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Hi,
I'm 34, married for five years with two children. My wife is a stay at home mom and homeschools the children. Also her retired father lives with us. We currently rent a three bedroom townhome in Southern California.
We have two vehicles, one is paid off, the other was recent purchase due to the repair costs outweighing the affordability of our previous vehicle. Neither of us has any savings or retirement anymore.
Our financial situation has gotten worse and worse over the years as the cost of living has gone up and I have not received raises. I occasionally will get bonuses and overtime but those are band-aids to our problems. Also I used to have savings socked away in retirement but we also had to clear that out to pay off debts and try to get us back on track. My wife has laid out our expenses and where we stand on a month to month basis and we are currently in the red and not really sure what we can do to get out of it. Here is how it stands out now and afterwards are her thoughts on several things:
Budget -
Rent: $2556
Electricity: $250
Gas: $60
Water: $55
Time Warner: $249
Netflix: $18
Maid Brigaide: $142
Sprint: $444.11
Car Insurance: $308.56
Car payment: $295.86
My Health Insurance: $385.00
Wife/Children Health Insurance: $887.00
Wife Student Loan Sallie Mae: $467.00
My Gas: $350
My Visa Payment: $25
Remaining Balance: $950.34
Sleep Number: $20
Wife Discover Payment: $200
Wife Capital One Payment: $100
Wife gas: ………..
Wife medicine: $200
Kid 1 medicine: $75
Kid 2 medicine: $50
Misc medicine (sick, copay, etc): $50
Dog expenses (food, medicine, etc.):$50
Homeschooling: $150
Girls clothing: $100
Toiletries (Whole Family): $250
Groceries: $4000
__________________________________________________
Total going out: $11,737.53
Income:
Me ($4600.00)
Father In-Law ($4104.00)
Budget In the red: $3033.53/month
My Credit Card Balances:
Credit Card 1 : $12,723
Credit Card 2 : $4,556.12
Credit Card 3 : $113.64
Wife's Comments:
"That leaves no money for spending, no allowances for months when particular bills are higher than as planned, or more medicine is needed; it also leaves no money for extra curricular activities for the girls
The groceries come out to $8 per person per meal. The lowest I have ever been able to get the groceries down to is $6 per person per meal, and that is eating Kraft Macaroni and Cheese twice a week for dinner, plus several times per week of eating lunch WITH me skipping lunch twice a week. That isn’t even an option now that I have to eat gluten free, as Annie’s is three times as expensive as the Kraft, which brings the cost back up to $8 per person per meal.
Other areas I have tried to cut:
Time Warner: we are currently at the cheapest rate we can possibly be at. If we take anything else off our deal will be broken and our rate will go up to $320 just for basic cable, Internet and phone. We don’t qualify for new customer discounts.
We could get rid of Netflix, but then a large part of homeschooling learning is then eliminated, which will need to be supplemented elsewhere.
The Sprint bill was increased as of the first of the year, and because all of our contracts had expired they were able to raise the rates. I have tried to eliminate as many services as possible to no avail.
The cost of food has gone up in southern California 13% since the month of October, which explains why food is becoming more difficult to manage. I clip coupons, buy everything on sale, and so on to try and keep costs down. That is a large part of getting delivery now, I only do it for the free times but also ensures I get good produce from Vons instead of more expensive places. CSA is saving us roughly $50 per week on fruits and vegetables, costing us $23 per week.
If I do go to work, we would have to keep the $150 a month for homeschooling as school expenses; and we would also have to add $800 per month for both of the girls to go into an after school childcare program. So right now that would actually hurt us more than help, as it would change the figures to add $800 to our overall outgoing, with the amount we are beyond what we have coming in going all the way up to $3833.53.
Lastly there are ....... next to my Visa because that it my Amazon Rewards Visa and I use it for gas when I have spending money available to pay it back, otherwise I don't get gas in my car."
I've suggested multiple times that I would try to manage a second job but not sure how that would work with my current job or the fact of not being home at all. I have invested a little of my retirement to try to start my own little business project, but the field I work in can be hit or miss on paying gigs.
I've also thought about asking for a raise but the company I have worked for is small and not on good financial ground and I am their only employee left.
We've both run out of ideas to increase the income in the short and long term to put us on better ground. I welcome any advice or ideas as well as any questions to help put this situation in better perspective.
