new year ! new start!

NEWNEW2016 · January 2016

Happy 2016 everyone! I am a new board member here and my resolution was to be more wiser with finances so since its a new year, I'm wondering if anyone is up for posting your 2016 budgets and what are your plans for staying on task and following the budget!

total monthly income Joint- 6000.00

mortgage- 1325 includes insurance and taxes
car note 2014 nissan 3 years @ 1.75 for 250.00
car insurance- Geico- 2 cars -130.00
life insurance ( 10 year term)- 15.00
water bill- 45.00
electric bill- 170
cable- 80.00
netflix -10.60
cell phones- ( 3 lines) 160.00
landline & internet- 108.00
hoa dues- 110.00 ( month)
gerber life ( kids)-20.00

grocerys- 150.00 week
household/toiletries- 50.00 month
savings- 1200.00 month
efund- 1200.00 month
st judes- 200.00 month
entertainment - 100.00
other- 500.00 ( clothing, maincures, pedicure, haircuts, etc..)

My weakness is Going Grocery shopping not cooking, so I plan to stay within budget by not eating out as much.

Xstatic3333 · January 2016

NEWNEW2016 said:

Happy 2016 everyone! I am a new board member here and my resolution was to be more wiser with finances so since its a new year, I'm wondering if anyone is up for posting your 2016 budgets and what are your plans for staying on task and following the budget!

total monthly income Joint- 6000.00

mortgage- 1325 includes insurance and taxes
car note 2014 nissan 3 years @ 1.75 for 250.00
car insurance- Geico- 2 cars -130.00
life insurance ( 10 year term)- 15.00
water bill- 45.00
electric bill- 170
cable- 80.00
netflix -10.60
cell phones- ( 3 lines) 160.00
landline & internet- 108.00
hoa dues- 110.00 ( month)
gerber life ( kids)-20.00

grocerys- 150.00 week
household/toiletries- 50.00 month
savings- 1200.00 month
efund- 1200.00 month
st judes- 200.00 month
entertainment - 100.00
other- 500.00 ( clothing, maincures, pedicure, haircuts, etc..)

My weakness is Going Grocery shopping not cooking, so I plan to stay within budget by not eating out as much.

Wow! You look like you're in great shape! Welcome to the board.

My budget changes a lot month to month so I don't usually bother posting a template. One big change we're making to stay in budget and also get healthier, however, is cutting back on the craft beer. Since we both love it, it's way too easy to fall into the habit of having some with dinner every night. We switched to tea around Christmas (investing in some "fancy" tea from Teavana) and have found that we don't really miss it when we have a different tasty evening beverage to look forward to. I think we'll save a ton and lose some weight in the bargain.

hoffse · January 2016

Welcome, you're doing great. I don't know our budget yet (for sure), because H and I are both getting raises this year, but neither of us has seen a paycheck yet. As much as I hate winter, I do really love January for our finances!

We did take some time over the weekend to write down our 2016 financial goals though. Some are goals we do every year, some are new - but it helps us to write them all down. These are:

1) Increase 401(k) contributions by 1% - already done

2) Fully fund 2016 Roth IRAs

3) Hit $100K in retirement - Hopefully done in January!

4) Start a sinking fund for clothes and gifts

5) Pay off H's car and start our debt snowball - September

6) Take an international trip with my parents - money set aside from year-end bonuses

7) Furnish our family room - money set aside from year-end bonuses

8) Add $5K to our emergency fund - December

9) Hit year-end bonus - December

10) Achieve a positive net worth - Probably August-October, depending on the market

NEWNEW2016 · January 2016

Thanks for responding @hoffse. This is a cool board! wish I found it sooner.

AprilZ81 · January 2016

Our budget isn't changing drastically from what it was at the end of 2015. We are waiting on our first 2016 paychecks to finalize everything (we both changed insurance policies so our paychecks will be a little different). We should come out a few dollars ahead of where we were.

Our only debt is our mortgage and a HELOC with $7,000 remaining and we are paying more than double the minimum payment to get it knocked down as soon as possible without being miserable in the meantime.

Goals for 2016:

-Vacation with my parents and sister (and her family) in February. Partially paid for by my parents and the rest is coming out of our vacation fund that we contribute to monthly.

-Remodel the master bathroom (estimated costs about $10-12k for a full gut and reconfiguration of the plumbing). We have $10k in savings ready to go and we have our HELOC available for project related emergencies.

-Fully fund two ROTHs. We set aside money each month so barring a job loss or other major issue this shouldn't be an issue.

-Build a new dining room table to save about $2,000.

-Replace the garage door and door opener to something that works better and LOOKS better. This will cost about $2,000 I think.

-Possibly replace the front door and storm door to increase energy savings and curb appeal. Probably another $2,000.

Here is the thing that could derail some of our lower priority savings plans. We have been trying to get pregnant since last October and I've been under the care of a specialist since August. We are 100% out of pocket for all treatments (and I don't think this counts towards our deductible). The more cycles we need the more money we are diverting from savings.

A Clomid cycle costs about $300-400 for medicine, blood work and monitoring appointments with the doctor. If we need to go to IUI it will probably be about $1,000-$1,500 a cycle.

The good news is that DH usually gets a large bonus in February that will cover multiple IUI cycles and allow us to have a dedicated baby fund established at the same time. Then we should get a decent tax refund that can also be used.

