Budget to Transition to SAHP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, you have $250,000 in cash savings? Pay down the mortgage and refinance.

Why would we do this? We have 3.85% interest rate which is tax deductible. I am earning 2.2% on the CD it is in and it provides us enormous flexibility (like considering to stay home and use it as cushion, hence why we haven't plowed it into stocks or investment property).

If we paid down mortgage and refinanced, we might push down our mortgage to the $2700 I looked at earlier, but that is still unworkable. Being able to paydown the house so we have a $230k mortgage is beyond the means and two bedroom condos in our neighborhood go for $700k (our TH is $850k).

Moving seems like the only way; so for everyone SAH on $100k incomes, you live out in exurbs in sub-$400k houses?

Buying a sub-400k house is what's financially responsible when you have a 100k income. I wouldn't say we live in the exurbs but we do live in Fairfax County, not in city limits or in a nicer part of Arlington.

I get that your wife is stressed out at work, but can't she look for another job or look for a part-time job instead of trying to pay a $2700 or $3700 mortgage on a 100k salary?

I love Burke but it is pretty much an exurb (you take rail freight to commute in, ie VRE).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, you have $250,000 in cash savings? Pay down the mortgage and refinance.

Why would we do this? We have 3.85% interest rate which is tax deductible. I am earning 2.2% on the CD it is in and it provides us enormous flexibility (like considering to stay home and use it as cushion, hence why we haven't plowed it into stocks or investment property).

If we paid down mortgage and refinanced, we might push down our mortgage to the $2700 I looked at earlier, but that is still unworkable. Being able to paydown the house so we have a $230k mortgage is beyond the means and two bedroom condos in our neighborhood go for $700k (our TH is $850k).

Moving seems like the only way; so for everyone SAH on $100k incomes, you live out in exurbs in sub-$400k houses?

Buying a sub-400k house is what's financially responsible when you have a 100k income. I wouldn't say we live in the exurbs but we do live in Fairfax County, not in city limits or in a nicer part of Arlington.

I get that your wife is stressed out at work, but can't she look for another job or look for a part-time job instead of trying to pay a $2700 or $3700 mortgage on a 100k salary?

That's fine, just wanted to know what options were available to us. Running numbers and I guess our only *real* problem is mortgage and maybe support for inlaws (paying for their phones, traveling to see them exclusively).

[Anonymous]

What's with the 200/mo vacation?

What is Petro and why does it cost so much?

[Anonymous]

Maybe you can shop for cheaper home ins & car ins ?
We found erie is the cheapest for us. Home & 2 cars for $1600 per year ( home is 1M value for replacement cost )
If you pay for internet like $35 per month, get ip phone like nettalk for $40 a year. Nettalk customer service is bad but the phone is working OK of us. Get 1 cell phone from free from H2O with pre-pay service like 5 cents per minute. $100 is valid for 1 year & pay for other 4 phones & $100 can be used for all 5 phones. Only use cell if you must. At home, you can use nettalk. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you can shop for cheaper home ins & car ins ?
We found erie is the cheapest for us. Home & 2 cars for $1600 per year ( home is 1M value for replacement cost )
If the house is on the market, it is 1 M but to replace only cost about $550K.
If you pay for internet like $35 per month, get ip phone like nettalk for $40 a year. Nettalk customer service is bad but the phone is working OK of us. Get 1 cell phone from free from H2O with pre-pay service like 5 cents per minute. $100 is valid for 1 year & pay for other 4 phones & $100 can be used for all 5 phones. Only use cell if you must. At home, you can use nettalk. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's with the 200/mo vacation?

What is Petro and why does it cost so much?

Cross-country trip for family of 4 to visit family at holidays. Tickets *alone* are about $2000, not including renting car or other expenses.

That would leave less $1k for normal vacation, likely a couple days at a motel near one of the delaware beaches (which has been our normal vacation even now).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's with the 200/mo vacation?

What is Petro and why does it cost so much?

Petro means automobile gasoline; I hate calling it gas b/c you also have natural gas for home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's with the 200/mo vacation?

What is Petro and why does it cost so much?

Cross-country trip for family of 4 to visit family at holidays. Tickets *alone* are about $2000, not including renting car or other expenses.