Thank you.
I'm 34, married for five years with two children. My wife is a stay at home mom and homeschools the children. Also her retired father lives with us. We currently rent a three bedroom townhome in Southern California.
We have two vehicles, one is paid off, the other was recent purchase due to the repair costs outweighing the affordability of our previous vehicle. Neither of us has any savings or retirement anymore.
Our financial situation has gotten worse and worse over the years as the cost of living has gone up and I have not received raises. I occasionally will get bonuses and overtime but those are band-aids to our problems. Also I used to have savings socked away in retirement but we also had to clear that out to pay off debts and try to get us back on track. My wife has laid out our expenses and where we stand on a month to month basis and we are currently in the red and not really sure what we can do to get out of it. Here is how it stands out now and afterwards are her thoughts on several things:
Budget -
Rent: $2556
Electricity: $250
Gas: $60
Water: $55
Time Warner: $249
Netflix: $18
Maid Brigaide: $142
Sprint: $444.11
Car Insurance: $308.56
Car payment: $295.86
My Health Insurance: $385.00
Wife/Children Health Insurance: $887.00
Wife Student Loan Sallie Mae: $467.00
My Gas: $350
My Visa Payment: $25
Remaining Balance: $950.34
Sleep Number: $20
Wife Discover Payment: $200
Wife Capital One Payment: $100
Wife gas: ………..
Wife medicine: $200
Kid 1 medicine: $75
Kid 2 medicine: $50
Misc medicine (sick, copay, etc): $50
Dog expenses (food, medicine, etc.):$50
Homeschooling: $150
Girls clothing: $100
Toiletries (Whole Family): $250
Groceries: $4000
__________________________________________________
Total going out: $11,737.53
Income:
Me ($4600.00)
Father In-Law ($4104.00)
Budget In the red: $3033.53/month
My Credit Card Balances:
Credit Card 1 : $12,723
Credit Card 2 : $4,556.12
Credit Card 3 : $113.64
Wife's Comments:
"That leaves no money for spending, no allowances for months when particular bills are higher than as planned, or more medicine is needed; it also leaves no money for extra curricular activities for the girls
The groceries come out to $8 per person per meal. The lowest I have ever been able to get the groceries down to is $6 per person per meal, and that is eating Kraft Macaroni and Cheese twice a week for dinner, plus several times per week of eating lunch WITH me skipping lunch twice a week. That isn’t even an option now that I have to eat gluten free, as Annie’s is three times as expensive as the Kraft, which brings the cost back up to $8 per person per meal.
Other areas I have tried to cut:
Time Warner: we are currently at the cheapest rate we can possibly be at. If we take anything else off our deal will be broken and our rate will go up to $320 just for basic cable, Internet and phone. We don’t qualify for new customer discounts.
We could get rid of Netflix, but then a large part of homeschooling learning is then eliminated, which will need to be supplemented elsewhere.
The Sprint bill was increased as of the first of the year, and because all of our contracts had expired they were able to raise the rates. I have tried to eliminate as many services as possible to no avail.
The cost of food has gone up in southern California 13% since the month of October, which explains why food is becoming more difficult to manage. I clip coupons, buy everything on sale, and so on to try and keep costs down. That is a large part of getting delivery now, I only do it for the free times but also ensures I get good produce from Vons instead of more expensive places. CSA is saving us roughly $50 per week on fruits and vegetables, costing us $23 per week.
If I do go to work, we would have to keep the $150 a month for homeschooling as school expenses; and we would also have to add $800 per month for both of the girls to go into an after school childcare program. So right now that would actually hurt us more than help, as it would change the figures to add $800 to our overall outgoing, with the amount we are beyond what we have coming in going all the way up to $3833.53.
Lastly there are ....... next to my Visa because that it my Amazon Rewards Visa and I use it for gas when I have spending money available to pay it back, otherwise I don't get gas in my car."
I've suggested multiple times that I would try to manage a second job but not sure how that would work with my current job or the fact of not being home at all. I have invested a little of my retirement to try to start my own little business project, but the field I work in can be hit or miss on paying gigs.
I've also thought about asking for a raise but the company I have worked for is small and not on good financial ground and I am their only employee left.
We've both run out of ideas to increase the income in the short and long term to put us on better ground. I welcome any advice or ideas as well as any questions to help put this situation in better perspective.
Thank you.
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