inheritance is gone and then asking for one AND needing programs at the same time).
B"H my income is steadily increasing (taking on new, higher-paying clients, and also working more hours), and my husband's is too (he recently asked for a raise and BH received one, and he's working toawrds getting a promotion in not too long). In a couple of years I'm hoping we will a lot more, but that means we probably won't qualify anymore, which means we'll be worse off than we are now...I'm just hoping we'll have something left of those savings to help us once we start making weddings and things...
In the meantime, I've always been frugal, so that's fine. Kids all wear hand-me-downs, I rarely buy myself new clothes, groceries and meal planning are mostly based on keeping the cost down, we don't spend any money without thinking about it three times and making sure it's really a necessity. I don't mind that, though, I'd prefer to live this way than throwing money around all the time. I try to trust in Hashem and not our savings, while still taking steps towards being responsible about the future.
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amother
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 8:43 pm
| amother DarkCyan wrote: | This is what we're talking about, no? Medicaid or equivalent. For each additional family member, the income limit is higher. Family of 8 can have income of almost 100k and get medicaid. Not speaking from experience, but I see how it can be doable with reduced tuition (with vouchers helping for partial)
Much fewer people have snap and much much people have housing assistance.
Wic is I think same like medicaid but only for nursing/preg mom and children under 5. |
Only for kids. Medicaid/child health plus/jersey care for kids has a very high income limit.
For adults the income limit is much lower. I guess in my head I don't consider kids insurance "programs" because almost everyone I know is eligible (except for me).
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amother
Lime
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Wed, Jul 17 2024, 8:43 pm
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We have 6 kids BH and are on wic, Medicaid, tuition vouchers and some snap. We are making it every month BH with very calculated spending (hand me downs, no eating out etc). My husband is in chinuch. Not saving anything.
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