Ima saver and credit card free,
Well... with your help and a phone call - I just found out from DH
that we actually are saving 23% of our income, not 13%.
He jumped at me quite indignant saying that "he knows about this kind of stuff" and "that we are OK".
All right, all right then !!!!!
Geeeeez....
Actually, he worked as a financial planner at the begining of his career, it's just that he does not have a financial planner mentality, not an overly frugal guy, but definitely not irresponsible either.
He currently contributes about 400$ a month to his 401K (actually I knew that but I forgot to mention it) and he is about to up contributions a few hundred dollars a month or so from January when we will be saving a total of 23% of our income, according to him.
Also, he said that the land is worth 200,000 in today's dollars, not 20 years from now. Yey.
As for where the money go...well, I am sure we could make adjustements but not without my husband having a fit about it. We have a pretty fluffed up cable package - I would drop it at the drop of a hat but not DH.
To him, cable TV is like air.
A lot of the money go into the mortgage payment (relatively big city, good neighborhood = pricey). Then childcare 500 a month.
International phone calls galore (I have to talk to my family and we have a big mouth unfortunately.
As it stands right now, on my side I have 600 dollars left to spend on diverse things each month, such as baby-related stuff, clothes and whatever miscellenaous things may come up, including my recent foot surgery which, even with insurance and all, still cost me 2000$ out of pocket.
These miscellenaous things, after fixed budget, always somehow come up and quickly eat all of my discretionary 600$, and even a bit over at times.
I just can't see how we could be doing better - other than fixing a few things here and there such as the electric bill and the food bill. We don't always buy the cheapest food, for example I cannot eat that 99c mushy, packaged bread for the life of me - and we are major bread eaters. I also consume a pretty indecent amount of fresh fruits and vegetables and these are not inexpensive at all.
But we also cook in the home and I have recently cut back on cafeteria eats at work. Actually I bring lunch with me everyday.
Any other tips?...Thank you so much for your replies.