What is your family income?

My3LilMonkeys wrote: Just curious - from the responses to the article Jeanne posted, several people though the $60,000 'average' was low while others thought it was very high so I thought it would be interesting to see what was average here on PC.

TANNER'S MOM replied: I think one thing important to remember is 60,000 a year in my area maybe good money because our cost of living is lower, where someone who loves in New York, it's peanuts.

Boys r us replied: you know..DH and I were talking the other night about this, it seems like it doesn't matter how much you make, it's never enough!!!!!!!
I remember when we were first starting out, between the both of us we made what would seem to be a very reasonable income, above average. Then Rick continued to climb the corporate ladders and make more and we started our company and in turn made even more...but it's still not enough most days!! I guess if you're filthy rich, it would be enough..but that's not us..so we just keep dreaming about what we'd do if we won the lottery..probably complain b/c we only won 20 million instead of 80 million and talk about how it's just not enough! LOL

My3LilMonkeys replied:
I know a lot of people who are the same way - they won't play the lottery unless it hits more than $100 million - ask them why and they'll say 'why waste my dollar for ONLY a $15 million jackpot'

Teesa®© replied: Are we talking gross income or net income?

lovemy2 replied:
Mel is totally right -we are in NY - we wouldn't have the house we have and our kids wouldn't have the things they have, etc. etc. if we made $60,000 a year - we probably would never have had Dylan - we are well above that but like Nicole said - its still not "enough" we still have to watch what we spend.......

moped replied:
gross i am guessing

lisar replied:
I have to agree here.

Crystalina replied: Our gross is about $96,000 but we have an adjusted gross which is much lower.

::ETA::

much, much lower.

PrairieMom replied:
I don't necessarily agree, at least, that isn't the way things seem to be going for us. I can honestly say that I am happy with where we are, and I wouldn't want to be in a position where I have millions and millions of dollars.

5littleladies replied:
I was thinking the same thing. We don't need more money to make us happy. If we just had a little extra to pay off our debt we would be extatic!

MommyToAshley replied:
Do you mind if I ask why you wouldn't want to be in the position of having millions? Wouldn't it be great to be Oprah and be able to give back to so many. When I watched her trip to Africa, it brought tears to my eyes watching the joy on those kids faces. Can you imagine being able to do that all the time?

msoulz replied:
That would be amazing - but can you also imagine how many need that and you can't do it for everyone? That would be hard too.

The grass is always greener for sure, and as they say, money doesn't buy happiness.

I don't at all agree that what we have is never enough. We just want more and more once we have the basics covered. It's the American way. (and of course, I don't mean everyone, so please don't anyone get personally offended by that, it is just a saying . . .) JMHO

My2Beauties replied:
I wish I had your outlook on life, a cool few mil would be sooooo nice right now

mommy~to~a~bunch replied:
Same here! If we had enough to pay off all debts, we'd be so freakin' happy! We would not need to move, and we love this place here. It will be hard to give it up.

Teesa®© replied: Our net right now is $24 000 and half of that is taken by FRO.

holley79 replied: We make decent money for our area. What we make in our area wouldn't be enough in Atlanta. Oh I could so have millions, a girl could dream (Those who have millions though aren't happy either from what I've seen) but realistically I would like to just have a new vehicle and our house paid off.

mummy2girls replied:
what is fro...

mummy2girls replied: When I strted off on my own with jenna I was only making 20 thousand a yr. but now that i have my dayhome i make well over 35 and then with marcus together is close to 60... more as he gets his education and better job:)

My2Beauties replied: Man this made me think I'm really prou of myself, in 6 years I've managed to go from making only $18k per year (at around 21) to making $50k per year at 27. Six figures here I come..... yeah right, but a girl can dream (it'll take a while to get that ahead)!

Teesa®© replied: FRO is Family Responsibility Office... it's for child support.

PrairieMom replied:
Having $ to give would be fine, but I am talking about having $ then having to live with it. All the family members you never knew you had looking at you for help or advice, for starters.
Plus I want my children to have an appreciation for it, not to think that they are entitled to everything.
I would be uncomfortable living in a million dollar home, buying the things you need to furnish your million dollar home, it just seems senseless and wasteful.

I can honestly say that if we won the lottery, we would pay off the house, give some to family, invest some so we can retire comfortably, and give it away.

I have found that $ tends to do sad things to people.

luvmykids replied: I'm not talking about the last year because it was rough to put it mildly, but what we used to earn and what DH is earning again is fine with me. It's enough to pay the bills, shop a little, give a little, and have some fun. The kids aren't without anything and neither are we. Some days I'd like a little more but for the most part I don't find myself thinking "If only we had more money...."

I think the last year changed our views on money a lot, I didn't take it granted before, I knew we were very blessed, but I have a very different sense of what we need and what we are just fine without now.

eta: Don't get me wrong though, I'd love to win the lotto

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
ITA. Dh and I love to dream and plan about how we would divide the money up between all our family and friends if we ever won the lottery. Since most everyone we know is in a similar boat to the one we're in, it wouldn't take long to use it all up! Right now would be a good time for us to win millions... then Dh could finish school without either of us having to work while he did it, we could fix up this house and give it to his parents instead of them renting it from us while Dh is in school, and we'd have money to start over with once Dh gets his degree and can start teaching. Then of course we'd also pay off the debts of all our friends and family and buy new houses for everyone. It's fun to dream.

Boo&BugsMom replied:
Same here.

Boo&BugsMom replied:
As much as it would be great to help people, I also wouldn't want the stress of everyone and their mother knocking down our doors for charity. Family and friends start to get greedy when they know you have a ton of money. People act differently, and the love of money starts to take over people in a way they normally wouldn't act otherwise.

No thanks. I am happy knowing God will always provide for us and feel comfortable in that without having millions of dollars. There are other ways I can help people without forking over a ton of money.

I can't stand Oprah anyways.

stella6979 replied:
LOL! You and me both Jennie!!!!

coasterqueen replied:
This is us, as well. If we paid off some debt we'd be on cloud 9 with hardly no worries. We don't need a lot of extra income/money to make us happy I find those who are never happy are the ones who are really missing something in their lives that they use money to take it's place.

mommy~to~a~bunch replied:
Yes, so true Karen! If we could get out of debt, we'd be so happy too. One of the reasons we're trying to sell our house. We have several that would be perfect for us in a much better price range (around $150k). Ours is listed at $285k.