So while we are in excellent shape starting out in 2016 there are several things that could dramatically change our savings rate and ability to meet our lower level goals.

lbonga1 · January 2016

OP, can I give some suggestions on your budget? To me, spending $500/month on clothing, manicures, and haircuts is a lot when you have a car loan. Sure, 1.7% isn't a very high rate, but it's still money you're throwing away when you could (even temporarily) reduce how much you're spending in that category. Your internet also seems high to me. The most expensive plan that my ISP has in my HCOL area is $75/month, and that's for something like 120 mbps download speed, which is really unnecessary for most people. Finally, I think a lot of people on this board have come to a consensus that Gerber Life is a waste of money. Anyway, that's just my two-cents.

vlagrl29 · January 2016

lbonga1 said:

OP, can I give some suggestions on your budget? To me, spending $500/month on clothing, manicures, and haircuts is a lot when you have a car loan. Sure, 1.7% isn't a very high rate, but it's still money you're throwing away when you could (even temporarily) reduce how much you're spending in that category. Your internet also seems high to me. The most expensive plan that my ISP has in my HCOL area is $75/month, and that's for something like 120 mbps download speed, which is really unnecessary for most people. Finally, I think a lot of people on this board have come to a consensus that Gerber Life is a waste of money. Anyway, that's just my two-cents.

I have to agree with this one - I honestly couldn't imagine spending that much in that category

hoffse · January 2016

lbonga1 said:

OP, can I give some suggestions on your budget? To me, spending $500/month on clothing, manicures, and haircuts is a lot when you have a car loan. Sure, 1.7% isn't a very high rate, but it's still money you're throwing away when you could (even temporarily) reduce how much you're spending in that category. Your internet also seems high to me. The most expensive plan that my ISP has in my HCOL area is $75/month, and that's for something like 120 mbps download speed, which is really unnecessary for most people. Finally, I think a lot of people on this board have come to a consensus that Gerber Life is a waste of money. Anyway, that's just my two-cents.

Eh I don't know. I could see that category easily getting that high if OP has to dress professionally for work. This year H and I are setting aside $300/month just for clothing because he has to wear a suit to work every day, and good suits are $$$$. I came to that figure by adding up what we spent last year and actually low-balling it a bit, figuring we could cash flow any difference.

We're also doing $100/month for gifts to cover weddings, babies, holidays, and birthdays. That will probably all be spent with the number of weddings we have coming up.

Given that she's stashing $2400/month into savings (which is more than 1/3 of her take-home), I don't think $500/month on miscellaneous items and personal care/clothes is necessarily excessive.

Now I do agree that Gerber life is rarely worth it, unless OP's kids are going to be uninsureable later on in life.

als1982 · January 2016

I think it would be helpful to know your money goals and more about your sitatution.

For us, we want to be debt free (including the mortage) as soon as possible (fingers crossed, within the next four years or less) with a large stash of retirement savings. But you may have different goals.

How old are you, your kids? How much do you have saved for retirement? Do you plan to pay for your kids' college? And if so, how much do you have saved? Are your jobs secure or are you in an industry with common layoffs? Are you in a high or low cost of living area?

simplyelise · January 2016

vlagrl29 said:

lbonga1 said:

OP, can I give some suggestions on your budget? To me, spending $500/month on clothing, manicures, and haircuts is a lot when you have a car loan. Sure, 1.7% isn't a very high rate, but it's still money you're throwing away when you could (even temporarily) reduce how much you're spending in that category. Your internet also seems high to me. The most expensive plan that my ISP has in my HCOL area is $75/month, and that's for something like 120 mbps download speed, which is really unnecessary for most people. Finally, I think a lot of people on this board have come to a consensus that Gerber Life is a waste of money. Anyway, that's just my two-cents.

I have to agree with this one - I honestly couldn't imagine spending that much in that category

OPs totals add up to 6273, so maybe the misc category is actually closer to $230/month? Actually, I don't even see fuel costs on the budget... that could wipe out all the remaining MISC amount.

OP, here is our typical 2016 budget. I'm not sure exactly how much I'll be taking home with my raise, so the numbers might move a little when I see my new paycheck amount. We are married with no kids, rent, and our #1 goal right now is to pay off student loans as quickly as we can.

Income: $5316

532 - Tithe

100 - Car Replacement Fund

40 - Gym Fund (pay yearly)

690 - Rent (incl. cable & internet)

130 - Utilities

121 - Cell Phones

16 - DH Life Insurance

126 - Car & Renter's Insurance

200 - Fuel

340 - Groceries

15 - CoPays

120 - Blow Money ($60 each)

50 - Date Night

20 - Toiletries

15 - Haircuts

8 - Netflix

? - MISC (for Jan. it's $100 to cover hotel & food when we go visit H's grandma next weekend)

~2600 - Student Loans (anything left after the above get funded goes to SLs)

Our January budget actually looks a bit different because I have a $508 medical bill to pay, so we're only dong 2100 to SLs this month.

As for how we're going to stay on budget...

