Before I dive in to today’s Home Economics, I want to remind you that we still have tickets available for our first event of 2026! We’re hosting a vision-boarding party with our friends at Copilot Money on Sunday, January 11, between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $30 and admission includes drinks, snacks, and all the crafting supplies. Get your tickets here!
Also, Copilot Money is offering a special deal to Purse readers: You can get two months free when you use the code THEPURSE. Plus, they’re offering 26% off your first year when you sign up at copilot.money (new users only).
Earlier this month, I wrote an essay responding to an op-ed that argued the federal government should raise the poverty line to $140,000 for a family of four. I don’t really agree with the original writer’s thesis for many reasons, and to illustrate my point I used some past Home Economics featuring families whose household incomes were around $140,000. I acknowledged these were imperfect examples, since both families only had one child, not two, and anyone with two kids in daycare knows just how damn expensive it is!
In the piece, I mentioned that we hadn’t published many entries from families with household incomes below $100k because we don’t get many submissions like that. The writer of today’s Home Ec promptly replied to that newsletter with a note that essentially said, “Um hi, my family lives on $90k a year, and I submitted our entry in March.” (Her tone was much nicer than this! I’m exaggerating here.)
Lucky for all of us, she was willing to update her numbers and share her story. I don’t like to play favorites with Home Ec entries—they are all special in their own way—but this is a fantastic read. And yes, it’s behind a paywall, but if you’re on a limited budget and want to read this edition, please reach out. I’m happy to offer a comp subscription. (Though if you can afford it, I hope you’ll consider upgrading to paid! It makes it easier for us to offer comp subscriptions!)
We’re looking for new editions of Home Economics as we head into the new year. We love all different kinds of stories, and diversity is very important to us! We do give participants a six-month comped paid subscription as a thank-you. You can fill out the form here.
Age: 30
Location: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Relationship status: Married
Age of partner: 39
About me: I’m a stay-at-home mom on paper, though I’m in school three days a week. I’m working on my bachelor’s degree in English with a full-time course load. I also work from home as an independently contracted virtual assistant part-time and freelance part-time. My husband is a full-time driver for a national delivery company. We have two small children and a cat, and we are avid readers and history geeks in our spare time.
Income:
- Your job title/salary: Multiple income streams, but I primarily work as a virtual assistant, which pays about $450 per month
- Partner’s job title/salary: Full-time driver for national delivery company making around $90,000 per year
- Your monthly take-home pay (paycheck amount after taxes and other deductions): $550, including freelance income
- Partner’s monthly take-home pay (paycheck amount after taxes and other deductions): $5,200. He’s paid hourly, so it varies from week to week; this shifts dramatically at Christmastime to about $7,500 for the month of December with all the overtime hours.
- Total monthly income: ~$5,800
