So you need to add daycare into your budget now right? ~$500 a month since the dependent care info was wrong. Where will that money come from?
$300 at target/Walmart/ baby stuff is very vague. What will that really cover?
Your gifts and entertainment seems really high.
Clothes also seems high.
The daycare is technically in there - it's just too low since I took it out pre-tax as part of the "dependent care spending account". I need to split it into pre-tax and post-tax to get a more accurate number
How much should put for baby expenses monthly? I figure diapers, food, toys?
We could pull back on gifts/entertain/clothes - how much would be a good amount for "leftover?
Also, can I get the Dependent Care tax credit for $3,000 for the expenses not covered by the dependent care spending account?
No. For one child, you have to choose. For most people, the dependent care FSA is better.
With two or more kids, you can use the dependent care FSA and then claim the child care credit for the $1000 difference between the $6,000 credit max and the $5,000 FSA money.
Housing is high --mortgage alone is 34% of takehome - much more than recommended (25-28% general rule of thumb or 30% in a HCOL) When you add utilities (which are low IMO) and house cleaner you have 40% on housing. 300 f-r walmart,target, baby - high entertainment/gifts is high
I do not see a savings line - Do you have an emergency fund?
Are the amounts lists what you are currently spending?
Do you have the money for downpayment, closing costs, moving, start ups, repair/renovations, decroating/furniture/appliances and yard items and tools along with the long list of misc.
I also think you should be budgeting savings more, esp. if you only have 2 months in an e-fund and a baby. Even though we have a fully-funded e-fund we still automatically save about 12% of our take-home each month for various things: travel, next car (so we can pay in cash), housing improvements, etc. It's just a smart idea to get into the habit of paying yourself first.
Hi again Thanks - great questions! Student loans are 60K at 5.25%. I'm deciding if I should put 5% or 10% down on the house (and possibly put the rest to pay off some student loans). Any thoughts?
The house won't need much work, but likely will buy some "house crap" over time. I'd be fine with reducing entertainment/gifts esp the first year that baby will be here since we likely won't be going too many places at first. I would love to keep house cleaning so I don't have to deal with that plus a full-time job and newborn!
Unless you're working in a non-profit/government field that will qualify you for public service forgiveness after 10 years on an income-based repayment plan, it makes sense to pay down your student loans more aggressively than your mortgage. But you will be paying PMI until the mortgage gets to a certain % equity. I would crunch those numbers and to avoid PMI if you can and, if you can't, start paying down the student loans.
If I should increase savings after expenses, what should I aim for? 500?
Is it better to have a chunk of tjat o to retirement? I can adjust the budget for the months we migh need to refill our efund.
Our efund is substantial at 20,000 so not too concerned about it.
The sad thing is if you own a house $20k isn't as substantial as you might think. Problems with sewer lines can cost $15k to fix and are almost never covered by insurance.
You keep saying your efund is substantial but I disagree. It seems like you have money for a downpayment but what about other household items that need to be purchased (yard equipment, decorating, furniture, etc)? What about if you move in and suddenly your AC goes out (happened to two of my friends).
While you may be able to cut back to refill your efund it seems like it would take you a long time to do so if you had to drop $5-10k for some type of emergency.
If your e-fund is 3-4 months of expenses, it's not really substantial. Better than most people, but still not fully funded. Do you at least have access to credit in case of a major job loss that can float that e-fund longer than 3-4 months? Like a substantial limit on a low-interest credit card or a HELOC?
Well, we could keep our efund at closer to 30,000 if we chose a 5% instead of 10% down payment. I was just thinking having that much sitting in a savings fund without much interest would not be worth the extra monthly cost and extra overall interests. We have owned for four years and luckily hadnt have major needs to use the efund, just smaller things here and there.