We just kind of do. We got married Oct 2014 and started aggressively paying off the SLs the day we got home from the honeymoon. We did our first formal budget in Jan 2015 once my name was changed and we could get all our joint accounts set up. Ever since, we really haven't had any trouble sticking with our budgets. I think it really helps us to have the blow money because $60 can go a long way towards hobbies or entertainment with friends. Other than that, I think we're just completely focused and united in our desire to get rid of the loans.

bmo88 · January 2016

Nice start for the new year!

Our budget isn't changing drastically, but we are changing our mortgage payments since we just refinanced. Also, I am cutting out my gym membership and using the gym included in our HOA. Lastly, I have to start paying for grad school tuition and will be paying as I go, rather than going the student loans route.

Monthly Income (after tax): $8,016.66

Basic Bills:

Mortgage (tax and HOI): $1,675

Utilities (Gas, Electric, Water): $170

Food: $375

Phones: $85

Car Insurance: $110

HOA (internet, recreation/aquatics fee and trash/recycling): $108

Cable: $65

Toiletries: $20

Life Insurance (both): $62

Health Insurance (both): $190

Entertainment (eating out, dates): $100

Debt Payments:

DH student loans: $1,100 (should be gone in 8 months, woohoo!)

Car payment: $317

Grad school tuition (me): $780

Savings:

Retirement 401k (me): $220

Retirement ROTH IRAs (both): $875

PERA Retirement (both): $641

E-fund savings: $450

General savings: $200

Vacation: $200

Total: $7,743

Whatever is left we generally save or use to float larger purchases. What's difficult for us is that I listed what our average monthly income technically is. However, we receive about $15,000 in the form of stipends/bonuses that are paid quarterly. So we will have large influxes in some months.

vlagrl29 · January 2016

is gerber life a whole or term policy - I forget. I always get stuff in the mail for them but never signed DD up for it. We don't have life insurance on her as of yet, but when we do I'm going to add her as a rider on my policy. They say its ridiculously cheap - like an extra $7-$10 every six months.

My state farm insurance guy though tries to sell me on whole policies for kids. once kids are on them they won't have problems getting life insurance in the future if they were to develop a pre existing condition like diabetes. I just don't want to shell out all that money for a whole policy though.

hoffse · January 2016

vlagrl29 said:

is gerber life a whole or term policy - I forget. I always get stuff in the mail for them but never signed DD up for it. We don't have life insurance on her as of yet, but when we do I'm going to add her as a rider on my policy. They say its ridiculously cheap - like an extra $7-$10 every six months.

My state farm insurance guy though tries to sell me on whole policies for kids. once kids are on them they won't have problems getting life insurance in the future if they were to develop a pre existing condition like diabetes. I just don't want to shell out all that money for a whole policy though.

It's whole life. It's usually a bad deal because you're paying like $120/year for $10-$20K of coverage when they are little. I pay $153/year for $500K of coverage at age 29. I just mailed in my 2016 premium yesterday.

Little kids really don't need insurance either - nobody is dependent upon them financially, and they typically don't have any income that would need to be replaced if they passed away. I can only see it as a cautionary thing that a parent might do to provide some baseline insurance in case their kid becomes uninsurable later on in life due to a preexisting condition.

LillibetteV · January 2016

For the folks who say children life insurance is unnecessary I would just add my 2 cents. Obviously no one is dependent on a child's income, but unless you have the savings to pay for a funeral out of pocket it's a smart choice. God forbid something terrible happens you don't want to be grieving a loss AND wondering how in the hell you're going to provide your child with a proper funeral. I lost a sister in high school and at least my parents' grief wasn't compounded by wondering how to pay to bury her - they had insurance. I have a friend who is a single mom and did not have the insurance and the stress of trying to figure out how to pay for a funeral for her daughter just added to her heartache.

I hope no one ever needs to know that type of pain, but if you don't have disposable income saved to cover a funeral I think insurance is good peace of mind.

brij2006 · January 2016

LillibetteV said:

For the folks who say children life insurance is unnecessary I would just add my 2 cents. Obviously no one is dependent on a child's income, but unless you have the savings to pay for a funeral out of pocket it's a smart choice. God forbid something terrible happens you don't want to be grieving a loss AND wondering how in the hell you're going to provide your child with a proper funeral. I lost a sister in high school and at least my parents' grief wasn't compounded by wondering how to pay to bury her - they had insurance. I have a friend who is a single mom and did not have the insurance and the stress of trying to figure out how to pay for a funeral for her daughter just added to her heartache.

I hope no one ever needs to know that type of pain, but if you don't have disposable income saved to cover a funeral I think insurance is good peace of mind.

A good option for kids, is to do a 20 year term rider on your own insurance plan for a burial expense of $10k. It's usually very cheap, and is enough to cover funeral costs.

I'm actually fighting my H about wanting a policy on DD. I want $50k, 20 year term. Enough to cover funeral expenses, and then for us both to take off work for a few months and go on a vacation while we grieve. We have a large enough savings and nest egg to be able to cash flow all of that if it were to happen, but I don't even want to have to touch that money to do so because I know I wouldn't.

brij2006 · January 2016

This is our current budget. My pay changed at the first of the year, so I will adjust accordingly once I know exactly how much my paycheck will be. My H also adjusted his witholdings so we will hopefully no longer receive a large tax return. So that will reflect as well.

