Laura Steins doesn't mind saying that she is barely squeaking by on $300,000 a year. She lives in a place where the boom years of Wall Street pushed the standard of living to astonishing heights. Where fifth-graders shop at a store called Lester's that sells $114 tween-size True Religion jeans. Where a cup of fresh spinach and carrot juice called the Iron Maiden costs $7.95.
By local standards, Steins occupies the lower rung of affluence -- the rung where every dollar now matters...
The nanny and property taxes take $75,000 right off the top, but Steins considers both non-negotiable facts of her life and not discretionary. When she bought out her husband's share of the house after their 2006 divorce, she assumed the costs of keeping it afloat -- $8,000 to $10,000 a month. There's a pool man, a gardener and someone to plow the snow from the quarter-mile-long driveway...
A Sothebys realty office is advertising a summer rental in Sagaponack South for "695,000 MD-LD" which means $695,000 to rent the seven-bedroom estate from Memorial Day to Labor Day...
"We might live in nice houses and drive nice cars, but we're just holding on," she says. Perfect looks perfect from a distance.
Full story at the Washington Post.
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