is anyone interested in breaking that down for me, how it is budgeted out? I know that is pretty personal, but I keep reworking our budget and am wondering if there is something I am missing to get it to come together.

There's a private forum here - you have to apply to join, but I bet more people would be willing to go into details there :D

hth!

I wish I had 3k a month.:lol: If you want my 2k a month breakdown I'll post it in the private forum.

Citylove, trust me I know that people are making it on much less! :) Until dh started teaching we were 5 of us living on $1200 a month, so this is a jump for sure! We took on a bigger house though, which we desperately needed, and then added ins and other things form not being DIRT poor, and I just can't seem to make it all come together. I spend so much time worrying about money, it is really starting to affect me, I need to just be at peace with what we are doing. If you would not mind sharing, I would appreciate it though, as my kids get older it is getting harder too ,because they are more costly to clothe, feed and keep busy!

Sandi, where is the private forum? I miss all those little details.

http://www.amitymama.com/vb/simplifying-thirft-private-discussions/

Oh I'm happy with what we have. We have all that we need, most of what we want and more.:) Once you get to the dark side muahaha I'll share. If you don't want to apply I can post a general budget.

Here is a rounded off budget that does NOT include flexible things like food and putting money in savings, and hair cut and clothes and all that good stuff.

Housing - $1,470.00
This includes our mortgage payment, utilities, water, sewer, power, gas

Car $335.00
Fuel, tags, oil changes, etc

Medical - $90.00
Vet bills, office copays, etc

Extra - $225.00
This is stuff that isn't a necessity but we have like YMCa, phone, internet/cable

Debt - $400
This is all our debt payments. This isn't the min payment but what we pay (this happens to be all student loan debt).

It adds up to about $2500 a month. THEN of course, we have all those other expenses and money to savings. But these are our basic, committed expenses.

****, I shouldn't have read that. I thought for sure it was a type-o. Now I just feel crappy.

Chole

no need to feel crappy, I hesitated posting and this is exactly why - when my dh was a student, and we made much less my eyes would bug out when I would think of such a dollar amount. But, now, after 5 years of school and much student loan debt, we are here, and it is still tough to make it work.

I am sure if I searched around here long enough, I could find various budgets for us over the years. When I first came here we made like $1000 a month, and then for a long time, about $1800 a month. I know my core budget used to be about $1400 a month and then we had $400 for everything else. I honestly could not make $400 work anymore with grocery and gas price increases though. Two years ago it was do-able.

And Chole, I know how you feel. A couple years ago someone did a "how much is your household income thread" and more than 80% of the people here made more money than we did. Not that money is all important, but I felt kinda bad about that.

when I first started posting on amitymama, I think everyone outearned us too, but now we are snugly nestled in between 'too broke to think straight and still below poverty level but hanging in there"

It is really all relative though, it is interesting chole, that you posted that, because there are times I read about your travels or reenactment weekends and wish I had the money to make that happen too yknow?


Anyway, I am wishing I had not started this thread, I want to know what I may be missing and knew of no better way to get some ideas than just ask.

We've made so little we didn't have to file taxes over the years - so my experience is varied. But, I'd be happy to help you try to sort it out, if I can!

Don't feel badly. Any one of you!

Well I posted the budget I did because that is where our money goes and it comes up close to $3k a month. It isn't about being good or bad, these are all fixed expenses for the most part, it is just the reality of what things seem to cost for us. If I said, $500 for food, no savings... there you go $3k budget and there isn't really anything "grand" in there. Those are just basic costs. Mortgage for a modest home, power, natural gas, water, sewer, trash... I even put the "fluff"... (cable which we HAVE to have to get any tv, internet, YMCA... in its own category).

If it wasn't for the freakin' credit cards I think I would actually be okay, but as of right now...I should really file bankruptcy.:wah:

It's nothing personal, really. I'm just having an extremely bad day/week/month/year. I keep hoping that I'll find some thrifty nugget that is going to make our current income work. What I really need to admit is that it's just not possible.

Now these are just brainstorms, since I have no concept of what having 3k a month is like. We haven't even made the $1500 mark yet :hahaha: But maybe it'll spark an idea for making the budget work.

