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I have been reading up and researching rental properties for the future so this logic fits me perfect.
I really can't take on a banger tho because of how often I drive and how much I rely on my vehicle. I know my car has been taken care of and has had all its oil changes, if I continue to take care of it I can easy get 150k+ miles. If I get a used car how do I REALLY know if it was taken care of or doesn't have an underlying problem? For now I'm willing to pay a little extra a month to be sure I have a dependable car that I know isn't a lemon. I truly believe it is the right decision given our particular situation, and I'm not willing to put my wife in a less safe car just to save a buck. If I sold and bought a used car I might walk away with $3,000 after paying off the loan.
My friends 9 year old car that hes always taken care of just had the fuel pump go ($650) 2 weeks later it died again ($1250) just for the mechanic to tell him it needs a new computer.. Another friend sold his car and the turbocharger went like 5 days later, the buyer tried to sue him but it was an "as-is" deal. The turbo blowing pretty much destroyed the engine. So again I don't really see the risk reward in this at this point.
And what if said baby is born with an illness that requires round the clock care? You wont even USE your second car, someone will be housebound! What if a meteor crashes through my roof and lands on my refrigerator?! Should I keep a spare in my garage?
IF something like that happens I'll handle it at that time and would of course sell one of the cars IF NEEDED.
These are the type of statements that lead me to say some of your suggestions are a little extreme. If we tried to prepare for every possible bad thing that could happen, we'd literally do nothing! Some things you just need to handle when/if they happen.
(For the record before this car I drove a 1991 Toyota I bought for $2,500 I drove it for about 4 years before the clutch and distributor totally went on me, then the battery just started draining in a few hours, tried a new battery same thing happen, so clearly an electrical problem going to ground. It has 140k miles.) Been there, Done that.
Piffle. My husband and I sleep on pillows that cost $100 each. $50 for 4 is nothing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cindersslipper
Ok hugely improved attitude so here goes; obviously everything I've left remains in place:
House M/T/I $2,820 $3500 - THIS should be where you pour $$$ - paying down mortgage
.
Unless the OP has a very high interest rate, I totally disagree with this. Throw the money toward paying down the higher interest rate debt. After that, throw the money into investing. Investing in paying down the home loan which most likely at a low interest rate is very low on the priority list.
To the OP. I want to congratulate you on the changes you have made. Ignore those who are telling you to cut everything out of your life. Just remember to think each purchase through. Some purchases are worth the money. Others are better put to other purposes.
As for the cars, my husband and I both bought our cars (both Saturns) new, but they were still under $20k, and I've driven mine for 17 years, and husband is at 9 years now. New isn't the end of the world as long as you keep it in reason and only do it every couple of decades.
I have been reading up and researching rental properties for the future so this logic fits me perfect.
Where have you been reading up on that? I've heard it's best to get a mentor when first starting out, but where does one go about finding them? The Mentor Store is on backorder.
I don't get how people are talking about how Eric and his wife are making $150k - $200k a year, in actuality he only has to PLAY WITH $7,700 a month which is the amount they get to keep after taxes as he's not in a system that he can pay himself first, he has to pay the IRS/State first.
- He is in a very high cost of living area, so on W-2 making a total GROSS household income of $150,000 is actually equivalent to making $90,000 on W-2 in an "average" cost of living area or about $70,000 in a "low" cost of living area where I'm at.
- With that $7,700 a month that Eric and his wife has to play with, sometimes he might get an additional $1,800 a month in commissions thrown in there. This is $92,400 after taxes and before any additional commissions come in which after taxes can't add more than $10k - $12k to this total. So he has $102,400 to play with.
- But understand his total outgoing expenses are $7,780 a month which is $93,360 a year. If he makes NO commissions for the month, he is running at a deficit.
- His cushion period plan isn't efficient. He has only $25k to pull from in the case of an emergency, someone loses their job, etc.
- He's planning to have his expenses somehow "magically" drop by $3,000 to $4,500 while also getting $2,600 a month in unemployment. How in the world you can take $3,000 out of that budget without touching the house payment is beyond me?
- If the unthinkable happens and BOTH of you get on unemployment, well that's about $5,000 a month based on your estimates and if your expenses somehow magically get down to $4,500 you are still running very thin (only $500 a month in the black). I don't see how they get down to $4,500 a month though, I think if both of you lose your job you will be running at a deficit and have to DIP into your $25k emergency resources which are going to run out FAST.
