[Monica9]

Trying to get an idea of amount of money people have left over each year. Doesn't matter how much they make or their expenses, just how much after all of that. For instance, if we buy a certain house, we will have about $1000 left over each month. All the expenses we factored in are mortgage, house insurance, house and car taxes, heating, electric, water bill, car payments, health insurance, cable, cell phones, groceries, tithe, presents for family members for birthdays and christmas (tried to average it out), sports and activities for our daughter, gym membership, gas, after school care for daughter, and I averaged out what we would spend for clothes if I payed monthly. Really, that leaves us with not including emergencies for house or dog, copays, movies, vacation,etc. We have no credit card bills as of now.


Is $1000 doable for a family of three that hopefully will soon become family of 4?

[CSD610]

If you want it to be then it is, otherwise it is not. Start with an actual budget with real numbers, exact amounts of everything. Write up the budget (use pencil, trust me on this one) and stick to it exactly and see how it goes in reality. Once you see in real numbers then live it in real time you can adjust accordingly. Cut back on the cable, spend less for groceries, give up the gym membership, cut way back on new clothes, going out and taking extended vacations. I see you did not put "blow money" in your budget, a set amount for you and your husband to spend as you wish each month.

Until you use real numbers and use the budget in real life you will not have a well informed idea if it will work for you or not. You also have to include everything in the budget including the emergency fund, vet bills, copay, entertainment, etc.

[willow wind]

Did you include savings in general and retirement plans in particular ? These are extremely important items and you cannot kick the can down the road with either. You have to start now while you're young and let both types of accounts grow over the decades.

[JayCT]

If you are assuming that all of your other expenses are covered, having $1,000 left over should be fine. I am assuming that you are about to buy a house here in Connecticut which is why you are asking the question. Jay

[UconnHusky1]

Really can't offer any help without looking at actual numbers. Saving $1,000 per month is pretty good if you have a six month emergency fund to cover all monthly expenses while also maxing out your 401k and/or Roth IRA.

However, $1,000 saved per month with no emergency fund or retirement savings basket is a recipe for disaster...especially if you are planning on purchasing a home.

Replacing a roof, septic tank, dishwasher, furnace, etc. is inevitable. How many miles are on your car? Perhaps one day you need a transmission replaced? Replacing a set of tires will cost you around $600 these days. Do your children need braces? How about college tuition?

[bobtn]

Originally Posted by UconnHusky1

Really can't offer any help without looking at actual numbers. Saving $1,000 per month is pretty good if you have a six month emergency fund to cover all monthly expenses while also maxing out your 401k and/or Roth IRA.

However, $1,000 saved per month with no emergency fund or retirement savings basket is a recipe for disaster...especially if you are planning on purchasing a home.

Replacing a roof, septic tank, dishwasher, furnace, etc. is inevitable. How many miles are on your car? Perhaps one day you need a transmission replaced? Replacing a set of tires will cost you around $600 these days. Do your children need braces? How about college tuition?

Excellent post!

[Monica9]

This is my parents house that we will be buying out. Newer roof, septic is fine, house was built not too long ago.We will have equity in the house as we are getting it much lower than it is assessed for.

[willow wind]

How do you know you will have equity in the house ? Have you had a recent appraisal done it - say within the past 3-6 months.

Its assessed value means nothing. Assessments are done in CT every 5 years. They do not change year to year and do not reflect the current market. If the home was last assessed 2-5 years ago, it will very likely be worth much less than its assessed value as prices have dropped over that period.

The only way this would not be is if the town/city had a new revaluation ( assessment) done within the past year. Also, not sure what any of that has to do with your budget, which was your original question,
unless you are depending on being able to refi or open a home equity line of credit if you run into a big financial problem. However, I think you would want to be able to fund savings and retirement accounts out of your income.

[basehead617]

Originally Posted by willow wind

How do you know you will have equity in the house ? Have you had a recent appraisal done it - say within the past 3-6 months.

I assume he/she meant that since they were getting the house from family for a lot cheaper than it would sell on the open market, they have some money 'in the bank' if they were to resell it. At least that's how I read it, perhaps I'm wrong.

[Tetto]

Originally Posted by willow wind

. However, I think you would want to be able to fund savings and retirement accounts out of your income.

This. Its the most important thing to consider before pumping out kids and driving fancy cars. Can't overstate it, really.