Income: 5,373

Church Tithe: 537.30

Roth IRA: 458.34

Water/sewer: 82

Heat and Electricity: 300

Cell Phones: 165

Netflix: 9

Internet: 59.40

Car Gas: 450

Car Maintenance: 150 (anything not used is snowballed to the next month for an extra buffer)

Groceries and toiletries: 500

Eating Out: 100

Clothing: 100 (snowballed to next month if not all used)

Childcare: 500

Entertainment: 75

Baby Items: 50

House Updates: 100 (snowballed to next month if not used)

Extras: 75

DD Health Insurance: 200

Life Insurance: 65

Auto, Home, farm, and Umbrella Insurance: 325

Total Expenses: 4,301.04

Amount left to budget: $1,071.96

We will take this extra amount and put it into H's Roth IRA to fully fund that at the beginning of the year.

Our incomes also fluctuate as H receives overtime and I receive bonuses and commissions. So the income is entered as our base income.

hoffse · January 2016

brij2006 said:

LillibetteV said:

For the folks who say children life insurance is unnecessary I would just add my 2 cents. Obviously no one is dependent on a child's income, but unless you have the savings to pay for a funeral out of pocket it's a smart choice. God forbid something terrible happens you don't want to be grieving a loss AND wondering how in the hell you're going to provide your child with a proper funeral. I lost a sister in high school and at least my parents' grief wasn't compounded by wondering how to pay to bury her - they had insurance. I have a friend who is a single mom and did not have the insurance and the stress of trying to figure out how to pay for a funeral for her daughter just added to her heartache.

I hope no one ever needs to know that type of pain, but if you don't have disposable income saved to cover a funeral I think insurance is good peace of mind.

A good option for kids, is to do a 20 year term rider on your own insurance plan for a burial expense of $10k. It's usually very cheap, and is enough to cover funeral costs.

I'm actually fighting my H about wanting a policy on DD. I want $50k, 20 year term. Enough to cover funeral expenses, and then for us both to take off work for a few months and go on a vacation while we grieve. We have a large enough savings and nest egg to be able to cash flow all of that if it were to happen, but I don't even want to have to touch that money to do so because I know I wouldn't.

Yeah a term life rider might make sense if burial expenses would financially strain you. I just don't think the $10/month for a $10K whole life policy is a good deal at all.

I am probably going to increase my life insurance this year because I turn 30 in the fall and H and I plan to TTC at the end of the year. But I mean, I called them yesterday to discuss rates, and I can increase my policy to $1M for a premium of $303/year if I do it before I turn 30. That works out to be about $25/month. Heck, I spend more than that paying for cable.

I hate to be really MM about it because life insurance only pays out during the worst possible times, but not everybody needs it. You need very little (if any) as a child. You need more when you have assets and a spouse. You need a lot more when you have little kids - the younger they are the more you need. And then eventually you phase it out entirely as you age and build wealth. My parents cancelled their life insurance in their 50's, because by then they were essentially self-insured through their other assets.

brij2006 · January 2016

hoffse said:

brij2006 said:

LillibetteV said:

For the folks who say children life insurance is unnecessary I would just add my 2 cents. Obviously no one is dependent on a child's income, but unless you have the savings to pay for a funeral out of pocket it's a smart choice. God forbid something terrible happens you don't want to be grieving a loss AND wondering how in the hell you're going to provide your child with a proper funeral. I lost a sister in high school and at least my parents' grief wasn't compounded by wondering how to pay to bury her - they had insurance. I have a friend who is a single mom and did not have the insurance and the stress of trying to figure out how to pay for a funeral for her daughter just added to her heartache.

I hope no one ever needs to know that type of pain, but if you don't have disposable income saved to cover a funeral I think insurance is good peace of mind.

A good option for kids, is to do a 20 year term rider on your own insurance plan for a burial expense of $10k. It's usually very cheap, and is enough to cover funeral costs.

I'm actually fighting my H about wanting a policy on DD. I want $50k, 20 year term. Enough to cover funeral expenses, and then for us both to take off work for a few months and go on a vacation while we grieve. We have a large enough savings and nest egg to be able to cash flow all of that if it were to happen, but I don't even want to have to touch that money to do so because I know I wouldn't.

Yeah a term life rider might make sense if burial expenses would financially strain you. I just don't think the $10/month for a $10K whole life policy is a good deal at all.

I am probably going to increase my life insurance this year because I turn 30 in the fall and H and I plan to TTC at the end of the year. But I mean, I called them yesterday to discuss rates, and I can increase my policy to $1M for a premium of $303/year if I do it before I turn 30. That works out to be about $25/month. Heck, I spend more than that paying for cable.

I hate to be really MM about it because life insurance only pays out during the worst possible times, but not everybody needs it. You need very little (if any) as a child. You need more when you have assets and a spouse. You need a lot more when you have little kids - the younger they are the more you need. And then eventually you phase it out entirely as you age and build wealth. My parents cancelled their life insurance in their 50's, because by then they were essentially self-insured through their other assets.

Exactly! I sell life insurance and it's so hard to sit down with a 60 year old who has no dependents, $1mil in retirement, and no debt. Yet they're very concerned about getting a whole life policy or their current term insurance is going to expire and they're wanting to get a new one. It's very hard to change peoples' mindset that they do not need life insurance at all, if they set themselves up correctly.