We can sit up here all day and talk about where you will be once the debt is paid off, but the debt isn't paid off, and if you keep running in the red it will never get paid off. My advice remains:
- Cable can be cut using a streaming service and a RoKu box.
- Try to cut the toll expenses somehow
- Cut life insurance down by shopping it
- Move cell phone expenses to a Boost Mobile and pay about $30 - $35 a month each
- Pay the student loans off over time, they are good in terms of forgiveness and hardship options should you need to extend the terms.
- Move the credit cards to a no interest for XYZ month deal
- Also, sell off the cars and downsize them. Sorry man, you are running too thin, I'm trying to keep you from filing bankruptcy here.
- Future children, gifts and extra stuff need to be 100% eliminated.
- Please do NOT have any children right now, I take my statement back on this, if you add kids you are going to be running DEEP in the red. One kid has to cost at least $10k a year and that's being on the very low end side, there's NO WHERE for you to fit that one kid at unless you are going to run at a deficit to finance the kid.
- Eat out less, cook at home more, focus on healthy eating. You will save money and get fit at the same time lol.
- Downsize the house. Try to figure out how you can move into a smaller home somewhere with a lower cost of living, that's not in a run down area, try to workout paying less closing/commission costs, etc. Try to get the house payment down to no more than $1,000 - $1,500 a month. Drive longer distances to work. I don't care what "somebody else" did or what "others" are doing, you have to worry about Eric, Eric's wife and Eric's soon to be children.
Last edited by jotucker99; 09-02-2015 at 09:03 PM..
I'm only responding to this to prevent someone from having a panic attack if they find this thread on a google search while researching their own personal budget, because you are completely unreasonable and making ZERO sense.
I don't get how people are talking about how Eric and his wife are making $150k - $200k a year, in actuality he only has to PLAY WITH $7,700 a month which is the amount they get to keep after taxes as he's not in a system that he can pay himself first, he has to pay the IRS/State first. $7,700 is our net base then add $1,800 average net commission is $9,500 ($114,000 year net)
- He is in a very high cost of living area, so on W-2 making a total GROSS household income of $150,000 is actually equivalent to making $90,000 on W-2 in an "average" cost of living area or about $70,000 in a "low" cost of living area where I'm at. HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU COME UP WITH THAT?!! My COL is $33,600 a year.. how does that remove $80,000 from my income?!?!?!?!?! You completely discredit yourself with junk like this.
- With that $7,700 a month that Eric and his wife has to play with, sometimes he might get an additional $1,800 a month in commissions thrown in there. This is $92,400 after taxes and before any additional commissions come in which after taxes can't add more than $10k - $12k to this total. So he has $102,400 to play with. I cut down, got this to below $6,000. I AVERAGE $1,800 a month commission. I've never gone lower than $500 and I've gone over $4,000 a month. And that is NET. So really we have $114,000 NET to "play with"
- But understand his total outgoing expenses are $7,780 a month which is $93,360 a year. If he makes NO commissions for the month, he is running at a deficit.. I ALWAYS get some commission and if you saw my last post our budget is now like $5,800 ($69,000 a year)
- His cushion period plan isn't efficient. He has only $25k to pull from in the case of an emergency, someone loses their job, etc. This is 6 months worth of bills, NJ unemployment pays $646 a week, we have no children and we both work, this will grow as time goes by.. were you born with your 120 month cushion or did you have to work up to it like i'm working on?
- He's planning to have his expenses somehow "magically" drop by $3,000 to $4,500 while also getting $2,600 a month in unemployment. How in the world you can take $3,000 out of that budget without touching the house payment is beyond me? Look back at my last post how I already eliminated $2,000 from the budget. I could also freeze student loans, sell a car, and our commuter costs would drop "IF" we had to. That's how we do it, not magic just personal finance
- If the unthinkable happens and BOTH of you get on unemployment, well that's about $5,000 a month based on your estimates (Not an estimate, look it up) and if your expenses somehow magically get down to $4,500 you are still running very thin (only $500 a month in the black). I don't see how they get down to $4,500 a month though, I think if both of you lose your job you will be running at a deficit and have to DIP into your $25k emergency resources which are going to run out FAST. IF we both lost our job it really doesn't matter what our situation is, we'll be in hot water, we're really only starting out man, give me a little time to build this up would you. In 2-3 years I plan to have much much more. I'm sure you didn't always have "120 months cushion".. And we wouldn't need to pull from savings until unemployment runs out, unemployment is minimum 6 months and we have another 6 months of security. That's a full year for us to figure it out minimum.