That would leave less $1k for normal vacation, likely a couple days at a motel near one of the delaware beaches (which has been our normal vacation even now).

OP, what are you willing to cut back on? It seems like you want to give up half your income but still maintain exactly the same standard of living you did before. For the vast majority of people, that's just not possible.

[Anonymous]

I am a single Mom that makes 100K. I would not but above 400K. Realistically I'm more comfortable at 350 or below. So to answer your question, Burke and Springfield are the closest areas with good school districts. They are not exurbs, they are suburbs of DC & Tysons. Ashburn/Sterling are exurbs of DC & Tysons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you can shop for cheaper home ins & car ins ?
We found erie is the cheapest for us. Home & 2 cars for $1600 per year ( home is 1M value for replacement cost )
If you pay for internet like $35 per month, get ip phone like nettalk for $40 a year. Nettalk customer service is bad but the phone is working OK of us. Get 1 cell phone from free from H2O with pre-pay service like 5 cents per minute. $100 is valid for 1 year & pay for other 4 phones & $100 can be used for all 5 phones. Only use cell if you must. At home, you can use nettalk. Good luck.

I am wary of super cheap car and auto insurance; when you need it -- you NEED it. Right now we have Geico and State Farm. Heard good things about Amica and will look at that.

We only have a landline phone for emergencies (ie, derecho and having 911 work if kids are home alone). We could use that exclusively with Google Voice for unlimited national calling and use cell phones less, but really any modern adult needs cell phone b/c the way plans are more fluid and payphones have disappeared. we like the idea of prepaid phones though so will look into it; but i feel this is nibbling on edges; are groceries and fuel expenses about nominal for family of 4?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's with the 200/mo vacation?

What is Petro and why does it cost so much?

Cross-country trip for family of 4 to visit family at holidays. Tickets *alone* are about $2000, not including renting car or other expenses.

That would leave less $1k for normal vacation, likely a couple days at a motel near one of the delaware beaches (which has been our normal vacation even now).

OP, what are you willing to cut back on? It seems like you want to give up half your income but still maintain exactly the same standard of living you did before. For the vast majority of people, that's just not possible.

There are other items in the budget that have been removed; there is substantial cutting back there already.

Cutting ourselves off from family to stay home is faustian bargain, sadly.

But the other expenses like groceries, gas, insurance are fairly in line?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's with the 200/mo vacation?

What is Petro and why does it cost so much?

Petro means automobile gasoline; I hate calling it gas b/c you also have natural gas for home.

Petrol?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's with the 200/mo vacation?

What is Petro and why does it cost so much?

Petro means automobile gasoline; I hate calling it gas b/c you also have natural gas for home.

Petrol?

Yes! Sorry for confusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's with the 200/mo vacation?

What is Petro and why does it cost so much?

Cross-country trip for family of 4 to visit family at holidays. Tickets *alone* are about $2000, not including renting car or other expenses.

That would leave less $1k for normal vacation, likely a couple days at a motel near one of the delaware beaches (which has been our normal vacation even now).

OP, what are you willing to cut back on? It seems like you want to give up half your income but still maintain exactly the same standard of living you did before. For the vast majority of people, that's just not possible.

This is the thing. Unless you have substantial savings (beyond what you'd need for retirement, college etc) you can't maintain your lifestyle on one income. Is staying home worth giving up kid activities? Vacations? Certain foods? For us, it wouldn't be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, you have $250,000 in cash savings? Pay down the mortgage and refinance.

Why would we do this? We have 3.85% interest rate which is tax deductible. I am earning 2.2% on the CD it is in and it provides us enormous flexibility (like considering to stay home and use it as cushion, hence why we haven't plowed it into stocks or investment property).

If we paid down mortgage and refinanced, we might push down our mortgage to the $2700 I looked at earlier, but that is still unworkable. Being able to paydown the house so we have a $230k mortgage is beyond the means and two bedroom condos in our neighborhood go for $700k (our TH is $850k).

Moving seems like the only way; so for everyone SAH on $100k incomes, you live out in exurbs in sub-$400k houses?

I'm in Chevy Chase, MD and there are plenty of 2 bedroom condos for less than 700k around here. There are also TH that are less than 850k.