Anonymous wrote:180K HHI, 2 kids in daycare
Daycare = 3,000 per month
Mortgage = $1,900
Groceries/Eating Out = $1,000
Cable/Phone/Internet = $300
College Savings = $200
Other Savings= $500
Cars/Commuting = $400
Insurance = $250
Church = $150
Not much left over... Money feels tight, which seems ridiculous at our income.
We both contribute about 7% to retirement accounts.

It's hard PP, I know how you feel. but there are so many line items in my budget that I don't see here! Utilities? clothes? Gifts?

180K HHI, 2 kids in daycare
Daycare = 3,000 per month
Mortgage = $1,900
Groceries/Eating Out = $1,000
Cable/Phone/Internet = $300
College Savings = $200
Other Savings= $500
Cars/Commuting = $400
Insurance = $250
Church = $150
Not much left over... Money feels tight, which seems ridiculous at our income.
We both contribute about 7% to retirement accounts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's us -- we're broke. But we have two in daycare right now and keep telling ourselves when they are out in a year we won't be as stretched!

I remember it was like night and day when our kids got out of daycare. Suddenly we had all this breathing room for savings, lawn care, vacations.

I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that -- I feel like people love to tell me that I'll just use that money for other things (school supplies, etc.) But my god I can't see us spending THAT MUCH every month on them!

Camp? aftercare? Is it still not as much as daycare?

I obviously can't speak to others but for us aftercare and camp won't come close to our daycare costs. Daycare over a grand more than our mortgage -- it's crazy.

Anonymous wrote:
That's us -- we're broke. But we have two in daycare right now and keep telling ourselves when they are out in a year we won't be as stretched!


I remember it was like night and day when our kids got out of daycare. Suddenly we had all this breathing room for savings, lawn care, vacations.

Music to my ears! NP. HHI $150K, two kids in daycare.

Right now things are very tight. We are saving for retirement, but not college (hope to start that next year when our oldest goes to kindergarten). Our basics are all covered and we don't live a life of deprivation by any means, but we hardly ever eat out and think carefully before committing to things I used to not worry about in the least, like a weekend driving trip to visit relatives or signing up for a county rec class. I worry about our finances is a lot.

Our HHI is 160K. This isn't really our budget, but more like a balance sheet.

We have two in daycare at around $2800 per month and a 300K mortgage with payments of around 1900 per month. We have 75K in an emergency fund and around 200K in retirement, with 8K in each child's college savings.

I feel lucky and I feel secure. But the only way I am able to maintain this sens of security it to give up the idea of moving from our 400K TH to a 600K SFH any time soon. If I bought myself any more debt, I would have trouble sleeping.

13:06- before we didn't really have a budget. That meant we didn't save as much as I wished we had now, but we didn't really think about money and still put some aside.

The job change involved a move out of DC and wiped out most of our savings, so I don't know that our budget is entirely relevant to everyone as we try to rebuild an emergency fund. Plus, after 6 months i havent found a budget that truly works. However, I have to really watch spending now and track on Mint.com in order to save anything which continues to shock me as we lowered our mortgage and general COL when we moved.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's us -- we're broke. But we have two in daycare right now and keep telling ourselves when they are out in a year we won't be as stretched!

I remember it was like night and day when our kids got out of daycare. Suddenly we had all this breathing room for savings, lawn care, vacations.

I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that -- I feel like people love to tell me that I'll just use that money for other things (school supplies, etc.) But my god I can't see us spending THAT MUCH every month on them!

Camp? aftercare? Is it still not as much as daycare?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's us -- we're broke. But we have two in daycare right now and keep telling ourselves when they are out in a year we won't be as stretched!

I remember it was like night and day when our kids got out of daycare. Suddenly we had all this breathing room for savings, lawn care, vacations.

I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that -- I feel like people love to tell me that I'll just use that money for other things (school supplies, etc.) But my god I can't see us spending THAT MUCH every month on them!

Anonymous wrote:That's us -- we're broke. But we have two in daycare right now and keep telling ourselves when they are out in a year we won't be as stretched!

I remember it was like night and day when our kids got out of daycare. Suddenly we had all this breathing room for savings, lawn care, vacations.

That's us -- we're broke. But we have two in daycare right now and keep telling ourselves when they are out in a year we won't be as stretched!

Anonymous wrote:I feel secure, but am pretty frustrated with our level of disposable income. Though DH went from a law firm to in house, so this income is a new situation for me. I keep hoping we just need to get used to it.

Can you share more about what your budget looked like before and how it changed? I am dealing with a similar situation (moved from dual income to SAH).

I think we are at $160 gross, but two children. We spend almost $3k on PITI. Not much discretionary spending. Almost $3,000 and $5,000 in each DD's college accounts right now.

I feel secure, but am pretty frustrated with our level of disposable income. Though DH went from a law firm to in house, so this income is a new situation for me. I keep hoping we just need to get used to it.

That's me - I'm the famous "here's my budget" poster from a week ago. In short, we are broke.

Tell me what your budget looks like.

And do you feel secure? Do you have any disposable income? How much do you have in cash savings/college savings?