This is where I have a hard time with many of the companies out there. They push whole life policies so much and put it into peoples' minds that it's a huge need and they don't ever want to not have it. We have an agent in our office that came to us from Country Companies and it's very hard to get his brain off of whole life, variable life, and annuities.

Xstatic3333 · January 2016

hoffse said:

brij2006 said:

LillibetteV said:

Yeah a term life rider might make sense if burial expenses would financially strain you. I just don't think the $10/month for a $10K whole life policy is a good deal at all.

I am probably going to increase my life insurance this year because I turn 30 in the fall and H and I plan to TTC at the end of the year. But I mean, I called them yesterday to discuss rates, and I can increase my policy to $1M for a premium of $303/year if I do it before I turn 30. That works out to be about $25/month. Heck, I spend more than that paying for cable.

I hate to be really MM about it because life insurance only pays out during the worst possible times, but not everybody needs it. You need very little (if any) as a child. You need more when you have assets and a spouse. You need a lot more when you have little kids - the younger they are the more you need. And then eventually you phase it out entirely as you age and build wealth. My parents cancelled their life insurance in their 50's, because by then they were essentially self-insured through their other assets.

Oh why oh why didn't we open our policies when we were in our twenties?

I think of life insurance as one of those things that is cheap enough that there's no reason not to do it if it gives you peace of mind. I do think that the term policy or rider will always make more sense than something like Gerber life, however. My issue with the Gerber policies is that they sell them to parents as an investment and/or savings account for their child, when in most cases the money would be a better investment if put in an ESA, 329, or similar. Our term policies both have the option to convert to whole life during the last two years of the policy. We're hoping to be self-insured by then, but we'll still have that option if we're not there yet and have become uninsurable for any reason.

simplyelise · January 2016

Xstatic3333 said:

hoffse said:

brij2006 said:

LillibetteV said:

Yeah a term life rider might make sense if burial expenses would financially strain you. I just don't think the $10/month for a $10K whole life policy is a good deal at all.

I am probably going to increase my life insurance this year because I turn 30 in the fall and H and I plan to TTC at the end of the year. But I mean, I called them yesterday to discuss rates, and I can increase my policy to $1M for a premium of $303/year if I do it before I turn 30. That works out to be about $25/month. Heck, I spend more than that paying for cable.

I hate to be really MM about it because life insurance only pays out during the worst possible times, but not everybody needs it. You need very little (if any) as a child. You need more when you have assets and a spouse. You need a lot more when you have little kids - the younger they are the more you need. And then eventually you phase it out entirely as you age and build wealth. My parents cancelled their life insurance in their 50's, because by then they were essentially self-insured through their other assets.

Oh why oh why didn't we open our policies when we were in our twenties?

I think of life insurance as one of those things that is cheap enough that there's no reason not to do it if it gives you peace of mind. I do think that the term policy or rider will always make more sense than something like Gerber life, however. My issue with the Gerber policies is that they sell them to parents as an investment and/or savings account for their child, when in most cases the money would be a better investment if put in an ESA, 329, or similar. Our term policies both have the option to convert to whole life during the last two years of the policy. We're hoping to be self-insured by then, but we'll still have that option if we're not there yet and have become uninsurable for any reason.

DH's parents contributed $0 to his undergrad or grad school, but they got him a Thrivent whole life policy when he was 1. DH's mom made him start paying for it when he was 18 (without telling him). It was $25/month for 60k in coverage because she changed it to an accelerated prepayment partway through so that he would be able to stop paying at age 60. We cashed it out last year for about $4200 and she will probably never forgive him for that.

Even though we have a term policy on him right now for $16/month and 250k in coverage*, she thinks we made the worst decision ever. And takes it personally because she was the one that bought the plan. She could have paid for at least his freshman year of college if she'd just put it in a 529 or something. The policy was only accruing about 2% each year meanwhile DH's loans are at 6.8%.

But these salespeople thrive on fear. DH's mom is convinced that now he's going to get cancer or something and be uninsurable and come groveling back saying she was right all along. She also thinks whole life policies are a reasonable way to provide an inheritance. She's a personal banker, so the brainwashing has been significant. We didn't even tell her we both cashed out our sub-3% savings bonds too.

*DH has lost about 20 pounds since and lowered his BP and cholesterol, so we're looking forward to getting a new policy with better terms and a higher insured amount next year!

bmo88 · January 2016

@hoffse: That's a great rate! When did you open your policy (age) and who are you with?

I have a $500k policy through Banner that I opened this year (27 yo) and it's $27.28 per month ($327.36 per year). It would be about $60 lower if I paid the premium at once, which I will do next cycle. I got the highest rated health class, but that's the lowest rate I found from the 4 companies I compared.

julieanne912 · January 2016

Alright, in the interest of being "new year new start"... here's our budget/expenses. Our incomes seem a little off because I'm paid every other Friday, whereas H is paid on the 30th and 15th (or thereabouts depending on where weekends fall). We actually budget per paycheck vs monthly.

Also our health insurance premiums and retirements are taken out of our paychecks, and our budget does not include any of our bonuses. He receives large quarterlies, I receive smaller monthlies, during our busier months. His go towards debt repayment, mine go towards savings and/or buying something (like new work clothes or household items) I put off because I can't afford it with my usual budget.

And yes I almost cry when I lay it all out like this. It's pretty bad. His spending/debt habits are not good.

