My budget, and how to make extra $$ ?

KatieCutie05

I'd tell u to sell the cars but without u and ur husband working together its pointless. Having ur spouse on board is absolutely vital. For my husband it took needing to deplete our tiny emergency fund for him to actually read Dave Ramsey Total money makeover book. He always just kept putting it off. Even just me telling him about it didn't work he just saw it as a good idea in theory if we were rich, instead of a concrete and realistic plan that gave us actual attainable goals instead of pipe dreams. After that my husband suggested selling his truck all on his own. Buy the book, read it itself and beg him to read it too. It will help you clarify your goals so u can show your dh what's possible if he were on board. Cus right now I'm with him, why sell my car and live on nothing forever with no end in sight just so we can manage to pay the bills even month. He's got no reason to be on board. What's the plan? What's the future gna be like if we do this.... Then lastly how do we do this.

Keeptruckin

I think you would be much better off to quit your job. Sell your car, it must have a bit of equity if you are close to paying it off. Use the money to pay down debt, saving a bit for an EF. If you are at home, you don't need two cars. The transportation costs are insane. Getting rid of that and daycare and like pp said you won't be any further behind than you are now. Your DH can work insane overtime if you are home. You can get a weekend job since you will be home with your kids all week. I think you would come out ahead this way.

Wulfgar

I am not sure what type of cars you are buying, but MW and I have a fourth of your car payments on our 2 cars.  Hers is a used car that she bought for roughly 10k and mine is a 2010 Kia Soul that I bought for 15k.  $800 for two vehicles when you make only $5200 is 15% of your income in just car payments.  Your vehicles and other transportation is 30% of your income when it should be closer to 10 or 15% total.

As others have said, you and your husband are being eaten alive by wants versus needs.  I am not sure how to get your husband on board, but if your car is almost paid off, I agree with others that you should downsize to a paid off vehicle that gets you to and from the train station.  If your husband sees you get down size your vehicle he may be more willing to downsize his.

CuriousKiddosMama

AprilH81 said:

I hesitate to post this since I don't know you personally, but it sounds like you are making a lot of excuses as to why you can't follow through with our suggestions.

Why can't you cut cable NOW (not just wait until you move)?

Can you look for neighborhood groups that offer car-pooling?  I know a lot of major cities offer these services...

Can you find a quality day care provider that would be less expensive?  Have you priced out a Nanny (unlikely to find one for less than day care but worth a shot).  A nanny would also allow you possibly work up new work schedules that would allow you to eliminate one car.

Can you switch to off-brand formula?

I agree with a lot of this. I know formula is expensive- and I don't know which brand you are using, but my kid goes through one of the big tubs a week. We get them through Sams club now and they are $22- so 4 a month is only $88. That is Sams brand and has completely paid for our membership cost (although I got that through a groupon and got freebies). That would free up another big portion of your budget. But really, you need to get serious and quit making excuses. If you want to get out of debt, cut the lifestyle- you don't need the expensive phones. If you are working so much, you don't really need the expensive cable/internet bill either. Those would be easy to cut.

hoffse

I agree with the extreme lifestyle changes.  They need to happen at least until your oldest is in school.

When I was very little my parents went through a time when they were trying to sell a house but building a new one.  They were paying two mortgages at once, and during those 6 months they had to cut out everything non-essential.  They did not buy gifts for each other or for other people, they did not participate in parties, they did not take trips, they did not eat out a single time during those 6 months (no, not even once), and our meals eating in were primarily canned.  They cut cable immediately and even stopped the newspaper subscription because $8/month was too much and non-essential.  The result is they were able to carry both mortgages until their old house sold without going into debt or charging things to credit cards. I'm not saying they enjoyed it, but they did it.  Honestly?  If you want to get serious about not running out of money and getting out of debt, you have to make some major changes.

spalko

There are two ways to get out of a situation like this: 1. Make more money or 2. Cut your spending. Since you aren't willing to get a second job, then drastic changes need to be made in the way you spend your money. The obvious answers are cutting cable, internet, and cell phone plans. I know the thought of living without cable & internet sucks but it's doable. We had to live without both for two years because where we lived it wasn't even an option. We found different ways to keep ourselves entertained and we spent more time out of the house. I absolutely hate that we spend $130 each month for our cell phones and I've been looking into other options such as pay as you go to cut that cost. We have unlimited Talk/Text and 1GB of data and we very rarely go over that amount each month. I would seriously consider looking into other cell phone plans to at least save you a small amount each month. I know you don't want to work on the weekends but what about getting a PT waitress job on Saturday & Sunday mornings? That way you'd still have the day to spend with your kids and you'd hopefully make enough to cover the monthly cost of your train ticket.