Have you looked into cheaper housing? Have you considered doubling up house payments to get it paid off sooner & eliminate that payment every month? Are you at the best rate possible? With the economy shifting, have you considered appealing your taxes if similar houses are selling for less than yours is appraised at? Have you checked around to make sure you're getting the best deal on insurance? Have you considered cutting out insurance that you aren't using (say going to emergency health coverage only)? What about debts. Is there a way to consolidate student loans or pay those off faster or at a better rate? Is it possible to lower vehicle costs, eliminate a car etc?

Chole

It is really all relative though, it is interesting chole, that you posted that, because there are times I read about your travels or reenactment weekends and wish I had the money to make that happen too yknow?

I'll tell you my secret for reenacting; everything I do is in trade. The only way I'm able to "afford" reenacting is because I have a skill that others are willing to trade for. Everything from entrance fees, gas money & equipment is exchanged for sewing time (& sometimes for coffee). While it's great because I can do something I love without negatively effecting our budget, it doesn't help the bottom line YK. It's really just a diversion so that I freak out constantly about being broke :D

Chole

The thing that saved us from credit card debt was first, earning enough that we didn't need to re-charge them, but then... I got an offer from one of my credit cards for 1.9% FIXED for the LIFE of the balance transfer. We put all our debt onto that one card (most of it, it wouldn't all fit) and then paid it off. It took about 2 years.

Dave brings in about that on a good month. I've rounded things to the nearest $50 mark so it's easier to add up.

Our mortgage: $1000
Utilities and property taxes: $300
Phone/cable/internet: $100
Van payment (only two more months of this!): $350
Groceries: $350 (I've increased it from $300)
Medical insurance: $100
Prescriptions, OTC, supplements: $50
Gas for both cars (David commutes a little): $200
Life and House and Vehicle insurance: $300

That comes out at $2750. We usually just break even because on tight months (if he was off sick, short pay period, etc.) we seem to have the exact right amount. We're trying to pay things down like throw an extra $50 on the van loan anytime we can. If I work a day occasionally, that's money that goes onto either the van loan or into an emergency fund. But it's the extra stuff like oil changes and birthday presents, etc. that puts us right on the edge alot too. I should probably make a category for that, but I think it would bum me out to see how close we're cutting it. LOL.

Kerri

Well, my dh makes more than 3000.00 a month but we struggle because housing is very, very expensive here. Our (modest)house is a large percentage of our income and we have no car payment, nor could we afford one! So, our budget is basically mortgage, food, gas, etc. No cable, one prepaid cell phone, DSL included in our $45 a month home phone bill, Netflix (18 a month) .... no debt except for one cc that I used for some stuff and have to pay off now. We have had cc debt and paid it off a few times before.

Gosh, let's see if I can break it down. I don't really "budget". I pay the bills and what's left over is what we have to work with. :0

Between the 2 of us, we bring home about $3500/month. Some months a little bit more.

$1470 First Mortgage
$170 Second Mortgage
$80 Vehicle Insurance (both vehicles)
$16 Umbrella Insurance Policy
$55 (roughly--for all 4 of our policies) Life Insurance
$22 Short Term Disability Insurance
$120 Phone/Internet/Cable
$18 For all 3 cell phones ($5/mo each for 2 and about $8/month for mine)
$92 Gas Bill (we are on budget)
$75 Electric
$16 Garbage
$150 credit card/furniture/misc. payments
$150 Gasoline/Fuel

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, lol, but that's off the top of my head.

ETA: I forgot food! lol That's part of "what's left". Generally, I go to Sam's twice a month. It runs between $150-175 each time, so we're up to about $340/month for groceries. But...my dh is a hunter, so we have a freezer full of deer meat (free). We also buy at least 1/4, if not 1/2 a cow each year (at about $2/lb. or less, depending on the year). I buy chicken on sale (usually 39 cents-89 cents/lb) and make a lot of stuff from scratch. We don't eat out, either.

Pet food...I'd say about $20/month combined. We feed them a "premium" food, but they don't eat that much either.

I'll keep thinking of anything else I may have missed.

