Money Matters
hiswifey20
newb
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.
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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.
new nestie onboard
I'm in love with finances. Literally obsessed! I am so obsessed i have already done our 12 month budget for the year 2016! I was wondering, what was everyone's budget for 2015 and will anyone add, delete, or change any line items that they did not have in 2015.
our 2015 budget- income 8500.00 monthly ( after taxes, insurance, and 401 k)- we both contribute 10 percent
mtg- 1350.00
car payment- 210.00
car insurance 108.00
life insurance 50.00
cable- 85
cell phones- 120
electricity- 175
water- 108.00
gas for vehicles- 450.00
hoa dues- 112.00
groceries- 600
toiletries- 100
savings- 500
emergency fund- 2000.00
spending account ( for eating out, clothing, etc..) 1000.00
my personal spending- 200
hubby personal spending 200
TOTAL 7368
LEFT 1132.00
my new 2016 budget i have budgeted to 0.00
i no longer leave a "buffer in our checking account"- this year we had a 1000.00 buffer
i am budgeting for kids sports and school trips and christmas and b-days ( we have 2 kids)
i am cutting back on eating out ( OUR WEAKNESS)
I am cutting back on pedi's and mani's
our 2015 budget- income 8500.00 monthly ( after taxes, insurance, and 401 k)- we both contribute 10 percent
mtg- 1350.00
car payment- 210.00
car insurance 108.00
life insurance 50.00
cable- 85
cell phones- 120
electricity- 175
water- 108.00
gas for vehicles- 450.00
hoa dues- 112.00
groceries- 600
toiletries- 100
savings- 500
emergency fund- 2000.00
spending account ( for eating out, clothing, etc..) 1000.00
my personal spending- 200
hubby personal spending 200
TOTAL 7368
LEFT 1132.00
my new 2016 budget i have budgeted to 0.00
i no longer leave a "buffer in our checking account"- this year we had a 1000.00 buffer
i am budgeting for kids sports and school trips and christmas and b-days ( we have 2 kids)
i am cutting back on eating out ( OUR WEAKNESS)
I am cutting back on pedi's and mani's
Re: new nestie onboard
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
Fun - I'll play!
Our net income is around $9,100 after taxes, health and life insurance, payroll deduct charitable contributions and retirement contributions at 12% plus employer match.
Current expenses:
Student loans 3,500 (minimum is $370)
Mortgage 1,335
Travel 1,000 (will change to baby fund once we get pregnant)
ROTHs 917
Mad Money 600 ($300 per person for clothes, drinks/dinner with friends, H's soccer season tickets, etc.)
Food/toiletries 400
Entertainment 200 (date nights, alcohol and eating out together, etc.)
Car gas 150
Miscellaneous 300 (dry-cleaning, Netflix, etc.)
Phones 115
Electric 70
Water/Sewer 65
Additional giving 75
Internet 70
House Gas 65
Dental Insurance 39
For 2016, our mortgage will go up around $150 a month as we're refinancing into a 15 year mortgage. We'll also increase H's 401K contribution by at least 2% starting on January 1.
We don't do sinking funds, but instead cash flow things like car insurance, Amazon Prime, etc. when they come due.
Hi and welcome! I look forward to getting to know you on the boards.
My finances always feel complicated (to me) because I have a lot of irons in the fire, income-wise. But here goes:
Income:
F/T job -- $2500 (after taxes, life insurance, maxed out HSA)
P/T job --$1900 (no taxes out, but I do settle up each year and there are expenses to offset)
Rental income--$1100 (no taxes out, but I do claim the income minus expenses on my return)
Total: $5500, plus I also earn about $200-$300/month (average) mystery shopping, but that varies widely from month to month, so I don't budget for it.
Expenses:
mtg- 730.00 (insurances, taxes, included)
HELOC - 500 (varies, but it is about that)
car payment- none (paying it off this week)
car insurance 215.00
cable/internet- 55
cell phones- 75
electricity/gas- 120 (varies a lot by time of year, but that is the higher end)
water- 75.00
gas for vehicle- 50.00
food- 400.00 (includes toiletries, alcohol, pet food)
prescriptions/medical- 300-400 (but comes out of HSA, so am not counting in total)
Personal/eating out - 300, I don't really budget this, but 300 is about what is usually spent.
Total: $2520
Leftover: About $3,000/month. I have one cc with a balance, but no interest until 6/2016, so I'm not focused at this time on paying more than about $100/month. The rest of my leftover funds will be going towards my only other debt (other than mortgages), the Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC).
Currently, my finances are in a state of flux. My extra income and then some is going toward rehab work on a duplex I bought. Once that is done and I have tenants, I should increase my monthly income (after expenses) to $800-$1,000/month...plus start paying off my HELOC balance again, instead of taking from it.
Other than adding to my rental income, I don't have plans to change any of the expenses categories. I will most likely buy 1-3 more rental properties next year. That is my big goal. I also keep a $1,000 e-fund, but have access to more than that with my HELOC if something dire comes along.
Thanks! Though my decent extra money left each month is a relatively new change of events. Only in the last three years. Before that, I was unemployed for a year and only had the rental income and p/t job (but it was half that amount back then). And before that, I only had a f/t job in the low $40s plus my little bit of mystery shopping. In fact, my current f/t job isn't much more than that, but I am so proud of myself that I have found ways to almost double my income through alternate means.
I have always been pretty good at being able to keep my expenses to a minimum, but without feeling strangled. For example, I avoided student loans by working and saving through high school and college, plus going to a community college and living at home for my first half of it. I know that is a big expense for a lot of people. I also don't have any children (by choice), so that is another large expense I don't have that most people do. Though the no children isn't for financial reasons, I just never wanted any. I always joke I must be missing that piece of DNA that most other women seem to have, lol.
To the bolded. Game changing!!! The best financial decision I have ever made was buying a duplex for my first home and renting out the other side. It's right there in my (above) numbers. I basically live for free PLUS earn an additional $375/month. It gives me so much breathing room. I know that will be a win-win for you and your H. He will have the extra space he needs for his business and have most of the mortgage paid by the other commercial tenants.
Sorry to hear about your furnace/ac
. That is a huge chunk of money. Definitely get prices from a couple places. And, as crazy as it sounds, check Craig's List for the equipment itself. You don't want to buy used or refurbished (or at least I wouldn't), but you can often find local wholesalers that way.
When we bought our house last year, it still had the original from 1966! We did replace it, but mostly for energy efficiency reasons.
OP, I don't keep extra money in my checking, but it is linked to a savings account that it will pull from if I were to overdraft. Still, with budgeting to zero that hasn't happened in my memory.
JK-- Deleting my original post because I responded to the wrong original thread. My bad.
To answer your question:
My budget won't change drastically for 2016. Most items will stay the same except my student loan/savings ratio still trying to decide how I want to divvy that up. I normally budget each paycheck, so this isn't the complete picture, I'd get paid 2 extra times per year.
Income: 2778/ month
Mortgage: -630
Joint Checking: -550 (covers all monthly bills on auto pay w/ small buffer)
Gas: -130
Student Loan: -300 (Balance:$8800 )
Car Insurance: -80
Savings: -780
Allowance: -300
H and I don't combine finances which is why groceries aren't included on this list and the mortgage seems low, he pays the other half. I'm debating between keeping SL payment the same to save more, knocking it out in a few months by paying $1080 and not saving, or splitting it half and half and doing $540 to savings/SL.