We can sit up here all day and talk about where you will be once the debt is paid off, but the debt isn't paid off, and if you keep running in the red it will never get paid off. My advice remains: we are over $3,200 in the black every month which we are putting toward bills and no longer use the credit cards.
- Cable can be cut using a streaming service and a RoKu box. Already doing that, down to $80
- Try to cut the toll expenses somehow Leaving earlier to take advantage of "off peak" discount $40
- Cut life insurance down by shopping it We're doing that by $25
- Move cell phone expenses to a Boost Mobile and pay about $30 - $35 a month each Working on a shared family plan $50
- Pay the student loans off over time, they are good in terms of forgiveness and hardship options should you need to extend the terms. Only paying minimum for now
- Move the credit cards to a no interest for XYZ month deal Credit card debt will be gone next month already put $2,000 on it since the weekend without tapping into emergency fund.
- Also, sell off the cars and downsize them. Sorry man, you are running too thin, I'm trying to keep you from filing bankruptcy here. NO.. My cars are dependable and we NEED them to get to work. Its not worth making $3000 cash now, and risking buying someone else's problem. If I end up with a car that always breaks down I'll have to pay for repairs and I could risk losing my job by not making it to work. Its simply not worth the risk. They'll be paid off in 2 years.
- Future children, gifts and extra stuff need to be 100% eliminated. Future children has been eliminated for now, gifts and extras have been cut down. This figures in all year round for weddings, birthdays, haircuts, donations, the "who knows".. I'm not giving that up just to save a buck.
- Please do NOT have any children right now, I take my statement back on this, if you add kids you are going to be running DEEP in the red. One kid has to cost at least $10k a year and that's being on the very low end side, there's NO WHERE for you to fit that one kid at unless you are going to run at a deficit to finance the kid. We've freed up something like $3,200 a month. If I can't "afford" to have a child while earning $150k a year and driving used hyundais there is a real problem in this country as I'm in the upper 10% of earners driving lower end used cars.
- Eat out less, cook at home more, focus on healthy eating. You will save money and get fit at the same time lol. Agreed, we started doing this, we've knocked the lunch budget down to $0 and are not eating out again until the credit card debt is gone.
- Downsize the house. Try to figure out how you can move into a smaller home somewhere with a lower cost of living, that's not in a run down area, try to workout paying less closing/commission costs, etc. Try to get the house payment down to no more than $1,000 - $1,500 a month. Drive longer distances to work. I don't care what "somebody else" did or what "others" are doing, you have to worry about Eric, Eric's wife and Eric's soon to be children. You are not listening.. This simply does not exist in NJ unless you want to live in a bad area or a 1bed/1bath apartment. I'm in this house. If I sold right now we'd have to pay $28,000 in Realtor commission. I'm sorry, but you are an idiot if you think this is a good idea.. and you've already stated a few times you know NOTHING about the COL and housing market in NJ. You're from Michigan so I understand its hard for you to wrap your head around, but it is what it is.
Many people have offered very good financial advice. Your "advice" is not appreciated because you continue to bring up my COL and your numbers are randomly made up and based on your opinion with no real knowledge backing them which you've already admitted to ("$150k salary is equal to $70k salary in your area") Why because you want it to be???.
You already said you make $75,000. We make $150k+.. Our yearly expenses have been knocked down to under $72,000 a year, leaving more than your salary. How am I "too thin" when my leftover is more than your whole salary... Either answer that question or please stop commenting. AND STOP TELLING ME TO SELL MY HOME!!
First of all, you need to calm down with the personal attacks, don't call me an idiot or clown like you did in the other thread. You are getting out of control lol and those personal attacks can get you banned buddy.
Quote:
My COL is $33,600 a year.. how does that remove $80,000 from my income?!?!?!?!?! You completely discredit yourself with junk like this.
I don't know where you get $33,600 from? Cost of living is determined using an index of the area. I believe you are somewhere around here - http://www.city-data.com/city/West-O...ew-Jersey.html and the cost of living index is at 130.1, the US average is 100 which means if you are in an area with a 100 index, then you are "average" cost of living, if you are higher than that, you are in a HIGH cost of living area.
