Please critique our debt/budget/retirement plan

[pyramidsloth]

Hi ladies!

I've lurked on this board for a very long time, and I'm very impressed with everyone's knowledge of everything MM related. To give you guys the full picture, I'll tell you a little bit about our current situation, plus our long term goals, and then I'll break down our current budget.

I'm a SAHM to our 4-year old son, soon to be 2-year old daughter, and we're expecting #3 in August. H joined the Army right out of high school (June 2000), and he was an enlisted soldier for 11 years. He and I got married in 2006, and we were very financially responsible DINKS.   The Army moved us from Germany to Boston in 2010, and during the move I found out I was pregnant. Since we were planning on me being a SAHM anyway, I didn't get a job once we moved to Boston, and we lived off of H's salary. When our son was almost 1, H talked to me about doing the Green to Gold program (you are released from the military while you finish your Bachelor's degree, and then you enter again either as active duty or reserves as an officer) through the Army. He was recruiting in Boston, his re-enlistement was coming up, but since the Army was at capacity, promotions were incredibly sparse, and we would have little to no options in terms of where we would be stationed, his MOS after recruiting, etc. He already had 60 credit hours at that point, so he applied to a university in his home state, was accepted, and then applied for the G2G program through the Army. Two years later, he had finished his Bachelors degree, and he came back into the Army as an active duty officer. His career options at this point are much more promising than they were a few years ago, plus after two slightly financially shaky years it's great to have a paycheck again! At this point, we're kind of playing catch-up in terms of savings, retirement, etc. As far as debt goes, we have about $400 on a credit card (I'm going to pay that off next month), and one car payment. We paid off our sedan in 2011, and we paid off both of our student loans last year. 

Our current goals include the following: 

1. Eventually contribute at least 15% of our income to our two retirement plans. We currently contribute 10% to our TSP (the Army's version of a 401k, for those of you not familiar with the military), and about 2% to our Roth IRA. 
2. Have a total of 15K in our savings account (we have a dog who is getting a little older and will probably have some significant veterinary bills in the future, the Army moves us-on average-every two to three years, and both of our families live in different parts of the country, which makes visits expensive). 
3. Pay off our SUV within 1 1/2-2 years. We owe $16,000 at an interest rate of 2.9%. 
4. We want to send all of our children to Catholic school. This is something that's very important to my husband and I. We recently moved to Colorado, and Catholic schools here are definitely on the pricey side (around 4-5k per year). Our son will attend preschool 4 days/week starting in the fall. 

So, all that being said, here is our monthly budget. H's take home pay is about $4400/month, and we get $1600/month from the military for housing and utilities. 

TSP (Thrift Savings Plan): $440
Roth IRA: $80
car payment: $500
Internet: $40
Insurance (vehicles and renters): $185
Rent: $1375
Utilities: I'm going to have to guess on this one, because we haven't even been in our rental home for a month and we haven't received our utilities bill yet. We pay for gas, trash, water and electric, so based on what our neighbors and friends in the area pay every month, I'm going to assume around $250. 
Health insurance (we have Tricare Standard instead of Prime, which means we pay an annual deductible of $300 total, plus up to 15% of the total charge for an in-network provider. I have some pretty significant health issues that require me to see a neurosurgeon, and constantly having to get referrals for Tricare Prime proved to be an epic pain in my ass). This can vary from $150/month to nothing, depending on who we have to see and when. 
Dental: $25.
Groceries: $700
Gas: $300
Netflix: $8
Starbucks: $60
Fun money: $100
Tithing/charities: $100-150
Money transferred to our savings account: $1000
Clothes, haircuts: $100
Occasionally eating out: $80-100

Okay, I don't think I'm forgetting anything. We don't have cable, and since my parents have an AT&T family plan, they just added my husband and I on, and they refuse to let us pay for our cell phones. Which is very generous of them. So it's looking like we have *around* $500/month extra, and I'm wondering where we should put that right now. Towards our car payment? More in savings? Put more towards our Roth IRA? 