Well I usually am not on this forum, but I've been lurking as our family income was recently cut in half when Tom was unemployed. We're waiting on workmans comp now. So right now we're living on $1800/month and hopefully when the workmans comp kicks in we'll be back up to about $3000/month

Mortgage - $900 (interest only right now - its all we can do)
Electric - $100 (until the summer. If we dont' get a new A/C the bills are $400/mo)
Gas - $40
Gas for cars $ 50/mo now that he's not working - $100/mo when he was
Phone/Internet/TV (basic cable only) - $175
Debt - $300 (second mortgage, one credit card)
Car insurance - $225/month
(there were two accidents in the past 2 years so our rates are high and even though they were not ticketed, and no moving violations, I can't get a better rate for another year)
So - if you add that all up - $1800 a month or so I"m figuring plus usually about $600/mo in food and $250 for Romans school our monthly outgoing was about $2600-2700/month. The rest of the income went to doctor co-pays, and living a little lol or paying more on the debt, make higher mortgage payments etc

Tuition was $175/mo for Chelsey and $250/mo for Roman but I paid off Chelseys tuition with Tax refund and we have pulled Roman out of school until Tom goes back to work.

So right now I still have about $2400/mo in expenses including food and my monthly paycheck is going to be about $1800/mo I'm pretty nervous about when workmans comp is going to kick in lol

Anyway, thats our breakdown for when we have about $3K/mo coming in which I pray for the day we're back to it again :)

HI T! I missed you!!!!

Thanks for replying everyone - it does help to see what others are doing - I think Kerri you nailed my frustration, on paper we are making it, but it is hard to stick to paper and it is the unexpecteds every month that leave us scrambling.
The thing is, there are really no frills here to cut out, no cable, no car payments we are totally underinsured as it is and I don't have any type of health coverage at all, even though the kids are taken care of. We buy only used clothes and things, don't shop hardly at all, are pretty bare minimum on everything. There is just not a lot of cutting room.
Gas is one thing we spend a lot on, but my parents and brothers family are an hour away, and we try to make that trip as much as we can, also our church that we love so much is 1/2 hr drive one way, and we are not willing to cut that out either.

I have been trying to keep really close track of where everything is going, but I think I need to go to a cash envelope system for the variables gas/grocery/misc. This last month, we had to call a plumber, so that ate into our emergency fund and then it just seems to keep disapearing from there.

Anyway, just thinking out loud, I appreciate everyones thoughts.


(Hi ashley! How is your dad doing?)

We're in the same kind of situation--in a lot of people's budgets, they can simply sell an extra car, cut out eating out as much, stop drinking soda, lol...but we don't do any of that to begin with. There really isn't much to cut out if we are struggling.

Gas for cars $ 50/mo now that he's not working - $100/mo when he was


Barb~
WOW! I want to know how you can do it on $50/month for gas!! I can't fill my minivan once for $50. What do you drive and how close are you to work/stores/etc? I wish I could pull that off!

We're in the same kind of situation--in a lot of people's budgets, they can simply sell an extra car, cut out eating out as much, stop drinking soda, lol...but we don't do any of that to begin with. There really isn't much to cut out if we are struggling.

I think that is my main frustration, once we have to eat into the emergency fund (which seems to happen frequently) there is really no way to replenish it short of a windfall or some major scrambling. It always seems to work out but it just feels so on the edge, and I wish there were just a tad more wiggle room to take care of those extras that come up all the time.

:hug: I feel exactly the same way.

I wish there were just a tad more wiggle room to take care of those extras that come up all the time.

the wiggle room is the $17 i found in my jeans and the wal-mart GC I thought was empty :lol:

pst! we joined the farm :)

I'm usually a lurker, but as I read this I realized that my approx. $3000 budget is written down on a piece of paper right in front of my computer, so I might as well post it.

Fixed expenses:

Mortgage 1035
Energy (gas and electric) 150
Phone 30
Cable/internet 100
Cell (both of us) $80
Student Loans $100
Insurance $135

Total: 1635

Variable expenses:

Food $300
Gas $300
Entertainment $200
DH's puttering-around-the-house money $50
Blow money $100 ($50 each)
Household (TP, feminine hygene, etc.) $100
Miscellaneous: $300

Total 1350

Total budget: 2985

:hug: Had the same problem as you...I posted my budget in the private forum budget thread but we had around $800/mo to work with after paying bills - well after $200 goes to gas for commuting and $600 for food - okay we can cut to $400 if we have to, but honestly? It was just too tight. There was nowhere to really cut, either. There was no cushion for unexpected expenses. So I hear ya. I have gone to work to make more $ and even with a bunch more $ we have to budget carefully to not overspend, because it's easy to do it when you have it.