 I feel like this conversation could go on for months but until you both are on the same page about your finances nothing is going to change. Hopefully, you can get your H on board soon and you can start working on having a less stressful budget.

strickland8052

It sounds like you and your husband are just pointing fingers at who needs to change, but neither of you are actually changing.  What if you just start leading by example?  He doesn't want to cut his smart phone?  Fine.. you can still cut yours and save money.  He doesn't want to downgrade his car?  Fine.. you can still downgrade your car, if you feel it is the smart thing to do. 

As you are making sacrifices, have honest, open conversations with him about the changes you are making.  Talk to each other about why you feel a smart phone, cable, nice car, etc. are important to you personally.  Maybe then you can find money saving solutions that are not totally painful. 

For example, I recently convinced H to drop the cable.  At first, he was totally against it.  But then I recognized the shows that he likes to watch and offered lower cost ways for him to watch those shows.  I also pointed out that I'd have to give up a couple of shows that I like, but I'm OK with that. Pretty soon he was on board with it and excited about saving $70 a month.

Another tip is to give him choices and try to reach a decision together.  For example, when we recently swapped cell phone service providers, I did all the research and made a chart with each provider.  H and I had a conversation about how much coverage/reliability we were willing to give up for how much of a discount.  This conversation ultimately saved us $50 a month, and H was surprisingly really appreciative of my hard work in making a chart.  In the past I tried to make this decision for us, and he just got mad that I was dictating our cell phone usage, while I felt unappreciated that he didn't recognize all my work researching to save us money.

If something like a wedding pops up and you feel you have to buy a dress, try to sell something or do an odd job to make the money.  Then tell H about the struggle  in a non-confrontational way.. IE: "Hey hun, do you mind if a babysit Saturday night? I'd really like to be a bridesmaid in this wedding, so I'd like to make some extra money for the dress."  Don't throw your sacrifices in his face, but subtly make sure he knows that you are making them.

IF H still acts like a child and refuses to follow your lead in saving money, I would then split the finances and treat him like a roommate.  Split mutual bills (house, groceries, daycare) down the middle then let him pay for his cell phone bill, car, and debt.  I know that is drastic, but it would probably help him feel more in control of his money.  Then, maybe he would stop looking at you as the enemy and instead realize that his lack of income/excessive spending is the problem.

formerlyGDaisy09

AprilH81 said:

KTdidit said:

I've posted my budget here before and gotten some really good feedback on it, so I figure I'll do it again and see if I missed anything. Since DS2 was born and I went back to work double daycare costs have hurt us more than I expected. Our savings is down to almost nothing and I don't know what else we can do. DH is working as much overtime as he can, and I've looked for PT jobs but with my commute a night gig won't work (U don't get home til 7pm). And since I don't get to see my kids much during the week, I REALLY don't want to be away from them on the weekends too. We are planning on moving into my grandmother's house (owned by my mom) and putting our house on the market next month, but we need to do some work to the basement and I don't know where the money for that will come from. If we don't fix it, the only financing options buyers will have is cash or a reno loan. It's going to be hard enough to find a buyer as it is, out house is TINY and we don't have anything to come to the table with. So we need to make sure we can sell for what we owe, plus the realtor fees. I'm feeling very overwhelmed and underwater here and I just can't figure out what to do. Ok, so here's our budget. Our car payments are killing us, mine will be paid off in a year. DH's is only a year old.

Income (no overtime) 5,200

mortgage   830

utilities   250

Comcast   100

netflix       8

cell phones   180

daycare for 2 kids 1,035

groceries/pet food/paper goods    450

total household  -2,853

car payments (2 cars)   800

insurance   200

gas/train/tolls   500

maintenance         50

total vehicles  -1,550

personal loans   250

credit cards (3, minimum pmts)   230

student loan     70

DH accident repayment   100

total debt     -650

entertainment/dining out/random    -100

remaining             $47

HELP!!!

First, whoever makes the lower salary, does that income more than cover the cost of daycare?  It might be smarter to not work and cut the daycare expense out altogether...

Cut the cable, trade in your husbands car for something less expensive (but still safe) that has a lower payment.  When your car is paid off DO NOT get a new(er) one.

Check around for cheaper insurance rates...

Cut your grocery budget, try to get it down to $400 a month, then once you get that try $350.

I'm not sure where you are, but you spend $500 on trains, tolls and gas, and you have two cars.  Can you operate with one family vehicle?

ETA: Also, is there any way to get less expensive phone plans without breaking your contract?

I agree with this, except the thing about quitting a job to save on day care.  (this is more of a general comment rather than for just OP sinche she said their salaries are similar) If both you and your H plan to work long term you loose more than a pay check when you quit a job to stay home. There is lost opportunity when you make a choice to leave the work force for several years, which ends up consting more than the pay check you give-up.  It's harder to re-enter the work force where you left it, and even if you do re-enter at a similar pay, you're still several years of raises/promotions behind where you would have been if you didn't stop working. 