Thanks very much for your help, and a cruise to the destination of your choice if you made it through my novel of a post! 

[pyramidsloth]

Sorry, forgot one thing. We spend about $60/month on our dog's food. And about $200-250 at the vet every six months. Hope that helps!

[delawarejen]

Welcome! Always nice to meet new people. I think you hit most of the main categories. I don't see a gifts category. I'm guessing baby items are in the grocery budget?

You mention "our" IRA. Now, I'm all for married couples treating money as joint, especially in a single income household. However, the I in IRA stands for individual, so are they his, yours, or some of both? If none of them are yours, I think it would be a good idea to open one in your name too.

You also mentioned private school, and that you will soon have 3 kids. You do have a good savings rate so I guess you'll be able to cash flow school, even for 3. Would you get a discount for paying for each year upfront? If so it might be worth saving towards being a year ahead now and then saving every month for the following year for kid 1, then towards being a year ahead for kids 1 and 2, etc. Depending on your move(s) you may end up in places that charge a lot more than 4-5K for a year of Catholic school.

In addition to your general savings goal, a sinking fund towards your next cars would be great.

[pyramidsloth]

Mar 1, 2015 21:38:47 GMT -5 delawarejen said:

Welcome! Always nice to meet new people. I think you hit most of the main categories. I don't see a gifts category. I'm guessing baby items are in the grocery budget?

You mention "our" IRA. Now, I'm all for married couples treating money as joint, especially in a single income household. However, the I in IRA stands for individual, so are they his, yours, or some of both? If none of them are yours, I think it would be a good idea to open one in your name too.

You also mentioned private school, and that you will soon have 3 kids. You do have a good savings rate so I guess you'll be able to cash flow school, even for 3. Would you get a discount for paying for each year upfront? If so it might be worth saving towards being a year ahead now and then saving every month for the following year for kid 1, then towards being a year ahead for kids 1 and 2, etc. Depending on your move(s) you may end up in places that charge a lot more than 4-5K for a year of Catholic school.

In addition to your general savings goal, a sinking fund towards your next cars would be great.

Hello, and thanks for the reply! You brought up some very good points, and you're correct in that the retirement funds are in my H's name. We will talk tomorrow about opening up an account in my name as well. 

As far as baby items, we don't really have much to buy. We cloth diaper, so we don't have to buy disposables, and we've never used formula or bought baby food (both of my kiddos did baby led weaning). I buy about 90% of their clothes at consignment stores, and I include that in our Clothes, Haircuts fund. For gifts, we really only buy for our parents, my brother, my SIL, their three kids, and obviously our kids at Christmas and birthdays. Everything is spread out pretty evenly, so we just kind of play that by ear every month. 

We're hoping to cash flow school for all three kids. *Most* schools will do some kind of discount if you're a member of the parish (we are), and if you have more than one child attending the school. I do like the idea of being a year ahead in terms of saving for school, so we might look into opening up a separate savings account for a Catholic school fund. Plus we'd have to factor in uniforms (although they don't do uniforms in preschool), field trips, stuff like that. Most of the places we've lived in, with the exception of Boston, charge around 4K/year for parochial school (since we've left Boston in 2011, we've lived in northern Louisiana, western Georgia, and now Colorado). As much as I miss living in Boston, I couldn't imagine paying for a private school education there!  :?

The sinking fund for future cars is a good idea, but we're holding off on that one at this point. Both of our cars are Volvos; one is a 2009, and one is a 2010. We're sticklers about car maintenance, and H and I are really hoping our cars will last us a loonnnng time. That's another reason we want to have at least 15k in our savings account: if we do need a major car repair (and that is one downside of owning Volvos...even minor repairs can be crazy expensive), we want to be able to pay for it without putting it on a credit card.

Thanks again!!

[gt7301b]

Do you have an FSA option with Tricare? If so, that might help for some of the 15% you have to pay. Also, do you have life insurance in place?

I'd earmark some of that $1,000 towards savings for travel expenses.

If I was in your shoes my first goal would be to increase your Roth contributions so that your total retirement savings is 15% of your income.