This is why I think the 60% budget is so key. You can google 60% budget to see what I am talking about.

This is why I think the 60% budget is so key. You can google 60% budget to see what I am talking about.

I googled and that makes a ton of sense, but what if you already have set expenses and not enough income to do 60%? What if 60% of your gross for committed expenses won't buy you even a trailer in a trailer park?

And how do you add up to 100% of gross income, but what you really have in your bank account is net? How do you figure that out when your %age categories are based off of gross income - you are going to come up short this way. I don't get it.

(edited for more questions :) )

Then you either have to reduce your expenses or make more money.

Then you either have to reduce your expenses or make more money.

Sorry, I was editing as you were replying. :) I mean yeah I see what you're saying...but for someone in the situation who can't increase their income or sell their house/move to lower rent, the 60% solution won't work.

I always find it interesting when people say, well, we can't make more money or lower our expenses. Well, really, what you can't do it keep spending more money than you earn. And when I say make more money or lower your expenses, I am not saying this in a short term, overnight kind of sense. This make require new education, maybe change jobs, add a part time moonlighting job, move to another, less expensive area of the country... etc.

And Emily - I'm not picking on you. I am glad you mentioned this as for me, it makes a ton of sense and is a great solution to my dilemma, which is how to manage things so that we have enough for the irregular expenses without getting into putting $100 in an account for car repair, $100 in an account for vacation, etc - it seems to simplify things. And his suggestions are good - but for years we lived in a situation where we simply could not afford any housing that would have put our committed expenses at under 60% of gross.

I always find it interesting when people say, well, we can't make more money or lower our expenses. Well, really, what you can't do it keep spending more money than you earn. And when I say make more money or lower your expenses, I am not saying this in a short term, overnight kind of sense. This make require new education, maybe change jobs, add a part time moonlighting job, move to another, less expensive area of the country... etc.

Well you have to use your imagination. We did find a long-term fix but ours took years to get to, and I imagine that to be true for many people. I had young kids - and despite APing even if I wanted to, I couldn't have put them in daycare and gotten a job that would pay more than daycare. Dh was working two jobs, teaching and waiting tables as much as he could stand.

We bought a house with one job that we thought was well set and could pay for the house easily. Then some drastic things happened: dh lost his job, ds was diagnosed with several rare, fatal/life-threatening diseases and was very sick (which will eat up any sort of executive functioning you need to get a new education, move, etc), and dh's new job - the only thing he was qualified for, really, besides waiting tables which wouldn't have made him much more - was teaching, which in Florida pays crap. So we tried to make it on crap. As soon as I was able, I put massage school on a credit card and got myself the training to make some money on the weekends. But honestly? That took a few years.

Anyway, I know I'm not alone. There are many, many reasons why people end up in a situation where they are not making enough to float their mortgages. Lack of affordable housing is a huge issue in this country. Jobs that pay well are becoming scarcer. It is tough to pay any sort of rent or mortgage, feed your family even as cheaply as possible, and pay for gas, on 60% of a service industry job. That's not just in my extreme situation described above, but in many people's daily lives. That's my main criticism of the 60% solution. It's easy to say - just reduce expenses or increase income! But if you can't imagine why that would be hard for people to do, you've been blessed.

It's easy to say - just reduce expenses or increase income! But if you can't imagine why that would be hard for people to do, you've been blessed.

LOL That comment leads me to believe you weren't reading my posts for the past 5 out of 6 years (I mean that in a joking way, not literally, I am sure you of course weren't) or you would know our financial struggles and how it took us basically FIVE years to change our financial lives. I used to sit and stretch dollars and do fine until the next unexpected car bill or medical expense and really, it was after my daughter was born that we sat down and decided, we simply cannot keep doing what we are doing. So we moved to ANOTHER state, moved IN with my parents for a solid year, dh quit what was really a pretty good job to go back to school, and we lived dirt poor for 4+ years getting thru school. And then, we got lucky and dh landed a good job, but we sacrificed again by moving across the country to somewhere we don't like and away from our families. A move most people probably would not make. So, if by blessed you mean we have had it really, really, REALLY hard for 8.5 out of our 10 years of marriage, yep, we were blessed :) LOL And then, you are absolutely right, one job loss, or health crisis, etc... and who knows what could happen.

