Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You live in Pimmit and hire out the grass? That's the laziest thing I've ever heard. What is that, a twenty-minute task?

DH works 6 days a week, generally 13 hour days. Im a lawyer - we have absolutely no extra time to cut the grass. Plus, we have no shed in which to put a lawnmower.

I have never heard of a lawyer making 80k a year. Are you full time"?

How insanely ignorant.

I would have DH quit his job, he can care for the kids and cut the grass. Plus no more 180 a month is work expenses for him.

Not much benefit to his working. Especially since he works 13 Hours a day 6 days a week. Not work it.
If it was 40 hours a week, I might feel different.

OP, have you tried shopping at H-mart for vegetables & fruits? It's cheaper than Safeway or Giant. There's one in Fairfax.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's my budget. Feel free to share tips. Also feel free to rejoice in how much more money you have than us if that's the case. It is what it is. . .

2500 Mortgage
101 Storage
2000 Childcare
725 Student Loans
175 Cell
305 Credit cards
100 Power
40 Trash
20 TV
75 Water
40 Cable
45 Gas
90 Grass
250 Auto Loan
80 Auto Gas
40 Parking
80 Auto Insurance
145 Life Insurance
100 Doctors
60 Vet/Pet Meds
50 Gym
600 Grocery/CVS/Pet
175 Amazon Subscribe/Save
60 Restaurant
150 Shopping
150 ATM/7-Eleven
35 Gifts
120 DH Work Expenses

8311 - TOTAL

Have bolded what I would cut down/ cut out. Honestly, this whole thread is a little confusing to me given your responses.

I agree - I need to work on these. We use New York Life, for instance, and need to switch. We are stuck in our cell contract for another year unfortunately. As for the gym, we just canceled a $100/mo membership and I am alloting the $50/mo for a cheaper one for DH. I am hoping our old cat goes to heaven soon too - she is too $$$$ and we are now on a monthly payment plan for her care because it was killing us. ATM/7-eleven needs to go. The grass cutting is only 1/2 the year I am hoping. Our groceries are too expensive - I need more coupons because we eat beans/rice and PB&J several days a week it seems and still we spend a lot for 4 people.

What's on your menu for this week? Do you make lunch at home for everyone and then everyone brings to work/school/daycare/camp? What are you planning to have for dinner tonight, tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday?

Since sunday I have eaten beans and rice for every meal - lunch and dinner, except once I had pasta and once hamburgers. the buns were in my freezer (i save extras) and the meat was $2.85 and we used no fixins except ketchup.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You live in Pimmit and hire out the grass? That's the laziest thing I've ever heard. What is that, a twenty-minute task?

DH works 6 days a week, generally 13 hour days. Im a lawyer - we have absolutely no extra time to cut the grass. Plus, we have no shed in which to put a lawnmower.

I have never heard of a lawyer making 80k a year. Are you full time"?

yes ft make 100K

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You live in Pimmit and hire out the grass? That's the laziest thing I've ever heard. What is that, a twenty-minute task?

DH works 6 days a week, generally 13 hour days. Im a lawyer - we have absolutely no extra time to cut the grass. Plus, we have no shed in which to put a lawnmower.

I have never heard of a lawyer making 80k a year. Are you full time"?

If you are spending $775 (grocery and amazon) on food, pet stuff, cleaning, diapers, and household supplies, I don't think you are doing too bad. It's easy to have false economies with groceries. If you work at it and save $25/week-that's great, but your ignoring the bigger spending problems that your really need to deal with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what's on the credit cards if not groceries/gas/shopping/etc?

About $5K of large car repair and vet bills - the car and cat both almost died at the same time. And our rate with capital one is sooooo high - like 25%. I need to try to transfer the balances so that the $300/mo I pay goes to more principal to pay it off.

Well, if you cut out grass, eating out, storage, shopping, atm, gym, cable for 4-5 months and added that money to the $ you're already paying on the credit card, it would be paid off. At that point, you could decide what stuff still felt essential.

I have sympathy for your situation, because I know how much it sucks to have a good education and a professional job and not be able to afford basic middle class stuff, but that is where you're at right now. Theoretically, it is perfectly understandable for a lawyer to go to a store and buy something that she kind of needs, but you don't have the money to do that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's my budget. Feel free to share tips. Also feel free to rejoice in how much more money you have than us if that's the case. It is what it is. . .