Monthlyish income, after tax: $8,740

Mortgage: $2400 (incl taxes/insurance)

HOA: $48

Citi Card: $320 (0 interest will be paid off next month, was for house driveway)

Cabela's Card: $100 (H uses this mostly for business travel and incidentals for himself)

Wells Fargo Card: $660 (0 interest, will roll Citi balance onto this one when done, was for lanscaping)

Synchrony Bank: $100 (0 interest, for sleep number bed)

His Truck: $904

Camper: $350

RZR: $300

My Car: $525

Vehicle/Camper Insurance: $245/mo (we pay every 6 months)

His gas: $120/mo

My gas: $160/mo

His student loan: $140

My private student loan: $225

My federal student loan: $80

His ipad/iphone: $40 (his work covers most of it)

My phone: $40 (on my stepdad's family plan)

His savings: $150/mo

My savings: $150/mo

His spending: $400/mo

My spending: $300/mo (stuff like Netflix, satellite radio, dog expenses, etc. come out of our spending money)

Groceries: $300/mo

Utilities: $250/mo (goes up to $300 in summer)

DirecTV: $135/mo

Web Hosting: $15/mo

So yeah, OP, I'd say you're in pretty good shape compared to people like us.

AprilZ81 · January 2016

julieanne912 said:

Alright, in the interest of being "new year new start"... here's our budget/expenses. Our incomes seem a little off because I'm paid every other Friday, whereas H is paid on the 30th and 15th (or thereabouts depending on where weekends fall). We actually budget per paycheck vs monthly.

Also our health insurance premiums and retirements are taken out of our paychecks, and our budget does not include any of our bonuses. He receives large quarterlies, I receive smaller monthlies, during our busier months. His go towards debt repayment, mine go towards savings and/or buying something (like new work clothes or household items) I put off because I can't afford it with my usual budget.

And yes I almost cry when I lay it all out like this. It's pretty bad. His spending/debt habits are not good.

Monthlyish income, after tax: $8,740

Mortgage: $2400 (incl taxes/insurance)
HOA: $48

Citi Card: $320 (0 interest will be paid off next month, was for house driveway)
Cabela's Card: $100 (H uses this mostly for business travel and incidentals for himself)
Wells Fargo Card: $660 (0 interest, will roll Citi balance onto this one when done, was for lanscaping)
Synchrony Bank: $100 (0 interest, for sleep number bed)

His Truck: $904
Camper: $350
RZR: $300
My Car: $525

Vehicle/Camper Insurance: $245/mo (we pay every 6 months)
His gas: $120/mo
My gas: $160/mo

His student loan: $140
My private student loan: $225
My federal student loan: $80

His ipad/iphone: $40 (his work covers most of it)
My phone: $40 (on my stepdad's family plan)

His savings: $150/mo
My savings: $150/mo

His spending: $400/mo
My spending: $300/mo (stuff like Netflix, satellite radio, dog expenses, etc. come out of our spending money)

Groceries: $300/mo

Utilities: $250/mo (goes up to $300 in summer)
DirecTV: $135/mo
Web Hosting: $15/mo

So yeah, OP, I'd say you're in pretty good shape compared to people like us.

$900/month truck payment? How much longer is left? Are you paying more than is due each month?

als1982 · January 2016

julieanne912 said:
Alright, in the interest of being "new year new start"... here's our budget/expenses. Our incomes seem a little off because I'm paid every other Friday, whereas H is paid on the 30th and 15th (or thereabouts depending on where weekends fall). We actually budget per paycheck vs monthly.

Also our health insurance premiums and retirements are taken out of our paychecks, and our budget does not include any of our bonuses. He receives large quarterlies, I receive smaller monthlies, during our busier months. His go towards debt repayment, mine go towards savings and/or buying something (like new work clothes or household items) I put off because I can't afford it with my usual budget.

And yes I almost cry when I lay it all out like this. It's pretty bad. His spending/debt habits are not good.

Monthlyish income, after tax: $8,740

Mortgage: $2400 (incl taxes/insurance)
HOA: $48

Citi Card: $320 (0 interest will be paid off next month, was for house driveway)
Cabela's Card: $100 (H uses this mostly for business travel and incidentals for himself)
Wells Fargo Card: $660 (0 interest, will roll Citi balance onto this one when done, was for lanscaping)
Synchrony Bank: $100 (0 interest, for sleep number bed)

His Truck: $904
Camper: $350
RZR: $300
My Car: $525

Vehicle/Camper Insurance: $245/mo (we pay every 6 months)
His gas: $120/mo
My gas: $160/mo

His student loan: $140
My private student loan: $225
My federal student loan: $80

His ipad/iphone: $40 (his work covers most of it)
My phone: $40 (on my stepdad's family plan)

His savings: $150/mo
My savings: $150/mo

His spending: $400/mo
My spending: $300/mo (stuff like Netflix, satellite radio, dog expenses, etc. come out of our spending money)

Groceries: $300/mo

Utilities: $250/mo (goes up to $300 in summer)
DirecTV: $135/mo
Web Hosting: $15/mo

So yeah, OP, I'd say you're in pretty good shape compared to people like us.

