Money Matters
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Re: What is your monthly budget?
Property taxes/insurance: $460
Utilities (electric, gas, water, garbage, Internet): $300
Cell phones: $60
Student loans: $113
Car insurance: $100
Gas: $15 (our main car is electric)
Bus passes: $200 (but reimbursed by work)
Groceries: $400
Restaurants: $200
Lunches out: $200
Misc: $1000 (trying to break this down further has always driven me nuts, most of the misc things we pay for less than every other month)
Also, lately we've been spending tons of money on our fixer of a house (around $2K/month average). But this is coming from savings.
We try to keep around $18K in an e-fund (which would certainly cover minimum expenses for over 6 months), and we also keep some additional "save-to-spend" money available in savings.
Mortgage (including taxes, interest, insurance): $601...although I recently updated my insurance policy and am waiting for that s**t to hit the fan. It will probably raise my mortgage payment by at least $100/month.
Utilities (cable, water/sewerage, Internet): $110 (I split the water/sewerage bill with my tenants)
Cell Phones: $65 (two phones, I use Metro PCS, my husband has TracFone)
Car insurance: $220 (Lots of uninsured motorists where I live, rates VERY high here)
Gas: $50 (I drive a small car and live fairly close to work. My DH doesn't have a car.)
Car Payment: $290 (Will have this paid off within a few months)
Food: $350-$400/month
Misc.: $200-$600/month...I include entertainment, eating out, general purchases in this amount. I don't keep track of that kind of stuff very closely.
I know it is not very MM, but I only keep about a $1K e-fund. I've been focusing more on paying my loans (ie car, HELOC, mortgage) first. However, I do have multiple sources of income...not just my 9-5er job...if something terrible happened like I was laid off. I also have plenty of money available on my HELOC if some major emergency happened that cost more than $1,000. I know that is not MM either and it would definitely be a last resort, but then I can also count on one hand the number of times that has happened in my life.
Unfortunately, right now my DH and I ARE living on only my income sources. He was laid off one month after we got married, which was over a year ago
. Ugh, if we could just find a good job than I could pay off my loans in no time...bulk up the e-fund...and start saving for another rental property. Sorry for the quick vent, it's just frustrating!