2500 Mortgage
101 Storage
2000 Childcare
725 Student Loans
175 Cell
305 Credit cards
100 Power
40 Trash
20 TV
75 Water
40 Cable
45 Gas
90 Grass
250 Auto Loan
80 Auto Gas
40 Parking
80 Auto Insurance
145 Life Insurance
100 Doctors
60 Vet/Pet Meds
50 Gym
600 Grocery/CVS/Pet
175 Amazon Subscribe/Save
60 Restaurant
150 Shopping
150 ATM/7-Eleven
35 Gifts
120 DH Work Expenses

8311 - TOTAL

Have bolded what I would cut down/ cut out. Honestly, this whole thread is a little confusing to me given your responses.

I agree - I need to work on these. We use New York Life, for instance, and need to switch. We are stuck in our cell contract for another year unfortunately. As for the gym, we just canceled a $100/mo membership and I am alloting the $50/mo for a cheaper one for DH. I am hoping our old cat goes to heaven soon too - she is too $$$$ and we are now on a monthly payment plan for her care because it was killing us. ATM/7-eleven needs to go. The grass cutting is only 1/2 the year I am hoping. Our groceries are too expensive - I need more coupons because we eat beans/rice and PB&J several days a week it seems and still we spend a lot for 4 people.

What's on your menu for this week? Do you make lunch at home for everyone and then everyone brings to work/school/daycare/camp? What are you planning to have for dinner tonight, tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of 4 and I've been clipping coupons since Jan. I've finally hot a stock pile big enough that I spend about $75 a week which is $300/ month. I spend about $20 in fresh produce at the Asian market and use the rest to buy whatever's on sale.

Where can I score some good coupons?

I just use the ones that come in the Wash. Post.

Anonymous wrote:Op, is this for real? I feel like you are not answering a majority of our questions.

I have answered many of them. Some seem rhetorical. But I am very thankful for everyone's input - I need ideas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's my budget. Feel free to share tips. Also feel free to rejoice in how much more money you have than us if that's the case. It is what it is. . .

2500 Mortgage
101 Storage
2000 Childcare
725 Student Loans
175 Cell
305 Credit cards
100 Power
40 Trash
20 TV
75 Water
40 Cable
45 Gas
90 Grass
250 Auto Loan
80 Auto Gas
40 Parking
80 Auto Insurance
145 Life Insurance
100 Doctors
60 Vet/Pet Meds
50 Gym
600 Grocery/CVS/Pet
175 Amazon Subscribe/Save
60 Restaurant
150 Shopping
150 ATM/7-Eleven
35 Gifts
120 DH Work Expenses

8311 - TOTAL

Have bolded what I would cut down/ cut out. Honestly, this whole thread is a little confusing to me given your responses.

I agree - I need to work on these. We use New York Life, for instance, and need to switch. We are stuck in our cell contract for another year unfortunately. As for the gym, we just canceled a $100/mo membership and I am alloting the $50/mo for a cheaper one for DH. I am hoping our old cat goes to heaven soon too - she is too $$$$ and we are now on a monthly payment plan for her care because it was killing us. ATM/7-eleven needs to go. The grass cutting is only 1/2 the year I am hoping. Our groceries are too expensive - I need more coupons because we eat beans/rice and PB&J several days a week it seems and still we spend a lot for 4 people.

Op, is this for real? I feel like you are not answering a majority of our questions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:what's on the credit cards if not groceries/gas/shopping/etc?

About $5K of large car repair and vet bills - the car and cat both almost died at the same time. And our rate with capital one is sooooo high - like 25%. I need to try to transfer the balances so that the $300/mo I pay goes to more principal to pay it off.

Do you have bad credit? Why is your interest rate so high? Call them and ask nicely of they can lower it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much do each of you make? Like, what's the split on that $8000?

Me: $5600 (net/month)
DH: $2400 (net/month)

Wait: you spend $2000 a month on childcare but DH is only making 2400 a month? Isn't that a net loss with taxes?

Why are you counting childcare against her DH's earnings only?

You make me feel better!