I'm not a Dave Ramsey bandwagoner by any means, but have you thought about Financial Peace University? Or seeing a marriage counselor who specializes in financial issues? Your sitatution seems pretty emergent, and I would be worried for your future including the health of your marriage!

Xstatic3333 · January 2016

@simplyelise how frustrating. It really is awful how salespeople take advantage of vulnerable parents trying to do something kind. Good for your H for improving his health! Hoping mine will take similar steps soon, but at 36 we probably don't have much chance of really improving his premium. His blood pressure read high, but he was really nervous so who knows. We both got knocked down for diving, too, which is really annoying since the type of diving we do is so low risk.

hoffse · January 2016

bmo88 said:

@hoffse: That's a great rate! When did you open your policy (age) and who are you with?

I have a $500k policy through Banner that I opened this year (27 yo) and it's $27.28 per month ($327.36 per year). It would be about $60 lower if I paid the premium at once, which I will do next cycle. I got the highest rated health class, but that's the lowest rate I found from the 4 companies I compared.

***STUCK IN BOX***

Mine is through Insurance Specialists, Inc. (ISI). I opened it when I was 26 I think, because that's when we got married. IIRC I got the really good rate through the ABA. A lot of times professional organizations will have fantastic rates on things like insurance. Not always, but it's worth reading the literature they send out because you never know.

For H we pay $14.50/month for a $500K policy. He is 28 now, and we opened that policy when he was 26. He has a history of smoking, and technically he's an amputee because he's missing part of one of his fingers (no joke, they made him list that). I'm pretty sure his is through the same place, but to be totally honest I don't remember because the premium is direct debited monthly.

I will say that we bought fairly short-term policies. They are either 10 or 15 years, I can't remember. But I know that when we were picking them out, we figured that by the time they expired our income would have probably gone up a lot because both of us would have been up for partner by then, and even if we didn't equity we would have gone through multiple years of raises. We will probably spend more for a longer policy next time, but this gives us really cheap coverage while our income is the lowest it will probably ever be.

I'm going to increase my coverage before I turn 30 so that we have what we need for kids, since we plan to start TTC around that time. We'll increase H's coverage if/when I get pregnant, since he's a year younger than me and has a little more time before he is facing 30, lol.

julieanne912 · January 2016

AprilZ81 said:

julieanne912 said:

Alright, in the interest of being "new year new start"... here's our budget/expenses. Our incomes seem a little off because I'm paid every other Friday, whereas H is paid on the 30th and 15th (or thereabouts depending on where weekends fall). We actually budget per paycheck vs monthly.

Also our health insurance premiums and retirements are taken out of our paychecks, and our budget does not include any of our bonuses. He receives large quarterlies, I receive smaller monthlies, during our busier months. His go towards debt repayment, mine go towards savings and/or buying something (like new work clothes or household items) I put off because I can't afford it with my usual budget.

And yes I almost cry when I lay it all out like this. It's pretty bad. His spending/debt habits are not good.

Monthlyish income, after tax: $8,740

Mortgage: $2400 (incl taxes/insurance)
HOA: $48

Citi Card: $320 (0 interest will be paid off next month, was for house driveway)
Cabela's Card: $100 (H uses this mostly for business travel and incidentals for himself)
Wells Fargo Card: $660 (0 interest, will roll Citi balance onto this one when done, was for lanscaping)
Synchrony Bank: $100 (0 interest, for sleep number bed)

His Truck: $904
Camper: $350
RZR: $300
My Car: $525

Vehicle/Camper Insurance: $245/mo (we pay every 6 months)
His gas: $120/mo
My gas: $160/mo

His student loan: $140
My private student loan: $225
My federal student loan: $80

His ipad/iphone: $40 (his work covers most of it)
My phone: $40 (on my stepdad's family plan)

His savings: $150/mo
My savings: $150/mo

His spending: $400/mo
My spending: $300/mo (stuff like Netflix, satellite radio, dog expenses, etc. come out of our spending money)

Groceries: $300/mo

Utilities: $250/mo (goes up to $300 in summer)
DirecTV: $135/mo
Web Hosting: $15/mo

So yeah, OP, I'd say you're in pretty good shape compared to people like us.

$900/month truck payment? How much longer is left? Are you paying more than is due each month?

He just bought it in July. He did it without telling me about 6 weeks before the wedding. His behavior like that is why we haven't combined our finances completely... I don't trust him with the money I do have. His dad acts the same way. He's gotten better than he was but still not really great habits.

Before we bought the house we had no debt other than our vehicles and student loans. He paid extra on his stuff. He says once the landscaping is paid off he'll then focus on his vehicle payments.

Trust me, this is a main point of contention with us.... he's great otherwise though!

bmo88 · January 2016

@hoffse: Oh ok, that makes sense. I bet the professional organization makes a difference in terms of price. I have a 30 year term policy, so I am not sure how much the difference in cost is effected. We figured 30 would be good and we could cancel early if needed.

hoffse · January 2016

bmo88 said:

@hoffse: Oh ok, that makes sense. I bet the professional organization makes a difference in terms of price. I have a 30 year term policy, so I am not sure how much the difference in cost is effected. We figured 30 would be good and we could cancel early if needed.

