How can we save with this breakdown

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but I still think that is fantasy land. They have an old house in a bad school district apparently. Combine that with the high costs of moving/buying/selling, yeah. I am not seeing it.

Your'e asking them to take on a 30 year burden when tops, they have 12 years of school to pay for.

I ran some sample numbers through a mortgage calculator. If OP were to sell his house and be able to roll $500k from that sale into an $800k house, he could potentially get a 15-year fixed mortgage with monthly payments under $1,100 a month.

Also, if OP were to do this, when OP’s kid were to graduate from school, OP would most likely have a greater net worth in the form of his equity in the more valuable home than if he paid $24k a year for school and had not assets to show for it. That puts OP in a better position for future retirement if he decides to downsize the house and pull out some equity.

[Anonymous]

I would not sell the house. You have a sweet spot for major disaster.

Should you lose your job, worst case scenario, you pull your kid from private and deal ( which you should really consider now. If you are in the DC metro area, your school system is probably just fine. Consider the real reasons you are digging in on this).

If you take on a mortgage now with a single income and lose your job, that could be catastrophic.

Look at the fact that you ARE saving and probably cut back/eliminate the 529 for now until there is a second income.

If your ever need emergency savings, like really critical, the nuclear option could be to sell the house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not sell the house. You have a sweet spot for major disaster.

Should you lose your job, worst case scenario, you pull your kid from private and deal ( which you should really consider now. If you are in the DC metro area, your school system is probably just fine. Consider the real reasons you are digging in on this).

If you take on a mortgage now with a single income and lose your job, that could be catastrophic.

Look at the fact that you ARE saving and probably cut back/eliminate the 529 for now until there is a second income.

If your ever need emergency savings, like really critical, the nuclear option could be to sell the house

OP has already ruled out cutting back on the 529. He seems to want money to simply fall from the sky without having to make meaningful changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am mostly a SAHM, but I am able to bring in 25-30K a year working about 1/4 time online (totally flexible; can be done anywhere).

What do you do??

I teach college courses online. $4500 per course, 6 courses a year, 8 weeks each. I also do a little admin work for the program for another 2-3K/year. Each course averages about 10 hours per week while in session. I'm at the top of my pay scale for my school, but presumably OP's wife also had a career pre-kiddo, and if he's 50, I'm guessing she also has quite a bit of experience in her field.

That is pretty high for teaching a college course! What institution? I made half that teaching as as adjunct in person and online years ago.

[Anonymous]

OP. 14 yrs left for school. Local elementary School is a 2 and lots of issues. We go out to eat once a month at chipotle like places so PPs who stated we should cut down there - not sure how. Also grocery bills are low - very very little meat. 2 cars are a requirement since my commute would be hellish in terms of time and wife needs a car too. I would really not like to take out the $100 for donations but will see but definitely can't stop helping parents.

PPs who appreciated the budget, thanks. Those who didn't, all your suggestions duly noted. What I got from this thread was to sell and buy in a better school district. But I will get about $300 for this place (not $500 as a PP estimated). Would need a PI that's less than $2k. I did look but need to research further. Good school areas are obviously expensive.

Suggestions for zip codes very appreciated - perhaps that is a different thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not sell the house. You have a sweet spot for major disaster.

Should you lose your job, worst case scenario, you pull your kid from private and deal ( which you should really consider now. If you are in the DC metro area, your school system is probably just fine. Consider the real reasons you are digging in on this).

If you take on a mortgage now with a single income and lose your job, that could be catastrophic.

Look at the fact that you ARE saving and probably cut back/eliminate the 529 for now until there is a second income.

If your ever need emergency savings, like really critical, the nuclear option could be to sell the house

Also I will consider cutting 529. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not sell the house. You have a sweet spot for major disaster.

Should you lose your job, worst case scenario, you pull your kid from private and deal ( which you should really consider now. If you are in the DC metro area, your school system is probably just fine. Consider the real reasons you are digging in on this).

If you take on a mortgage now with a single income and lose your job, that could be catastrophic.

Look at the fact that you ARE saving and probably cut back/eliminate the 529 for now until there is a second income.

If your ever need emergency savings, like really critical, the nuclear option could be to sell the house

If I did sell the house I would get $300k for it. I didn't list debts but $200k would go to a sibling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. 14 yrs left for school. Local elementary School is a 2 and lots of issues. We go out to eat once a month at chipotle like places so PPs who stated we should cut down there - not sure how. Also grocery bills are low - very very little meat. 2 cars are a requirement since my commute would be hellish in terms of time and wife needs a car too. I would really not like to take out the $100 for donations but will see but definitely can't stop helping parents.

PPs who appreciated the budget, thanks. Those who didn't, all your suggestions duly noted. What I got from this thread was to sell and buy in a better school district. But I will get about $300 for this place (not $500 as a PP estimated). Would need a PI that's less than $2k. I did look but need to research further. Good school areas are obviously expensive.

Suggestions for zip codes very appreciated - perhaps that is a different thread.

Wait, 14 years left for school? Your kid isn't even in elementary school yet and you're already paying $2k a month for preschool while your spouse doesn't work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not sell the house. You have a sweet spot for major disaster.

