(Raises hand and jumps up and down in anticipation) OMG!! Can I come too?!
H and I were just reminiscing about when the 2 of us could go out for a nice dinner with wine for under $100. We can’t seem to manage that anymore unless we go to a BYOB. Eating out where we live is very expensive and I really do not even eat that much. I will usually skip an appetizer and if we order dessert I will just have a few spoonfuls of H’s. Entree’s are now in the $30’s and with a few glasses of wine each or a bottle we are over $100. Then we tip 20%.
$100?! And here I thought Ann Arbor’s food was fairly outrageous. Thanks the restaurant gods that prices aren’t disgusting so I can continue to eat out. … Excuse me while I start making a list of all the place I can never live.
Honestly, even if I could afford $100 meals, I don’t think I could stomach spending that much money on a meal other than for a really special occasion. I’m sure I could condition myself up to it, but in this stage in my life it’s a no-go.
Mr R drinks wine but won’t buy it in a restaurant. I don’t drink wine but I do like beer. We probably only get an alcoholic drink with dinner once a week and even then only one of us drinks because I refuse to have either of us drive even after one drink.
I remember what it was like when I first graduated. I am also at an age when I want to eat and drink what I want. One great thing about living in NYC is there is no worry of DUI, plenty of uber and cabs around. I also love walking.
I’m not a drinker so it’s not money, even though I do kid about it.
“I really hope this thread doesn’t devolve into a “women should be afraid to drink” discussion.”
Talking about women being careful about their alcohol consumption is not a devolving conversation. It is something that parents should be having a serious conversation with their children about, both boys and girls. Women, in particular, should never, EVER drink so much that they are incapacitated and unaware of what they are doing, particularly in public places. At age 52 and having drunk more than my share of alcohol over the years, being quite often in the company of mostly men, I have never, ever, been completely incapacitated by alcohol. Why? Because I’m not entirely stupid!
It’s probably fortunate I don’t have daughters, as they would have to hear me endlessly lecture about protecting themselves. However, they would be as safe as any kid could be.
Will your daughter be involved with any organizations that provide services for developmentally disabled young adults? That’s are the things I would want…
- Recreation activities.
- Someone to help monitor paying of bills in a timely fashion.
- Availability of job resources and job coaches, if and when needed.
These things could help cut some of the costs in your estimate…especially recreation.
It is wonderful that you are planning this out well. It will be a wonderful gift to both of your daughters to have this done.
One of my kid doesn’t drink. The other one does drink hard liquor even, not just wine, but she often goes to the bar with a least one friend and then they Über home.
^^Good for them, unless they get one of those crazy Uber drivers I’ve read about. However, since it’s all so trackable, it’s probably safe to ride with Uber.
Young people sure need to be careful, that’s for sure.
@Thumper1, those are good suggestions.
Yes. she already is.
I thought Ann Arbor food was expensive when I lived there, but based on the few other places I’ve seen food prices for (and I’m not talking San Francisco or anything, places where you wouldn’t expect food to be expensive), Ann Arbor seems quite reasonable. The stereotype of Ann Arbor being super expensive is only due to rent I think, nothing else seems to be expensive there.
Bus, I’ve heard that crazy Uber story. But mine Uber with a roommate so she is not alone ever.
$40,000/yr. should be plenty to live on as long as you don’t try to live high on the hog. The wild card expense would be costs for any needed supervision if relatives and social agencies can’t or won’t provide.
I think you can’t make a generalized statement that 40000 yr is plenty to live on.
In San Francisco or Marin it isn’t going to go that far. When my D lived in the city she made more and she still felt like she didn’t have money to eat out or increase her savings account as much as she wished. Granted she lived alone which was her choice.
My other D has moved to a small town in Ca and in that area $40000 is plenty of money.
If one is able to save money on side than expenses are being met. I understand some areas are more expensive to get by…I was really just trying to point out in post #132 that expenses for supervision as an added expense could get costly.
Pretty sure my parents are both spending less than 40K/yr to live on, if you exclude medical and dental. That adds a lot. However, they don’t have to pay rent/mortgage, and their utility bill is nothing, as they only heat a few rooms. My dad won’t spend money on things that I consider ridiculous to do without (like fixing their bathroom sink, so they don’t have to wash their hands in the bathtub), yet will buy all organic food. It’s a pretty eccentric way to live, especially when you have plenty of money in the bank, and kids willing to help you if you didn’t.
I just think so much of this is person specific, as opposed to general. One person may have things they consider essential, and someone else may completely forgo that expense.
Weddings are a big budget buster for my kids - especially if you are in the wedding party. How do you say no to a close friend. Between the clothes, gift, transportation, hotels, bachelor/bachelorette, engagement party and shower. Not unreasonable to go to half a dozen weddings in a year when you are of a certain age.
We found a town that is cheaper to live in than surrounding towns with the same school system. Still live near NYC due to family, so it is expensive. Services are very good in our area.
My brother’s son is both high-functioning autistic per doctors yet will never be able to live on his own without constant supervision. I was told that he is high-functioning because he is toilet-trained and can dress himself and feed himself. But he behaves like a 5 year old in terms of speech, and that’s not even apt because he has trouble with echolalia (repeating what is said to him over and over) and answering questions with more than one word.
Problem is that my brother chose to live somewhere where his house is half the price of mine, but same size of my house (5 BR, 3 ba). Basically as rural as you can get within 45 minutes of NYC. His son currently is bused almost an hour away to a school for kids with autism and other special needs. Most children at the school are not as well off as he is. He has learned some basic tasks but mainly he works with my brother and his wife helping their small business.
My fear is that when he graduates (ages out) in June 2017, they will keep him home to work for them for basically free (packing items and putting on labels) and won’t get him into the community and into programs for developmentally disabled adults. The hard part is over; he qualifies for state aid and his parents have guardianship (he is 20).
But both parents have to work, though one works at home, so not sure how they can get him to any programs. I fear that the easiest future for his parents is to keep him home, but I feel that going from 6 hours per day of dealing with many people to dealing with one person only will be very worrisome. They are even trying to get his cousin to live with them and go to the local community college, but they seem to ignore that he is on the spectrum too though just got his license at 25 and works two fast food jobs.
Money is an issue for them, but they have used DDD funds to do things like put in a pool and build a deck, so I think they need a wake-up call about how he will live without being away from home 8 hours per day and socialized. The lack of services in the area is severe, and any day programs would be at least 30 minutes away and out of county.
As for alcohol, I hate when they don’t put drink prices on the menu. We were on vacation, and went to a small cafe, and they had $2.99 glasses of wine. I’d get fresh-squeezed orange juice and pour it into the wine to make a pseudo-mimosa… Many places we go, even those that are around $100 for five people, still have $10 alcoholic beverages. It’s better to skip when out.
@dstark, have you heard back from the assessor’s office?