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Old 06-12-2015, 03:05 PM
 
1,115 posts, read 2,485,638 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rowan123 View Post
Speaking of dogs, did you include vet care in the budget? The older your dogs get, it's very likely their vet bills will increase. Even when they're young there are annual shots, heartworm medication etc.
Yes. I have a very extensive budget of all our expenses, but the one I posted in this thread was just a very quick summary.
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Old 06-12-2015, 04:09 PM
 
Location: Portal to the Pacific
8,736 posts, read 8,612,435 times
Reputation: 13006
Quote:
Originally Posted by pipsters View Post
Money Moustache did the exact OPPOSITE of the OP.

Him and his wife made good money (around $135k a yr IIRC) for many years straight out of college. He flipped a house or two and made a ton of money on those, and then also got caught in the huge rising tide of the stock market. He also bought his residence before the HUGE housing runup in 2000, and it's completely paid off.

The OP is going to do the EXACT opposite. Comparing the two is quite simply crazy.

You can't compare the OP to someone that did all their retirement saving by 30 and is essentially retired at this point in time. They have the free time to make $40k do-able, and don't have to save money for retirement, or pay rent or a mortgage.
It's not my intention to compare MMM and the OP and, in fact I'm not sure how you could even draw that conclusion.

For the most part I ignore MMM's accumulation of wealth and certainly all his posts about DIY education, exercise and housing (I like public schools, group yoga classes and installing my own heating or plumbing system simply doesn't interest me....). What I do like, and like a lot, are the rants about our hedonistic wasteful and financially illiterate society. I live a very frugal lifestyle in a very self-indulgent community and it's nice to know that there are voices out there that advocate for the "good life" that doesn't involve luxuary cars and 4000 sq ft homes.

But here is the comparison for you: MMM lives off of a $40k lifestyle and doesn't have to worry where as, depending on his level of enthusiasm, OP will either worry a lot or very little living off of the same $40k lifestyle.

That's it.

But here is the thing... they're probably young and have all their lives ahead of them. They, at least, sound like they are responsible and reasonable.. and time will tell if they are adaptable and resourceful.
We're just getting a snap shot, a single moment at the beginning of their lives together.

Just for fun and to illustrate my point, I will give you mine from late January 2003:

Hey everyone! It's the end January and I'm just months away from getting my awesomely pointless language arts degree. Sooo.... I -we- made some BIG decisions: First, I broke up the fiance of 5 years together because we were fighting just so much over Christmas break. So, yeah.. it officially ended on January 2nd It was soooo sad.. but... I also realized over that same break that I was kinda in love with that new guy who moved in last August and guess what.... we eloped on January 5th!! OMG isn't that crazy??? Yeah, I know.. my parents, who have been supporting my butt since birth totally flipped, but were cool because it was suddenly up to my very new (new on so many levels haha!) husband to pay for me!

But it gets better...

We got pregnant! Can you believe it! OMG I've decided not to even try getting a job after college because I'm going to be a mommy (can't wait to meet baby!).

And you know what else??? Turns out my new husband (whom I didn't even know 6 months ago) is actually pretty smart.. yeah! He applied to graduate school and was just accepted to do a PhD in VIDEO GAMES (how cool is THAT!). But the bad news.. he has to quit his $50k job for five years... and I have to sell off my $40k investment portfolio my grandparents had given me to help pay for his school.. but I'm sure it's going to be worth it!

So that's it guys, in 8.75 months we're both going to be unemployed new parents!


Can you imagine the sort of response a post like this would have gotten??? But that, my friends, is *exactly* how it happened.

For five years we lived on a $26k research assistant salary and in January 2008 we had a total of $5500 of assets: just the cash in our checking account. I'm not sure if anyone could have predicted that in January 2015, just 12 years later, we'd have the kids, PhD, a $210k+ salary and over $500k in assets.

It happened because we were adaptable and resourceful and, just like MMM, lucky too. When the money started coming in I didn't change our baseline lifestyle we had forcibly endured in the early years. Now it's a choice, but it fits with our value system anyway.. it just doesn't fit in with what society values, at least not in this affluent Seattle suburb.

The point is yes, keep your eyes open and be yielding. Sometimes I was exclusively at home and sometimes I wasn't. I'm a pet nanny *right now* not because it's my passion (although I love animals), but because it's a highly needed service amongst my neighbors and it's a job that lets me stay within a few blocks of home and the kids' school. What will I or my husband be doing in 5, 10, 15 years? Where will anyone be in 5,10, 15 years??? Nobody knows. Every day is a snapshot.

The question here isn't "can we do it?" The question really is "will it be okay?"

Nobody can tell you that OP. We were in a more precarious situation than you and it worked out wonderfully up to this point, but that doesn't mean our luck won't change. I don't know how you can predict something like luck.
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Old 06-12-2015, 08:24 PM
 
30,855 posts, read 36,750,505 times
Reputation: 34384
Quote:
Originally Posted by the_grimace View Post
Eh, it is what it is. Dogs are extremely important to my fiancee and bring her lots of joy. Yes though, they are lot of work and shut some doors for cheaper rent
Ok, that's fine. Just realize the added costs of having them are delaying your timeline for starting a family and/or adding stress if you start one now. You can't have it all, and your original post sounds a bit complainy.