Oh yeah you are paying more for 30 years for sure, but you have the rate locked in, and that's great. You guys are really likely to be self-insured by the time it expires. I may see what it costs to covert our policy to a 25 or 30 year, since I'm still (technically) in my 20's. We can afford more now than we could when we were first setting them up.

dragonstarjk · January 2016

Here's our 2016 budget; I might get a small (2-3%) raise in February, and if so it would just be allocated somewhere amongst our savings.

Total take home pay is $4750. I'm hourly so mine varies about $20ish sometimes, but I budget on the lowest I usually take home.

Mortgage-855

H medical-approx. 100 per month on coinsurance, deductibles, etc. throughout the year. It's not set but we just budget for it. He has bad allergies and takes drops/has to go in a few times a year.

H student loan-140

Amazon (H's wall tent)-220, 0% interest. Should be paid off this year before the 0% is up.

Groceries-500

Gas-250

Internet-50

Advanceline (front porch)-470; minimum payment is interest only but we are paying much more

Dog food/supplies-250 (yes, they are spoiled)

H's cell phone-40

Car insurance/registration-200ish? We pay every six months but it would break down to about this amount per month for both vehicles

My car payment--275, paying over the minimum and it will be paid off in October

Dry cleaning-50 but we don't always spend that much

OnStar-30

Daily Burn subscription-15

My Roth IRA-100

Utilities-220-250, varies

Home phone-50

Clothing-150; because I am addicted to Stitch Fix, BUT it's the only new clothing I buy for myself other than essentials. If I don't spend this much in a month, it goes into the shopping fund, and if I go over one month, it comes back out of the shopping fund.

Parking-5

Vacation fund-100

Home improvement fund-100

Gift/shopping fund-20 plus whatever extra we have in the budget to throw in here for when we need to make a larger purchase

E-fund-10 (already at 3K which is where we want it, so now it will just steadily grow)

My HSA-100

We don't budget fun money or blow money; just whatever is left in the budget after all of the above items are paid, is considered our fun money. That would be approximately $400-450 each month, and this includes everything from haircuts, eating out, H's occasional liquor purchase, his hunting trips, and everything else not already listed.

We also have a lot of discretionary items that could be scaled back or eliminated if necessary. We are not concerned with being debt free as long as our debts are responsible and easily managed, which they are.

brij2006 · January 2016

julieanne912 said:

AprilZ81 said:

julieanne912 said:

Alright, in the interest of being "new year new start"... here's our budget/expenses. Our incomes seem a little off because I'm paid every other Friday, whereas H is paid on the 30th and 15th (or thereabouts depending on where weekends fall). We actually budget per paycheck vs monthly.

Also our health insurance premiums and retirements are taken out of our paychecks, and our budget does not include any of our bonuses. He receives large quarterlies, I receive smaller monthlies, during our busier months. His go towards debt repayment, mine go towards savings and/or buying something (like new work clothes or household items) I put off because I can't afford it with my usual budget.

And yes I almost cry when I lay it all out like this. It's pretty bad. His spending/debt habits are not good.

Monthlyish income, after tax: $8,740

Mortgage: $2400 (incl taxes/insurance)
HOA: $48

Citi Card: $320 (0 interest will be paid off next month, was for house driveway)
Cabela's Card: $100 (H uses this mostly for business travel and incidentals for himself)
Wells Fargo Card: $660 (0 interest, will roll Citi balance onto this one when done, was for lanscaping)
Synchrony Bank: $100 (0 interest, for sleep number bed)

His Truck: $904
Camper: $350
RZR: $300
My Car: $525

Vehicle/Camper Insurance: $245/mo (we pay every 6 months)
His gas: $120/mo
My gas: $160/mo

His student loan: $140
My private student loan: $225
My federal student loan: $80

His ipad/iphone: $40 (his work covers most of it)
My phone: $40 (on my stepdad's family plan)

His savings: $150/mo
My savings: $150/mo

His spending: $400/mo
My spending: $300/mo (stuff like Netflix, satellite radio, dog expenses, etc. come out of our spending money)

Groceries: $300/mo

Utilities: $250/mo (goes up to $300 in summer)
DirecTV: $135/mo
Web Hosting: $15/mo

So yeah, OP, I'd say you're in pretty good shape compared to people like us.

$900/month truck payment? How much longer is left? Are you paying more than is due each month?

He just bought it in July. He did it without telling me about 6 weeks before the wedding. His behavior like that is why we haven't combined our finances completely... I don't trust him with the money I do have. His dad acts the same way. He's gotten better than he was but still not really great habits.

Before we bought the house we had no debt other than our vehicles and student loans. He paid extra on his stuff. He says once the landscaping is paid off he'll then focus on his vehicle payments.

Trust me, this is a main point of contention with us.... he's great otherwise though!

First, I am so sorry you are dealing with this. I used to be married to this. It got to the point where I had an extra checking account H didn't know about that I put money into so it was out of his sight.

I'm going to 2nd Dave Ramseys' Financial Peace University. We took it 3 years ago, and it not only changed our financials, but changed our marriage. I'm still married to the same guy, and our view on money is completely different. He would have been the one with $1,500 a month in payments on a vehicle and toys. Heck, he had a payment on a $3,000 lawnmower, and we have a very small yard. It is doable, sometimes guys just need some guidance and a swift kick in the rear to make them realize that their spending habits are detrimenting the family goals.

new year ! new start!

Re: new year ! new start!

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