And as usual, my "yous" are not specific, just general.

Oh I want to add, I didn't even mention the student loan debt we racked up in order to put ourselves thru school.

And btw, I know we make less than MANY of the other people on this board even still so please don't think we have all sorts of money floating around. It is just perspective that we were so poor for so long, we had our expenses down to nothing, and we have tried not to increase them anymore.

Emily, that 60% solution is a lot what our budget looks like. I plan/ keep track of broad basic expense categories, just to make sure we're not overspending them, but we "live" on about 60%. It didn't happen overnight here, either.

Emily, that 60% solution is a lot what our budget looks like. I plan/ keep track of broad basic expense categories, just to make sure we're not overspending them, but we "live" on about 60%. It didn't happen overnight here, either.

We are still struggling to do this but trying... getting there. If all goes well, we will be there in another 12-18 months.

I didn't even know there was a name for it. I just assumed it was "Being unbearably cheap". Some of our friends with similar incomes upgraded houses while we didn't and upgraded cars, while we drove ours into the ground. So our expenses stayed stable, even went down when cars were paid off, while their expenses went up as their incomes did.

It does help - and I'd never deny this - that DH's passion happens to be in a field that pays well. And we're very fortunate that we've all been relatively healthy. I wouldn't want to do a job I didn't love, and I don't expect it from DH, either.

This has been our plan. To earn more but keep our basic standard of living. We DON'T live like we are dirt poor anymore, but we don't live on the same level as others in our income range. We should be seeing a large income increase with dh's job in another year or so, and we plan on using that to aggressively pay off our student loans, rather than increase our standard of living. Our long term plan is to only ever live on dh's income and when I start earning, put all of that aside for retirement.

And I agree, dh happens to love a field that pays well. We have friends who are school teachers, firefighters, policemen... and they don't earn as much even though they are VERY noble fields to be in. So, it is hard.

LOL That comment leads me to believe you weren't reading my posts for the past 5 out of 6 years (I mean that in a joking way, not literally, I am sure you of course weren't) or you would know our financial struggles and how it took us basically FIVE years to change our financial lives. I used to sit and stretch dollars and do fine until the next unexpected car bill or medical expense and really, it was after my daughter was born that we sat down and decided, we simply cannot keep doing what we are doing. So we moved to ANOTHER state, moved IN with my parents for a solid year, dh quit what was really a pretty good job to go back to school, and we lived dirt poor for 4+ years getting thru school. And then, we got lucky and dh landed a good job, but we sacrificed again by moving across the country to somewhere we don't like and away from our families. A move most people probably would not make. So, if by blessed you mean we have had it really, really, REALLY hard for 8.5 out of our 10 years of marriage, yep, we were blessed :) LOL And then, you are absolutely right, one job loss, or health crisis, etc... and who knows what could happen.

And as usual, my "yous" are not specific, just general.

Oh I want to add, I didn't even mention the student loan debt we racked up in order to put ourselves thru school.

Nope, I have been reading them, in fact, and know that you guys have *just* gotten out of struggle mode (like us)...I just think it's tough on one "typical" income, to only spend 60% and have anywhere to live. Not impossible, just tough. By typical income I mean $25-35k/year gross salary.

I have read only the first page of replies... I am sure someone has brought up "working poor" since...

I have to say that $3k a month was the hardest point for us. We no longer qualified for the programs that helpped us make it on nothing (WIC, Food Stamps, YMCA grants, etc), but we were not to the point where we were comfortable doing all those things that we got for free on our own. I spent about three years there. Grateful to be there, but constantly wondering why I couldn't pull it together because it was so much more than we had before. But honestly, looking back, I know why. We jumped in income at one point by $24 a month... and it knocked out our $214 worth of food stamps. That DOESN'T compute... you know?

It is a common predicament... you are doing a wonderful job, and keeping your spirits up is really important. :hug:

Val

I have read only the first page of replies... I am sure someone has brought up "working poor" since...

