Please critique our budget

[steenbean]

$126,000 annual vs. 6700/month (80,400) is a big difference. You need to focus on your take home pay for this side of the analysis.

I would say that your home ownership timeline depends on you and your husband. At the current rate of payments/debt/outflow, I would say that it's not in your best interest to buy a house. You need to get the debts paid off (CC & auto) and get the SL paid way down. You say that you are living on your income...so when you husband starts working keep living on your income and use his to save/paydown. AND, you need to start saving for retirement ASAP. That should be non-negotiable...the same way you view tithing.

Sounds good Minnie. Also, the $6700 is my base pay. I pick up anywhere from 1-4 extra shifts per month which can bring in up to $1500 additional which we put toward debt. It seems that Dave Ramsey usually recommends holding off on retirement until revolving credit is paid off. Would you disagree with this at 26yo? We definitely want to start saving for retirement, but this debt is a huge weight on our shoulders!

[jpg7n16]

Sounds good Minnie. Also, the $6700 is my base pay. I pick up anywhere from 1-4 extra shifts per month which can bring in up to $1500 additional which we put toward debt. It seems that Dave Ramsey usually recommends holding off on retirement until revolving credit is paid off. Would you disagree with this at 26yo? We definitely want to start saving for retirement, but this debt is a huge weight on our shoulders!

Correct. It's better to stop incurring guaranteed interest of 20%+ by postponing expected interest of 7-11%. Without a company match, I'd only suggest ramping up retirement savings once all debts 8% and up have been eliminated - seeing as that's about what you'd expect from the market.

[steenbean]

Update

repost

[investingnoob]

Also Hector, Do you think that owning a home in 3 years is unreasonable? We have a lot of debt, but have paid off ~$20K in the last 10 months and my husband is currently in school finishing his degree and will be contributing to our income in ~18 months. As for now, I'm the sole earner with gross income ~$126K. Owning a home is my dream, but if that's not a realistic time frame, I guess we need to reexamine.

Not impossible, Arizona housing is very cheap. You have a solid plan on killing debt. Plus if your making 126k/yr you should easily have a house.
I only make 50k/yr by myself and I just bought a new house.
Your rent is almost a mortgage anyways.