Long time no blog! I’ve decided to use this quarantine period to get back into the habit of journaling and blogging. It’s been a while, so you might feel like you’ve missed a whole season of updates. I’ll try to catch you up as we go along, but in the meantime, stay safe and remember to wash your hands.
Day 50 is here. Yesterday, I talked about how we manage to live quite comfortably on a military salary in San Diego. Can you believe it’s been 50 days already? I can’t wait for this all to be over, but San Diego, with its beautiful beaches, makes the wait a bit easier.
Living in San Diego on a budget is feasible mainly because of the housing allowance my husband receives. He gets $3,165 per month, tax-free, which is based on his rank and our marital status. This includes an extra $468 just because we’re married, meaning I don’t have to pay rent!
After covering the RV rent, our RV and truck loans, utilities (included in rent), and insurance, we have about $1,800 left from the allowance, even before touching his salary! It’s funny because some families say it’s more challenging to live in San Diego than in other places like Arizona, which also has a Marine Corps base.
I disagree. If we lived in Arizona, our housing allowance would only be $1,350. Our truck and RV payments, as well as insurance, would remain the same. Even if we found RV parking for $300 per month instead of the $900 we pay here, the amenities wouldn’t compare to what we have now. Our RV costs in Arizona would be $800 instead of $1,400, leaving us with $550 after the allowance, compared to $1,765 in San Diego. This $1,215 difference helps offset the higher cost of living in California. Aside from the $4 gas (which is cheaper on base and currently around $2.50 due to negative brent prices), other expenses aren’t much higher.
People often talk about the three biggest budget items:
Housing
Food
Transportation
In San Diego, we get $1,125 more for housing compared to Arizona. Food is affordable; I shop at Mexican supermarkets, get free vegetables from the USO twice a month, and we cook from scratch. With a budget of $200 monthly for two adults and two Great Danes (who also benefit from free food from the USO), we’ve got it covered. Transportation costs might be higher in Arizona if we needed to drive more to get around, but it balances out when comparing gas prices.
Overall, we have $1,215 extra for housing and spend an additional $50 on gas here, leaving us $1,165 better off in San Diego than we would be in Yuma, Arizona. Plus, San Diego offers free beach access, free entry to Sea World for military, numerous hiking trails, and many museums that are free on Tuesdays. There are countless cheap and fun activities to explore.
Just last weekend, we enjoyed a trip to the harbor, looked at boats, saw some fish, put our feet in the sand, and even got a free sunburn. Discussing High Cost Of Living (HCOL) and Low Cost Of Living (LCOL) really comes down to how you handle housing and transportation.
If you expect to have the same living space in Manhattan as in Ohio, or keep a car when parking is incredibly expensive, you’ll struggle. It’s all about trade-offs. We chose to live in an RV because housing costs are high, and we’d prefer to have over $1,500 left after paying for housing than to use up our entire allowance on something we “deserve” for working hard.
Since David earns a bit more living here, we don’t mind splurging on a nice dinner or something of value from time to time. For me, living in a HCOL area is a great way to increase the gap between earnings and spending. Saving 10% of a $100,000 salary is more advantageous than saving 30% of a $25,000 salary. Always consider savings in absolute amounts rather than percentages.
HCOL areas are usually big cities or beautiful locations with plenty of job opportunities. When I lived in an upscale Paris neighborhood during high school, I earned high rates for piano lessons and tutoring. Even as a teenager, I made $20-25 per hour, which was a lot back then!
And even if saving isn’t as easy in a HCOL area, you’re living in a place where people spend a lot of money to vacation. Enjoy what’s around you.
I often shake my head at my Parisian friends who never attend art shows, concerts, or museums despite paying Paris prices. Here in San Diego, we enjoy the beach daily, have a kayak and two bicycles, often receive tickets for shows and games from military organizations, have visited Sea World and national parks, and plan to explore even more post-quarantine. Whenever I consider buying tickets to Hawaii, I remind myself, “You live in California. Enjoy it.”