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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DH and I are 38 yo. we used to have a HHI of 190 and both got a raise this month and reach 249 HHI.

We have a small home (1000sqt with 500 sqft addition) that we like, in a neighborhood we love with what we consider very good public schools. It is a bit too small for us (2 kids boy/girl 4 and 6yo) because kids have to share a small room. The third bedroom is not ideal for kids and best kept for guests (not same floor, not enough natural light). It is not an impressive house for sure, a small bungalow with a tiny yard. DH is starting to dream about bigger home in same neighborhood (think 800/900k home around TKPK/SS). I think we should enjoy our reasonable mortgage and build up our savings/retirement/529. Advice?

Big ticket items
- 630K home; 400K mortgage. 2700$ PITI (for another 25 years or so)
- daycare: 2300 for now (1 in day care, 1 in B/after care)
- 1000$ DH student loan reimbursement (he has 50K left to repay)
- one 2009 car paid in cash, will need replacement in coming 5 years
- 500$ every month in the 559 of the 6 yo since he started kindergarten in Sept (current level 7500 as we had put some before)
- 200$ in 529 for the other child until she starts public school
- emergency fund 40K
- I have a pension and max my contribution in that pension (15% of my salary)
- my DH is really behind on his retirement (we are 36/38), I am getting him to put 15% of his salary at least in 401k
Total big ticket items: 8500

Lifestyle and small expenses 
- our grocery shopping is 1000 a month (organic, fair trade blala..) and after a lot of debates I am ok with that (we minimize as much as possible with costcoe, cook from scratch don't buy package food but I enjoy not compromising on the quality of our veggies and meat)
- dining out 500 a month (restaurant with kids once a week for brunch + drinks and diner out once a month with babysitter)
- plane tickets: we save between 500/1000 a month to cover our 2/3 annual trips. frugal otherwise (no hotels, camping etc.) but we travel to see family abroad and across US and that's another lifestyle choice that we don't want to sacrifice (will go down to 500 a month soon as we can only fly out twice with first grader holidays)
- health insurance (300)
- kids activities, language school, clothes (350)
- gym membership and fitness classes on average 150$ for both
- phones paid by work, no TV, but internet and Netflix (~70)
- house insurance + auto insurance (150)
- Metro card for both (200$) Gas (50$)
- utilty, gas, electricty, water: around 150
- we don't buy much stuff, clothes, toys etc.. (the advantage of the tiny house..no storage makes us embrace minimalism)
Total L and SE: 3920

Total : 12420 for a new monthly income of 15000. I think our margin is perfect for additional investment but not enough to add another 1K or 1.5K in mortgage. My husband thinks the change a bigger house would bring to our life is worth it... WWYD?

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And adding: no CC debts and annual charitable donations 2000$ so ~ 170 a month  [/quote]

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