I have to say that $3k a month was the hardest point for us. We no longer qualified for the programs that helpped us make it on nothing (WIC, Food Stamps, YMCA grants, etc), but we were not to the point where we were comfortable doing all those things that we got for free on our own. I spent about three years there. Grateful to be there, but constantly wondering why I couldn't pull it together because it was so much more than we had before. But honestly, looking back, I know why. We jumped in income at one point by $24 a month... and it knocked out our $214 worth of food stamps. That DOESN'T compute... you know?

It is a common predicament... you are doing a wonderful job, and keeping your spirits up is really important. :hug:

Val

Lauren and I have had this conversation LOL but I think 32-55k in some ways struggle more than 20-30k. We have pretty much always existed in that range, and it as the years pass it becomes more and more difficult. We have been reevaluating our income, income potential and weighing the things that we value lately.We have done some things right in the past, and some things not so much. Figuring out where to go from here is the hard part.

heather

Nope, I have been reading them, in fact, and know that you guys have *just* gotten out of struggle mode (like us)...I just think it's tough on one "typical" income, to only spend 60% and have anywhere to live. Not impossible, just tough. By typical income I mean $25-35k/year gross salary.

I think most of my really dire posts are under my old username... lol

Now as far as typical income goes... this really depends on where you live in the county and your housing costs... but $25-$35K is not a typical income to me. That is a bit on the low side. Dh was making about $32K 6 years ago when we decided there was no way we could raise a family, in the Portland, OR metro are on that. Now, I say that that "we" could not do that. We were really, really struggling, esp with our debt etc we had at that point.

I have read only the first page of replies... I am sure someone has brought up "working poor" since...

I have to say that $3k a month was the hardest point for us. We no longer qualified for the programs that helpped us make it on nothing (WIC, Food Stamps, YMCA grants, etc), but we were not to the point where we were comfortable doing all those things that we got for free on our own. I spent about three years there. Grateful to be there, but constantly wondering why I couldn't pull it together because it was so much more than we had before. But honestly, looking back, I know why. We jumped in income at one point by $24 a month... and it knocked out our $214 worth of food stamps. That DOESN'T compute... you know?

It is a common predicament... you are doing a wonderful job, and keeping your spirits up is really important. :hug:

Val


Yes, and all this! Exactly. 2 years ago we were in the $27K a year range and I crunched a ton of numbers and told dh for us to really get ahead, key here being ahead, of where we were then, we would need break that $45K a year point, otherwise, it was all basically going to be a wash with decreased benefits and increased taxes (and loss of EIC).

I've been unbearably sick sick this weekend so I;m just getting back to this. Here is our budget. Our utilities are pretty low because our place is small with East facing windows so we get lots of natural light. Everything is in terms of monthly, but things like ins are paid yearly. I just thought it would be easier to keep it all the same time frame. We bring home $2020 a month. I didn't add in our health insurance because that's taken out before we get paid.:) We have no credit card debt.


Rent $568
Water/sewage/waste $28
Electric $35 in winter, $75 in summer
Gas $35 in summer, $75 in winter
Phone/DSL $65
Renter's ins $18
Student loan $65
Car $280
Car insurance for 2 cars $55
Gas for both cars $75
Groceries $400

That leaves about $350 for extra curricular things for Sophie, clothes, entertainment and savings.

ah, i didnt really want to post outside of the private board, but i will give th basics, not including debt. My utilities seem very high compared to you guys.

mortgage (1st plus 2nd-- we will soon refi this, we did it to avoid PMI and build equity more quickly) right at 800. Our home ins is high, although taxes are low. We live in a state that has been hit by a few hurricanes over the last couple of years, and our ins jumped about 50.00 a month in the last 2 yrs.

electric-- we are on budget billing(we pay the same amt each month) and pay 190.00 our house is 2133 sq ft

gas -- also on budget, 150 per month.

phone/cable/internet-- was 100, just went up to 119

cells 60.00 for 2. I do a ton of driving and am not willing to give up mine.

water/refuse -- around 60 per month, although it varies

van payment -- 280.00 , dhs truck is paid for

car ins -- full on mine, liability on dh-- 90 per month

gas-- about to kill me. To get the best program for Liam, we have to drive allll the way across town (it really couldnt be further from my house. Gas is costing me about 350, and then we spend another 70 on gas for dh. So 420 per month.