Where I'm at in Clinton Township, it's 93.70 which is lower than the 100 average, which means I'm in a low cost of living area. You are at 130.1 which is a high cost of living area.
That's why if you are going to live in a high cost of living area, you are going to have to at least make 50% - 70% more than what someone makes in a low cost of living area to keep the same level of cushion, expense management, etc.
Quote:
I AVERAGE $1,800 a month commission. I've never gone lower than $500 and I've gone over $4,000 a month. And that is NET. So really we have $114,000 NET to "play with"
I ALWAYS get some commission and if you saw my last post our budget is now like $5,800 ($69,000 a year)
Sorry this thread is damn near 20 pages, so I see where you cut $1,355 a month what about the $800 a month debt paydown situation? That wasn't included. Assuming the $800 a month debt payments are still there, you are down to $77,100 a year from my calculation. Which is much better.
Quote:
This is 6 months worth of bills, NJ unemployment pays $646 a week, we have no children and we both work, this will grow as time goes by.. were you born with your 120 month cushion or did you have to work up to it like i'm working on?
Look back at my last post how I already eliminated $2,000 from the budget. I could also freeze student loans, sell a car, and our commuter costs would drop "IF" we had to. That's how we do it, not magic just personal finance[
Why would you ask me if I was born with a 120 month cushion period? What do you think the answer to that is?
So you would sell a car and look at downsizing car costs once you get into a financial problem? But you can't do that right now?
Quote:
IF we both lost our job it really doesn't matter what our situation is, we'll be in hot water,
Which...is....MY....POINT.
While you are screaming in all caps, typing in red, arguing back and forth for 20 pages, and throwing out childish personal attacks, this is the point I've been trying to make to you. If you guys got laid off for some strange reason (and in this economy, it CAN HAPPEN), you can potentially be facing serious financial problems if you both don't find other gigs within a short period of time.
That is why I'm telling you to cut back right now to increase your level of cushion, it's not because you are necessarily in a financial crunch "today", it's that you will BE in one if you guys got laid off "tomorrow".
Quote:
...we're really only starting out man, give me a little time to build this up would you.
Quote:
In 2-3 years I plan to have much much more. I'm sure you didn't always have "120 months cushion".. And we wouldn't need to pull from savings until unemployment runs out, unemployment is minimum 6 months and we have another 6 months of security. That's a full year for us to figure it out minimum.
This assumes your expenses don't go higher than you plan which includes another emergency popping up that you didn't plan for or a repair popping up that you didn't plan for, etc. ONE YEAR of cushion for a Millennial is bad in my opinion. Three - Five years at minimum is my opinion. It allows you to get laid off for no fault of your own, and allows you to reinvent yourself for whatever next career gig you have instead of having to disgrace yourself by working at Wal-Mart until the next gig comes along because you have ran out of money. Or having to file bankruptcy.
But of course, you don't want to hear this.......
Quote:
We've freed up something like $3,200 a month. If I can't "afford" to have a child while earning $150k a year and driving used hyundais there is a real problem in this country as I'm in the upper 10% of earners driving lower end used cars.
I don't see where $3,200 a month is coming from? I see $1,355 a month but again, where's the $800 debt paydown? Isn't that still included? And here you go again with the "We make $150k a year and should be able to afford anything" non-sense. You are in a HIGH cost of living area. You don't want to hear this, but like I said, that's equivalent to about $100k gross household in a low or average cost of living area. That's not a lot of money Eric to go on a damn spending spree with a $400k plus house.
If you had two kids right now, you might be facing bankruptcy within a year.
The cost of daycare alone for your area is most likely going to run you $10,000 per year per child, that's $20,000 right there with just daycare. When you add in the additional expenses related to taking care of the children, you have to be talking about total of at least $40,000 a year for both children (expenses, daycare, etc) to your costs.
Where do you pay for that Eric? Show me.....
Quote:
Many people have offered very good financial advice.
Your definition of good financial advice is what feels comfortable to you.
Quote:
Your "advice" is not appreciated because you continue to bring up my COL and your numbers are randomly made up and based on your opinion with no real knowledge backing them which you've already admitted to ("$150k salary is equal to $70k salary in your area") Why because you want it to be???.
I broke this down about cost of living indexes.
Quote:
You already said you make $75,000. We make $150k+..
