M and I were talking about money the other day, and he told me that he's breaking even every month. Well, sort of. Four times a year he gets a bonus, and in total that increases his savings by $70k. His savings currently stands at 100k. But he has $5k in his checking account and that doesn't change. So that means he and I are spending approximately $5500 a month. I found that kind of alarming. He has no debt, so that's all outright spending. $1200 of that is all me. $1127 is our rent. So a little more than $3000 is spent on utilities, food and entertainment. He said he would check to see exactly how much we spend on food, but I'm hoping we can cut it down significantly.
I've been watching houses in our area on Redfin and the cheapest I've seen have been between $600-700k. A few miles east, and prices drop to $400-500k. I hope those prices will hold (or drop) in the next 2-3 years, because we talked about it, and we'd like to buy a house in 2012 or 2013. In 3 years, M will have 310k saved up. (How much I'll have is unknowable, except I know it won't be comparable!)
I think we'll definitely be moving in with his parents to their new house next June. They built an apartment-like second floor with a separate entrance, with either us or M's sisters in mind. The sisters will be away at college for another few years, so desire to have the place won't conflict. (His parents also specifically asked us a few months ago if we wanted to move in) And that'll be a savings of $1127/month for 1-2 years (for a total savings of $13k-$27k).
M wants to quit his job and start his own video game company in a few years. I'll need to be able to support us by then.
In the short-term, I need to find a job, ANY job, and start aggressively paying off my credit cards. I may have to accept something as low as $50k (or even lower, if worse comes to worst). I'd like to have the credit card bills paid off, and M paid back, before we buy a house. The student loans are another matter. I think I just need to accept that they're going to be hanging around for a long, long time.
7 hours ago
6 comments:
That's how I feel about my student loans as well. Perhaps I'll be able to pay on them but for the most part, I'm going to concentrate on other things, like my previous medical debt I racked up when I was younger and my savings goals. Good luck! Sounds like you guys are doing great!
Sounds like he needs to track his (and your) spending for a month to see where the rest of the money goes. Try Mint.com - it's free! And maybe find some areas you can cut back to up your debt repayments. Yes focus on the credit cards for now.
He uses Mint. But in general in doesn't like budgeting or thinking about budgets. But we both know we spend too much on food. :\
Thanks for your comments, ladies :)
Good luck with the tracking! I'm not a huge fan of keeping track of everything that I spend my money on either. I just like to have a rough idea and try to stay below my set amount.
Good luck with the job hunt!
What does M do? Those are impressive bonuses!
I have no idea how central your suburb is, but if it's comparable to where we currently rent, prices are about the same.
We want to buy eventually, but we'll have to move right out to suburbia proper where we grew up. Which will be okay, I guess. Just means a much longer commute...
And hey, you may spend too much on food but at least his income level can support it - it's not choking you.
@SavingDiva: Thanks!
@eemusings: M's in the entertainment industry. :)
Houses are so expensive here because we're close to the beach. But we're also right next to M's work. There aren't many jobs for me near us, so if we moved into the cheaper areas, it would probably mean less of a commute for me. We'll see where we're at in a couple years. I like that we're able to share one car too; hopefully that can continue.
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