Quote:
Originally Posted by the_grimace View Post
In hindsight, one dog was fine. Very manageable. We definitely made a mistake getting a second dog, a little too much responsibility that we weren't 100% ready for. It is what it is though. We do the best with what is on our plate.
The crux of the problem is people take on huge commitments (cars, kids, dogs, houses) without thinking about the long term consequences, and then they complain about the high cost of living or (fill in the blank_______) while not admitting they could have made different choices that would have allowed them more flexibility.
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Old 06-12-2015, 08:33 PM
 
30,855 posts, read 36,750,505 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the_grimace View Post
I also dislike people who think pets are dismissable. To me getting rid of a dog because it takes too much time or is too hard is on the same level as getting rid of a kid.
Sorry. It's just not on the same level.

Hate us if you want, but you really do sound immature in your expectations. This is so typical of CD posters...people want advice and then when people give it, they get mad because they're told some version of "you can't have everything you want".
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Old 06-12-2015, 08:36 PM
 
30,855 posts, read 36,750,505 times
Reputation: 34384
Quote:
Originally Posted by pipsters View Post
Money Moustache did the exact OPPOSITE of the OP.

Him and his wife made good money (around $135k a yr IIRC) for many years straight out of college. He flipped a house or two and made a ton of money on those, and then also got caught in the huge rising tide of the stock market. He also bought his residence before the HUGE housing runup in 2000, and it's completely paid off.
Wait a minute Mr.Money Mustache retired around 2005, before the 2008 stock market crash. To say he "got caught up in the huge rising tide of the stock market" is BS.
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Old 06-12-2015, 09:16 PM
 
13,811 posts, read 27,305,492 times
Reputation: 14244
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
Wait a minute Mr.Money Mustache retired around 2005, before the 2008 stock market crash. To say he "got caught up in the huge rising tide of the stock market" is BS.
Apparently you forgot about the mid to late 90's. There was a huge run up then as well.
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Old 06-12-2015, 09:59 PM
 
Location: Silicon Valley
18,812 posts, read 32,262,905 times
Reputation: 38559
I think the first thing you should do, is buy a house based on your combined incomes - before your fiance quits her job.

If you buy a starter home for $125,000, with an FHA loan with 3.5% down, your payments should be around $770, including taxes and insurance. At any rate, your mortgage payments would be no more than your current rent. But, you'll probably need both incomes to buy a home.

Then, just plan on staying in your "starter" home, as long as it's in a decent school district.

Second, go ahead and hire someone to clean your house at least every other week - now. I know other professional couples who saved their marriages by doing this. And, you may want to continue to budget for this, after your wife becomes pregnant. Being pregnant and staying home with children is exhausting. It's a 24/7, extremely taxing "job" to take care of a child and cook, and take the car to get maintenance done, and shopping, etc., all with a child and about 1,000 pounds worth of child gear with you everywhere you go. So, I suggest you plan on continuing paying for someone to come and do a thorough cleaning every other week or so - at least once a month.

If your wife can find some kind of part-time work she can do at home - that is feasible to do with a child - that would really help. She may even find that she'd like to get out of the house and work 1/2 days somewhere.

But, I do think you can do this. But, I believe you need to buy the house first, while you can qualify with both salaries. Then she can quit. And you can feel secure that your housing costs will not go up, and you won't have to move.

I can't help but think about my parents' generation, where most households had only one income. My father was a cop, so he didn't make a huge salary. There were four kids. My folks bought a small house that we lived in most of our lives. They shared one car. My mother cooked and sewed. And they even sent us to private Catholic school.

So, I believe you can do it. Buy the house first, and live frugally. And don't be afraid to splurge a little on someone to come clean the house once in a while :-)
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Old 06-12-2015, 10:21 PM
 
629 posts, read 1,713,441 times
Reputation: 1117
It's possible to raise a single family on 40k, but you're going to have to be willing to cut back and make more sacrifices than you have so far. I think you need to try living on that 40k for at least 6 months first and see if you can do it.

And not to beat a dead-horse, but something is amiss in your time management. I routinely work 50-70 hour weeks, exercise for a minimum hour every day, cook all my own meals (that rarely include meat I might add), and manage to do all the other household things (laundry, bills paid, keeping the place spotless) with no help and still have plenty of time to go out and meet with friends. Oh and I do all that despite being paralyzed from the waist down.

I'd also look at your chose career fields. If working 40 hours a week is as stressful and taxing as you make it sound, is that really what you want to do for the rest of your working career?
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Old 06-13-2015, 02:25 AM
 
Location: SC
2,966 posts, read 5,185,690 times
Reputation: 6918
I have not read all of this, but glancing at post 1, I would say you need to slash your rent utility costs down greatly.

In the Midwest, you should be able to rent a decent small place or apt for around 500.00 until you get more established financially. (Unless you are near a large city)
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Old 06-14-2015, 09:23 AM
 
1,019 posts, read 1,035,688 times
Reputation: 2336
If you're so stressed out with jobs that are only 8-5 entry level jobs, and seemingly have no commute time, with no kids...I think you'd probably stroke out if your income was cut by $32K and you added kids to the mix.

You have time to exercise 45 minutes every day, plus care for the dogs, plus spend a fair amount of time preparing meals. That has to be your together time. You can make it fun - put on music, talk about your day, discuss current events, plan for the future.

I think for now, you stay the course. Nobody quits a job. You both keeping striving to improve within your respective careers, and likely your income will rise, making your goal of one income more do-able. You mentioned you spend time doing school work as well, that won't last forever. I'd think of this time in your life as your "investment time" - you're working toward something better, putting in your time, in hopes that it will be better in the future.

We were a one income family on $50,000 with three kids, similar housing expenses. That was do-able, although tight. I can't imagine doing it on $10K less.
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