I pay myself first though, which means I get a ton of tax deductions. I can play with the entire $75,000. You guys can't play with the entire $150,000 as you said you can only play with about $114k with the commissions added in. With your cost of living being significantly higher than mine, that's NOT a good deal in my opinion. I don't care how you want to slice it.
Also $75k is my average, some years I'm right at $100k.
Quote:
AND STOP TELLING ME TO SELL MY HOME!!
You can type in all caps, all red, and shout until the cows come home. You bought TOO MUCH HOUSE. Period. It is what it is. The housing costs are too damn high.
Listen, Eric, I don't have a dog in this fight. I'm just a City Data Forum contributor man lol, I like having discussions about Personal Finance. This is YOUR LIFE. I don't know you and nobody on this Forum knows you. If you file bankruptcy, nobody on this Forum is going to give a damn.
At the end of the day, you are going to have to do whatever YOU decide. You don't like my advice, then don't follow it. But don't make a thread asking for a "critique", then get a "critique", and go bat sh_t crazy because you aren't getting the answers you want to hear lol.
Many of us here follow Mr. Money Mustache Mr. Money Mustache — Early Retirement through Badassity which is all about making as much income as you can, putting as much away in savings/investments as you can, and SPENDING AS LITTLE AS YOU CAN.
So a lot of what I'm telling you are principles that in some form or another, go along with Mr. Money Mustache's principles. I believe people should live below their means. You don't have to live "wayy" below your means, but you should be living below your means.
Now with that said, I'm out of this thread officially now. I've said everything else I needed to say. Carry on and I wish you the best of luck.
Yea I didn't bother reading past "cost of living index". We don't need an index cause we have actual numbers. I got all the help I needed from all the great suggestions from other people on this forum. Thank you everyone else for the great suggestions and helping my with the first steps to a brighter future. I'm done with this thread as it's more then served it's purpose. Thanks again!
First of all, you need to calm down with the personal attacks, don't call me an idiot or clown like you did in the other thread. You are getting out of control lol and those personal attacks can get you banned buddy.
I don't know where you get $33,600 from? Cost of living is determined using an index of the area. I believe you are somewhere around here - http://www.city-data.com/city/West-O...ew-Jersey.html and the cost of living index is at 130.1, the US average is 100 which means if you are in an area with a 100 index, then you are "average" cost of living, if you are higher than that, you are in a HIGH cost of living area.
Where I'm at in Clinton Township, it's 93.70 which is lower than the 100 average, which means I'm in a low cost of living area. You are at 130.1 which is a high cost of living area.
That's why if you are going to live in a high cost of living area, you are going to have to at least make 50% - 70% more than what someone makes in a low cost of living area to keep the same level of cushion, expense management, etc.
Sorry this thread is damn near 20 pages, so I see where you cut $1,355 a month what about the $800 a month debt paydown situation? That wasn't included. Assuming the $800 a month debt payments are still there, you are down to $77,100 a year from my calculation. Which is much better.
Why would you ask me if I was born with a 120 month cushion period? What do you think the answer to that is?
So you would sell a car and look at downsizing car costs once you get into a financial problem? But you can't do that right now?
Which...is....MY....POINT.
While you are screaming in all caps, typing in red, arguing back and forth for 20 pages, and throwing out childish personal attacks, this is the point I've been trying to make to you. If you guys got laid off for some strange reason (and in this economy, it CAN HAPPEN), you can potentially be facing serious financial problems if you both don't find other gigs within a short period of time.
That is why I'm telling you to cut back right now to increase your level of cushion, it's not because you are necessarily in a financial crunch "today", it's that you will BE in one if you guys got laid off "tomorrow".
This assumes your expenses don't go higher than you plan which includes another emergency popping up that you didn't plan for or a repair popping up that you didn't plan for, etc. ONE YEAR of cushion for a Millennial is bad in my opinion. Three - Five years at minimum is my opinion. It allows you to get laid off for no fault of your own, and allows you to reinvent yourself for whatever next career gig you have instead of having to disgrace yourself by working at Wal-Mart until the next gig comes along because you have ran out of money. Or having to file bankruptcy.
But of course, you don't want to hear this.......
I don't see where $3,200 a month is coming from? I see $1,355 a month but again, where's the $800 debt paydown? Isn't that still included? And here you go again with the "We make $150k a year and should be able to afford anything" non-sense. You are in a HIGH cost of living area. You don't want to hear this, but like I said, that's equivalent to about $100k gross household in a low or average cost of living area. That's not a lot of money Eric to go on a damn spending spree with a $400k plus house.
