For your monetary entertainment...

[mrshandy]

I present my budget. Things to consider.

We live in HCOL (DC area). We're looking to buy a house in the $400K range a year from now. We also want to have another baby next year. It will be tight, but we're willing to make sacrifices. I don't really anticipate paying off the SLs anytime soon. Those are here to stay for a while. Our car is paid off in full. We may or may not need another car when we move and have another baby, it depends on my commute situation.

Income - $ 7,428.22
Rent - $ 2100
Daycare $ 953
Student Loans Combined $ 870
Utilities $ 190
Groceries $ 500
Cell Phone $ 110
Cable $ 121.74
Entertainment $ 100
Eating Out $ 100
Gas $ 100
Fun Money for DH and I $ 150
College Savings $ 200

Savings $ 1266/month + annually $5000 from our FSA + a yearly bonus of $5K

Extra $ $867 $667 (I would like to figure out where this goes)

Assets
High Yield Savings Account - $36,300
Investment - $2600

ETA - Retirement - sorry I forgot to include
I'm not sure of the exact amount of DH's
I'm maxing out my retirement and I think DH is at 10% contribution.

I have $55,600 in my account. DH has less probably in upper $30K. I'm 29 and DH is 32.

And go! Any advice on actually sticking to the budget would be helpful. It's our biggest struggle. Life is busy and tracking every penny is time consuming.

[Deleted]

I love budget posts so thank you for sharing but I don't really see any area to suggest change. Definitely try to figure out where the extra $876 goes and go from there. That's nearly enough for day care for #2. Do you use a child care account through your employer?

[dr.girlfriend]

How do you feel about a nanny or nanny share instead of infant daycare for 2?

[Deleted]

Is this everything? What about expenses like life insurance, car insurance and maintenance, clothing, gifts, personal care (like hair cuts)?

Do your savings include anything for college?

[gt7301b]

How the hell do you only spend $100 a month on eating out? Seriously, we have already spent $200 this month.

I would figure out where that extra $867 is going, but overall it looks pretty good.

How much of that savings goes towards retirement?

[mrshandy]

Jul 10, 2012 9:31:18 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

How do you feel about a nanny or nanny share instead of infant daycare for 2?

DS is almost 2, so we're sending him to pre-school in a month.

I haven't really considered a nanny. But I'll have to crunch the #s to see if it would be more. I'll have to reassess once he starts pre-school I think he's going to love it.

[Ashley&Scott]

Will your mortgage (PITI) be similar to current rent?

Daycare for baby #2 is going to make things tight, as you already know. Would a nanny or nanny share be more MM when #2 arrives? (I'm also intrigued that we pay nearly the same for daycare but I'm in MCOL)

Are you willing to cut cable? That would save some. Do you have internet?

What types of things are you spending the fun money on?

Definitely see where the extra $867 is going.

[heygrey]

i hate tracking the pennies and failed every month to stay on budget, so we switched to cash for groceries, incidentals, and fun money. (i'd add in eating out and entertainment from your budget.) when the money is gone, we stop spending - no need to track :-) i get it all out at once a month and keep it in a safe at home, then take some each week. it seems so old school, but 6 months in and we haven't gone over budget once!

[mrshandy]

Jul 10, 2012 9:34:46 GMT -5 @lcap said:

Is this everything? What about expenses like life insurance, car insurance and maintenance, clothing, gifts, personal care (like hair cuts)?

Do your savings include anything for college?

Life insurance is out of our paychecks. I could probably benefit from upping my coverage. Car insurance we pay up front so that's probably where the $867 is going. Maintenance is pretty minimal on the car. Clothing comes up every now and then. We could definitely add in a line item for gifts.

I pulled up my budget at work and I haven't done the best job of updating this document.

I forgot college. Thanks for reminding me. Adding it now.

[Roc A Bee]

I use mint.com to track expenses. Once you figure out where that is going, I would save it for a DP or future childcare.

[mrshandy]

Jul 10, 2012 9:36:34 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

How the hell do you only spend $100 a month on eating out? Seriously, we have already spent $200 this month.

I would figure out where that extra $867 is going, but overall it looks pretty good.

How much of that savings goes towards retirement?

Having a toddler that doesn't tolerate sitting still has done wonders for our dining budget. Also, we always pack our lunches and use our fun money for the odd lunch out.

[mrshandy]

Jul 10, 2012 9:39:43 GMT -5 Ashley&Scott said:

Will your mortgage (PITI) be similar to current rent?

Daycare for baby #2 is going to make things tight, as you already know. Would a nanny or nanny share be more MM when #2 arrives? (I'm also intrigued that we pay nearly the same for daycare but I'm in MCOL)

Are you willing to cut cable? That would save some. Do you have internet?

What types of things are you spending the fun money on?

Definitely see where the extra $867 is going.

We're hoping to get our mortgage payment as close to our rent as possible if not less. I know we can't go over. So we may need to reconsider our real estate price range.

That includes internet. It would be a hard sell to get DH to drop cable. He watches a lot of sports. Like we usually watch the Nationals every night. I've brought up the idea before and he's been resistant. But we'll see.

[karinothing]

Mrs.Handy - We have almost the exact same budget, even down to a goal for our future house and money in savings ha ha I would ask if we are secretly the same person except we pay double what you do in daycare. How the heck did you find it so cheap?

I don't really have any advice since I am in the same situation.

[mrshandy]

Jul 10, 2012 9:53:41 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Mrs.Handy - We have almost the exact same budget, even down to a goal for our future house and money in savings ha ha I would ask if we are secretly the same person except we pay double what you do in daycare. How the heck did you find it so cheap?

I don't really have any advice since I am in the same situation.

LOL. DS is at an in-home DCP in Alexandria. In home daycare is a lot cheaper in Nova.

[karinothing]

Jul 10, 2012 10:01:24 GMT -5 mrshandy said:

Jul 10, 2012 9:53:41 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Mrs.Handy - We have almost the exact same budget, even down to a goal for our future house and money in savings ha ha I would ask if we are secretly the same person except we pay double what you do in daycare. How the heck did you find it so cheap?

I don't really have any advice since I am in the same situation.

LOL. DS is at an in-home DCP in Alexandria. In home daycare is a lot cheaper in Nova.

Ha yeah, he is a center around the Baileys Crossroads area. I just had no idea in home was so much less expensive! Crazy