Simons preschool -- 2 mornings a week-- 95 per month

YMCA-- 65.00 per month

on top of this, we have debt that is a bit spread out. Ideally we would consolidate things and lower our payment a bit. The issue is that we are in the middle of a kitchen remodel, and are doing it piecemeal as we can afford it. We live in an area where there is a HUGE range of prices (because we live on the dividing line between 2 neighborhoods, and some have been renovated and some have not), we need our house to show well to get a decent appraisal. When we are done, we will have a fair amount of sweat equity in the house. Anyway I need to just post about some issues-- sitting down and organizing my thoughts enough is the problem. Oh and deciding if we will stay here once we remodel the kitchen LOL. I should also mention that we are not in an area that is hard hit by the recession as fr as home sales go, or really even by the recession much (although it has caused Alabama schools to go into proration because the state constitution requires a balanced budget and most of our money for schools comes from 10 percent sales tax. Long way of saying that DH will probably not get a raise in pay at all for the foreseeable future. The bonus is that he is tenured and we don't have to fear job loss.

oh gosh, sorry for the ramble yall LOL

Lauren and I have had this conversation LOL but I think 32-55k in some ways struggle more than 20-30k. We have pretty much always existed in that range, and it as the years pass it becomes more and more difficult. We have been reevaluating our income, income potential and weighing the things that we value lately.We have done some things right in the past, and some things not so much. Figuring out where to go from here is the hard part.

heather

I've got to really agree with this. We have existed in the range for most of our married life, and it is *so* hard. We currently make about $100/mo too much to qualify for medicaid, WIC.....and my job knocks us out of receiving EIC, as well. I wonder often if it is worth it, especially because of having to pay a preschool bill for Anna to go to while I work. On the other hand, just a few extra hundred a month has made a huge difference in the security I feel, and we have both been able to start contributing to our retirement plans at work. Mine is a state pension, his is a work 401K that he contributes 6% (the company matches up to that point) to. That alone gives me all kinds of security.

I still wonder, often, is it worth it? Figuring out how to improve things from here is very difficult. DH's work hours make thing hard to work around....and of course, he is salaried and works a ton of unpaid overtime. Sigh. I'm still thinking about going back to school, but I'm just not sure how to make that happen. We have no family around here for me to rely on to help with childcare. And there is no way on earth I would move to where I grew up, where my family lives still, given any other option. They have some of the worst schools in the state (country) extremely high poverty and crime rates, and it is very rural deep south. There are no jobs there, period. All the manufacturing has gone or is leaving. There are no colleges within an hour's drive to better one's education. Simply not an option to live with family and make things better.

There is no one is either of our families that has really made it, yk? There are no role models to give us advice.

Heather, your basic budget is VERY close to mine. Your utilities are slightly higher, but my mortgage is slightly higher.

This is what I was saying... I feel like we all shop for deals, and we make decisions, but really, a cell plan is about $60 a month, the YMCA is about $60 a month, cable/internet is about $100 a month...

Rent $568
Water/sewage/waste $28
Electric $35 in winter, $75 in summer
Gas $35 in summer, $75 in winter
Phone/DSL $65
Renter's ins $18
Student loan $65
Car $280
Car insurance for 2 cars $55
Gas for both cars $75
Groceries $400

That leaves about $350 for extra curricular things for Sophie, clothes, entertainment and savings.


Our budget is pretty much the same, give and take some here and there.

I think what helps dh and I live on what he makes is that our mortgage is so low, and we purposely chose to live in an area of NJ that has much lower property taxes than where we used to live. So many people IRL that we know have huge mortgages and prop. taxes, there is no way we would be able to afford that for even 1 month.

We also pay off our credit card each month, and don't buy anthing new unless we have the money for it in our bank account.

Gosh, with those budgets, we would not even be able to live. Seriously. Just our basic expences are nearly twice that. It must be where we live too. Because I have talked to others around here that are in the same boat.

Rent for a 900 sq ft house is $932/mo
Electric is $65 in summer, and $250 in winter (ele heat and we keep the temp at 68 too!)
Water/sewer $70/mo
Garbage $30 per month paid in two month chunks
Phone $125

And that isn't including anything that we choose to pay, like the car payment and the higher ins you have to have to have a car payment. ;) Or the choice to eat more local, organic foods... which can be spendy in some ways, and not in others.