If you had two kids right now, you might be facing bankruptcy within a year.
The cost of daycare alone for your area is most likely going to run you $10,000 per year per child, that's $20,000 right there with just daycare. When you add in the additional expenses related to taking care of the children, you have to be talking about total of at least $40,000 a year for both children (expenses, daycare, etc) to your costs.
Where do you pay for that Eric? Show me.....
Your definition of good financial advice is what feels comfortable to you.
I broke this down about cost of living indexes.
I pay myself first though, which means I get a ton of tax deductions. I can play with the entire $75,000. You guys can't play with the entire $150,000 as you said you can only play with about $114k with the commissions added in. With your cost of living being significantly higher than mine, that's NOT a good deal in my opinion. I don't care how you want to slice it.
Also $75k is my average, some years I'm right at $100k.
You can type in all caps, all red, and shout until the cows come home. You bought TOO MUCH HOUSE. Period. It is what it is. The housing costs are too damn high.
Listen, Eric, I don't have a dog in this fight. I'm just a City Data Forum contributor man lol, I like having discussions about Personal Finance. This is YOUR LIFE. I don't know you and nobody on this Forum knows you. If you file bankruptcy, nobody on this Forum is going to give a damn.
At the end of the day, you are going to have to do whatever YOU decide. You don't like my advice, then don't follow it. But don't make a thread asking for a "critique", then get a "critique", and go bat sh_t crazy because you aren't getting the answers you want to hear lol.
Many of us here follow Mr. Money Mustache Mr. Money Mustache — Early Retirement through Badassity which is all about making as much income as you can, putting as much away in savings/investments as you can, and SPENDING AS LITTLE AS YOU CAN.
So a lot of what I'm telling you are principles that in some form or another, go along with Mr. Money Mustache's principles. I believe people should live below their means. You don't have to live "wayy" below your means, but you should be living below your means.
Now with that said, I'm out of this thread officially now. I've said everything else I needed to say. Carry on and I wish you the best of luck.
Mr Money Mustache rocks and so do you love the post, breakdown and help to a fellow board member! Wise advice! To each his own.
Okay.. Critique
Here is my newest budget. Please let me know where I can make changes and please don't say the vehicles as we already know I do need 2 and they are almost paid off.
House M/T/I $2,820
Cable $150 $80 (just internet and hulu/netflix to keep my wife happy)
PSEG $215
Water/Sewer $80
House Maintenance $100 $50
Car 1 $270
Car 2 $250
Ezpass $280 $240 (Driving during non-peak hours save me a little)
Car Gas $250
Car Maintenance $75 $25 (I do most everything myself anyway)
Car Insurance $145 $125
Groceries $400 $350 (easily, even with more home cooking)
Life Insurance $55 $35 (gonna lower this)
Cell phone $100 $50 (looking at jumping on a family plan with other family members)
CREDIT CARDS/DEBT
My Amex $35 minimum payment
My Chase $27 min
Her Amex $35 min
Joint Chase $50 (Put $2,000 toward this over the weekend, down to $2,700)
Student loans $400
EXTRAS
Clothing $100 ($25 who am I kidding we shop at TJ maxx)
Future children $250 ($0 dropping this for now till debt is gone)
Eating Out/order in $250 $0 (dropping this till debt is gone)
Lunches $300 $20 (we've been cooking at home and packing left over everyday, left $20 just in case)
Gifts/extras $350 $200 (I have a wedding we have to travel for this year that's gonna cost about $1000 so I'm averaging that in)
That gives me an out-going budget of $5,632. Which leaves around $2,000 left over, plus an average $1,800 commission for a total of $3,800 a month to put towards debt then investing.
Do you see any areas where I could improve OTHER THAN CARS lol
I'm hoping most people still flaming me here haven't yet realized the changes I made. its quite discouraging getting flamed when you're just trying to explain yourself and the attempts you've made. Given our situation I'm not sure what more I could do, and considering my leftover net is almost the average American household's gross, I really hope its considered enough.
I'm sorry if I've offended anyone, but I really am trying here.
Awesome changes!!! Here is to a financially sound future. Keep going and pay off those credit cards. Check out Frugalwoods, Mr Money Mustache, Jacob ( retire early), frugal boards etc. Good job
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love the post, breakdown and help to a fellow board member! Wise advice! To each his own. 
