Reply to Family of 5, appx $300K HHI - would you do anything different?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]2 working parents, family of 3.  I feel like we are hemorrhaging cash and I just wondered if this is the way it is or if we should be doing something different with our money.  Thanks for any thoughts and sorry for the vagueness in some areas.

These are what I think of as our major expenditures:
-Groceries / Food are an expense; as are gas / electric / water / trash
-3 kids - they all do various extracurricular activities that cost money & paying for summer camps costs money
-we [b]do[/b] put away college savings for kids (not sure exact amount)
-We [b]do[/b] save for retirement (not sure exact amount)
-we have 2 car payments (one is $380/mo. and I would guess the other is similar but not sure)
-our regular mortgage is $2800/mo. on a 30 year mortgage but we are actually paying an additional $1600 a month to pay it off in 15 years (which is 5 years from now).  I [b]did[/b] ask my husband if we should stop that extra payment and he said he would rather cut back on other things and pay off the house (though I suppose this is still open for discussion).
-we are still paying $270/month for my loans
-we are paying $200/month for life insurance (I think)
-i [b]do[/b] pay $130 every other week for house cleaning

We have done very minimal work on our house in the past 10 years and [b]did [/b]recently have some large things that needed to be done for appx $15K.

Things I have cut back on:
*We cut cable and for some reason that bothers me - but I feel like I can't justify adding it back in
*Used to go on dates with my husband doing activities or trying new restaurants but I feel like I can't justify that expense all that often now 
*Used to go to shows / concerts but feel like I can't justify that expense so often
*As mentioned, groceries / food are an expense but starting in 2023 I have really tried to cut out eating out / take out for just out family of 5 and to really only eat out socially
*Historically travel has been a vice of mine, but I am trying to cut back on that.

What if anything would you do differently?  Thanks!
[/quote]

Give me two seconds to be a language pedant. Eliminate all those unnecessary "do's" and "did's." I get the tone you're trying to convey, though.

OK, on to real, and hopefully helpful commentary. We need to know your ages and how much you have saved/accumulated/invested for retirement. The fact that you don't seem to know this is not a good sign. For all we know, you guys are setting aside $4k per month, including employer matching contributions, and already have $2M accumulated at 45. If so, everything else is fine.

On the other hand, if you're 45, have $50k saved, and your retirement allocations constitute $400 per month combined, then we need to make some adjustments.

Everything else is secondary. [/quote]

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