I have no problem with people choosing to stay at home because that's what they want to do, but if you want to work and you're staying at home because the cost of daycare is too high I'd look into alternative day care options or accept the fact that your whole paycheck goes to daycare. 

For myself and H, we both find fulfillment and happiness in our jobs and I don't think we'd quit working even if one of our entire paychecks were going to daycare. 

ta78

@KTdidit were you able to talk to your husband about some of the things that you are worried about?

KTdidit

ta78 said:

@KTdidit were you able to talk to your husband about some of the things that you are worried about?

He's been working overtime all week so he's pretty much been coming home taking a shower and falling asleep on the couch. We had a small talk last night and I kind of did a quick overview/introduction of what I want to talk about more in depth this weekend when he is home and not a sleep deprived walking zombie. So he knows we need to make some changes and to be thinking seriously about some stuff.

While I really appreciate everyone's input I can tell you I won't be quitting by job, and we won't be selling the cars and buying cheap beaters. Having reliable cars that won't nickle and dime us to death in repairs is non-negotiable. But we will be talking about either trading his in or at least refinancing it since our credit scores are much better than they were when we bought it. I did find a part time job listing for a banquet server that I have requested more info about, specifically the required hours. And since we are moving next month I have been putting stuff aside and plan to clear a lot out and have a yard sale for the short term cash.

daisy662

Well, it sounds like you are living above your means and not willing to make any changes to fix it. Pp's have given you lots of great advice but you have poo poo'd all of it. You will never impact your situation without earning more and spending less.

Xstatic3333

Banquet serving on the weekends is a great idea! You'd still have the morning with your kids, and I've heard it's great money.

I do feel the need to point out that there's a whole wide world of cars between "new car with crazy payment" and "beater." My H, for example, drives a very safe used Subaru that was $10,000 new. It's needed a few routine repairs, but we're still saving money over a new car. Of course with kids you want something safe, but there may be more affordable ways to get it. Don't forget about the small changes like cable and cell phone, too.

brij2006

Like @xstatic3333 said, there is a world of difference between a brand new car with a payment that is way too high for your income.  Than a car that is $5k and paid for with cash. It also doesn't mean that the cheaper car is one you drive for the next 5 years.  It's a means to an end.

I'm going to be pretty blunt here, but that is just my nature.  
Your situation is going to take some drastic measures to get ahead.  It's going to mean doing things you don't want to do, people judging and making comments, and making sacrifices you never thought you would.  But I can guarantee you that it will get you out of your current, paycheck to paycheck, lifestyle.  You stated that when you purchased your H's truck, the interest was bad because you both had bad credit, and the insurance is high because of his SR22 and accident.  Which means he has likely made some bad choices that has caused that to happen, and you both have made some poor choices to lead you to the financial strain you are in right now and bad credit.  It is going to take selling the truck, losing the smartphones, and getting a 2nd job in order to make this right.  Otherwise you will continue to just skate by living day to day and one little hiccup in life will cause you to lose any headway you made by taking on the banquet job. Guess what, Murphy's Law does exist, and Murphy will knock on your door many times in your life.  It's up to you to change your way of thinking before it gets even more out of hand.  Leaving a legacy for your children is more important than any of the "things" you have.  Do you want them to live this way?  Then lead by example and show them different.

takmjs

Is it possible for you to get a job closer to your home or to move to a totally different city closer to your jobs? Since it does seem like way too much is spent on commuting, that would help some. I agree otherwise that maybe it makes more sense for you or even your DH to think about leaving your job to stay at home with the kids--at least until your oldest starts kindergarten (then daycare costs would be a lot lower).

I understand needing 2 cars with different schedules and can't imagine just having 1 car, but I also live in a rural area where public transportation is not an option, so it seems bizarre to me to have 2 adults with 2 jobs and only 1 car.

CuriousKiddosMama

I'm just going to echo what PP have said about the car. I've driven a 2k car- no maintanence needed other than oil changes and a fuel pump and I sold it for 2k. My next car was 7k. I had to put about 1k into that over the 5 years I owned it. Next car- 14k was the worst I've owned. Over several years I had about 5k in repairs. Expensive does not = reliable!

Can you take Financial Peace University together? That may help you both get motivation, and help you both understand what several others on here are trying to say- that if you make the sacrafices now, you won't have to make them in the future because you will be able to use your current income to pay for whatever arises- not to pay off this debt you've accrued. It's very freeing to be able to deal with Murphy on a cash basis- and not to have to pull out the credit card!