Should you lose your job, worst case scenario, you pull your kid from private and deal ( which you should really consider now. If you are in the DC metro area, your school system is probably just fine. Consider the real reasons you are digging in on this).

If you take on a mortgage now with a single income and lose your job, that could be catastrophic.

Look at the fact that you ARE saving and probably cut back/eliminate the 529 for now until there is a second income.

If your ever need emergency savings, like really critical, the nuclear option could be to sell the house

If I did sell the house I would get $300k for it. I didn't list debts but $200k would go to a sibling.

So you actually only have about $100k in equity in your house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since child is in school full time, why are you waiting until next year for her to get a parting job?

To even say private school isn’t a choice, shows you aren’t easy to cut things. It IS a choice.

Get rid of safe deposit box. They have safes on amazon for about $20. What is in there that you need at a bank?

Stop funding 529.

Stop donating. Your spouse can volunteer if she wants to give back

Shop at Aldi.

The classes and therapy are very high. You can drop some, I’m certain.

Protein powders amount should be reduced or buy a cheaper Brand

100 for household items is a lot for 3 people. A tube of toothpaste, some toilet paper and paper towels, 1-2 bottles of shampoo, one of conditioner, soap, etc doesn’t cost this much for us. Are you buying cheaper brands? Tide pods?
lawn exterior - do it yourself

Cut down on gifts to both your parents

The wife going back to work might not make sense if that also would add child care expenses, work wardrobe, dry cleaning, increased wear/tear on a car, higher gas expense etc to their expenses.

He already said she’s going back to work next year part time. I’m asking why they are waiting til next year. I could see waiting til summer ends to starts but not more than that.

Because she has chronic health issues, he sad. Read, people.

[Anonymous]

You seem to be doing okay-ish. You don't have a mortgage but you have some unusual family obligations. I do wonder about items not listed in budget (e.g., car repairs/other maintenance, other insurances). It would be more helpful if you included your take home pay and specify how much you are currently saving for retirement pre-tax --and if there's any match.

529 contributions seem very high for your situation. College financial aid forms will consider your age and income level when awarding aid so you're more likely to qualify than a 40 year old with the same income. You'll be close to retirement age when the time comes. That said, there's new ruling that you can use 529 for K-12 private school tuition so you might want to do that for the state income tax break (just contribute to 529 and withdraw for tuition, not exhaust savings). Also remember you won't be paying the 2K/month tuition in college so you've essentially got 24K for college in cash flow already. You'll probably have an expected family contribution of (in today's dollars) $30-40K/yr so the gap isn't that large.

I would cut to $25-50/mo donations for the time period your child is in school and your spouse doesn't have outside paid work and volunteer for the remainder. Once she's working part-time you can reassess your situation. Do you have emergency savings built up? I would redirect any savings to that because while you're doing okay you seem to be in a somewhat vulnerable position with a lot of people you love counting on you for their well-being.

If you haven't, I would assess your overall net worth and see where you stand with regard to retirement, college savings etc.. It may be that you need to reduce your pre-tax savings to give you a bit more buffer in the moment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op is doing way better than most people! His cars and house are paid off. He appears to have no student loan or consumer debt. He is maxing out his retirement and has FSA. He is setting aside a nice amount of money in his child's 529 every month. He has a SAH wife AND his kid is attending private school.

He and his wife also travel to visit parents and help them out.

Op is doing pretty darned good. Op should be telling DCUM how to do it!

I say....people attacking are crazy. That is a pretty darned good budget. Except the donation. I would also reduce the 529. If that kid is in private let him work for college. Why put in a single dollar. Pad your retirement dude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not sell the house. You have a sweet spot for major disaster.

Should you lose your job, worst case scenario, you pull your kid from private and deal ( which you should really consider now. If you are in the DC metro area, your school system is probably just fine. Consider the real reasons you are digging in on this).

If you take on a mortgage now with a single income and lose your job, that could be catastrophic.

Look at the fact that you ARE saving and probably cut back/eliminate the 529 for now until there is a second income.

If your ever need emergency savings, like really critical, the nuclear option could be to sell the house

If I did sell the house I would get $300k for it. I didn't list debts but $200k would go to a sibling.

So you actually only have about $100k in equity in your house?

It implies I believe that they would get $300k and sibling would get $200k - which adds up based on their property tax monthly budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If staying out of public school is that high a priority, I would look into parochial schools, which are typically a fraction of the cost of other private schools.

Reducing the private school tuition is an idea to consider if public isn’t an option. We pay $2000/month for parochial school in NoVA for 4 kids, so $2000 for 1 seems pretty high (unless it’s for special needs then please disregard).

Another option I wanted to suggest, look at bigger, international schools. If kids are bright, they might be able to offer generous financial aid package.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If staying out of public school is that high a priority, I would look into parochial schools, which are typically a fraction of the cost of other private schools.

Reducing the private school tuition is an idea to consider if public isn’t an option. We pay $2000/month for parochial school in NoVA for 4 kids, so $2000 for 1 seems pretty high (unless it’s for special needs then please disregard).

Another option I wanted to suggest, look at bigger, international schools. If kids are bright, they might be able to offer generous financial aid package.

A household making $140+ will not get any financial aid. There may be exceptions, rare.