Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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 do put away college savings for kids (not sure exact amount)
-We do 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 did 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 do pay $130 every other week for house cleaning

We have done very minimal work on our house in the past 10 years and did 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!

You are a family of 5, not 3

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are kids activity expenses which I guess you can tell me is crazy and you all don’t spend this much for kids activities.

Kid 1: $275/mo. swim, plus appx. $200 each fall and spring for rec sport. (May not continue swimming next year for interest reasons)
Kid 2: $275/mo. swim, plus appx. $1000 each fall & spring for travel sport (but seriously considering switching back to rec only next season for not being worth it for talent reasons)
Kid 3: $300/mo. dance; $160 mo. gymnastics

There is also an $50/mo. instrument rental for a kid.

That’s a lot of money and time. I’d tell each kid they can do one elite activity at a time. Like you can do winter/club swim or travel sports but not both. You can do competitive dance or gymnastics but not both.

How are you able to even drive everyone?

Fair point and I take it. And that is a good way to put it to the one who we may be counseling out of one travel sport so thank u.
We do a lot of carpooling and the 2 parents divide and conquer.

Anonymous wrote: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 do put away college savings for kids (not sure exact amount)
-We do 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 did 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 do pay $130 every other week for house cleaning

We have done very minimal work on our house in the past 10 years and did 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!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are kids activity expenses which I guess you can tell me is crazy and you all don’t spend this much for kids activities.

Kid 1: $275/mo. swim, plus appx. $200 each fall and spring for rec sport. (May not continue swimming next year for interest reasons)
Kid 2: $275/mo. swim, plus appx. $1000 each fall & spring for travel sport (but seriously considering switching back to rec only next season for not being worth it for talent reasons)
Kid 3: $300/mo. dance; $160 mo. gymnastics

There is also an $50/mo. instrument rental for a kid.

That’s a lot of money and time. I’d tell each kid they can do one elite activity at a time. Like you can do winter/club swim or travel sports but not both. You can do competitive dance or gymnastics but not both.

How are you able to even drive everyone?

Anonymous wrote:Here are kids activity expenses which I guess you can tell me is crazy and you all don’t spend this much for kids activities.

Kid 1: $275/mo. swim, plus appx. $200 each fall and spring for rec sport. (May not continue swimming next year for interest reasons)
Kid 2: $275/mo. swim, plus appx. $1000 each fall & spring for travel sport (but seriously considering switching back to rec only next season for not being worth it for talent reasons)
Kid 3: $300/mo. dance; $160 mo. gymnastics

There is also an $50/mo. instrument rental for a kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I highly recommend YNAB. It is a budget software/app that will help you plan out where you want to spend your money.

Agree with this. You need better information about your spending. My favorite is Monarch Money, but you need some aggregator tool to get a better handle on your finances. That’s a high income to be at and feel like you can’t afford cable.

Anonymous wrote:I highly recommend YNAB. It is a budget software/app that will help you plan out where you want to spend your money.

Anonymous wrote:Your budget is fine. The things I would do differently are personal preferences only.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems weird to post you are “hemorrhaging cash” and yet not know what you are saving for college, what you are saving for retirement, and not know the amount of one of your car loans or your life insurance payment.

Do you even know what the kids activities and food bills are? It doesn’t sound like it.

What does your family bring in each month exactly and what do you spend each month exactly? Until you know these things, you can’t make educated changes.

OP here - I’m not saying budgeting is impossible but actually neither of us works on a set salary so it makes budgeting more challenging (but not impossible but not as easy as it might be for others). But yea that’s basically what I am trying to work on.

And yea we will see how smart my husband is - I have now asked him about all the various interest rates on our loans. LOL. I assume he considered this but we will see. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so laissez faire but we have to divide up household chores somehow and I have historically been fine delegating finances to him.

Anonymous wrote:Pay off all your debt first. The car payments and the loans are what I’d focus on first. Getting those out the way will free up so much cash flow. Then I’d focus the extra money into your retirement/investing.

Anonymous wrote:Seems weird to post you are “hemorrhaging cash” and yet not know what you are saving for college, what you are saving for retirement, and not know the amount of one of your car loans or your life insurance payment.

Do you even know what the kids activities and food bills are? It doesn’t sound like it.

What does your family bring in each month exactly and what do you spend each month exactly? Until you know these things, you can’t make educated changes.