I wouldn't rush to pay off the car, but if that is a priority I would put the rest of the extra money towards the car. If you are, in fact, saving $1,000 a month increasing that would be low on the list of priorities for me. If you have a true emergency you could remove your Roth contributions at anytime.

[pyramidsloth]

Mar 1, 2015 22:02:46 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

Do you have an FSA option with Tricare? If so, that might help for some of the 15% you have to pay. Also, do you have life insurance in place?

I'd earmark some of that $1,000 towards savings for travel expenses.

If I was in your shoes my first goal would be to increase your Roth contributions so that your total retirement savings is 15% of your income.

I wouldn't rush to pay off the car, but if that is a priority I would put the rest of the extra money towards the car. If you are, in fact, saving $1,000 a month increasing that would be low on the list of priorities for me. If you have a true emergency you could remove your Roth contributions at anytime.

I don't believe we have the FSA option with Tricare, but I'll double check with H tomorrow.

Yep, sorry, another thing I forgot about! Both H and I have life insurance policies through the military. It's automatically deducted from H's paycheck, which is why I forgot about it. 

We aren't going to be traveling anytime soon, to be perfectly honest. We just moved here a month ago from Georgia, and we're all kind of fried from such an incredibly long road trip. My H's schedule is about to get insanely busy (including two month-long trips to the field...ugh), and with a new baby coming in August, I don't really see any vacations or family visits in our future. We spent a few days with my ILS in Alabama when we were moving here, and my parents are planning on coming out to visit us in a few months. Probably next year is when we'll have to start budgeting more $$ towards a vacation fund.

Right now, we have $7500 in our savings account. We're very strict about putting $1000/month into savings. The Army has thrown us so many loopholes over the years (screwing up H's paycheck countless times, constant moves) that H and I really only feel comfortable with a substantial amount of $$ in our savings account. We only use our credit card in the event of an actual emergency. 

At this point, we're definitely leaning towards putting more $$ towards the IRA. We aren't exactly in a rush to pay off the car, but not having a $500/month car payment is definitely something we're looking forward to.

[pyramidsloth]

Mar 1, 2015 22:03:03 GMT -5 namasteak said:

How much of the $15k do you currently have in savings? How many months bare bones expenses is that for you?

Right now, we have $7500 in our savings account. We figure about 8 more months of contributing $1000/month, and then that will free up a significant chunk of $$ for us. At that point, we'll be paying for preschool for our son, and most likely be putting the extra $$ in an account to save for more years of parochial education. 

[msmerymac]

Your budget looks like a decent balance between savings and small indulgences.

I would recommend maybe setting aside a "sinking funds" savings account. If you have something like Capitol one 360, opening another account and tying it to current accounts is really easy. I would average out money for vehicle maintenance, medical bills, and vet bills and put it there. Are you paying car and renters insurance monthly? You can usually get a discount if that is paid up front and I like to put that in the sinking fund account, too.

Also, do you have life insurance provided by the army? I assume something would be provided in the case of combat, but in general, especially because catholic school is so important to you, I'd want to provide for that in case anything happens to you or your husband.

Okay, after those considerations, I'd split the leftover between savings and Roth IRAs. The principle in an IRA can also be pulled out in an emergency.

How much do you have in savings? Also, once your new baby is in school, will you have a desire or opportunity to work when you are paying for 3 in catholic school?

[delawarejen]

Mar 1, 2015 21:52:31 GMT -5 pyramidsloth said:

Mar 1, 2015 21:38:47 GMT -5 delawarejen said:

We're hoping to cash flow school for all three kids. *Most* schools will do some kind of discount if you're a member of the parish (we are), and if you have more than one child attending the school. I do like the idea of being a year ahead in terms of saving for school, so we might look into opening up a separate savings account for a Catholic school fund. Plus we'd have to factor in uniforms (although they don't do uniforms in preschool), field trips, stuff like that. Most of the places we've lived in, with the exception of Boston, charge around 4K/year for parochial school (since we've left Boston in 2011, we've lived in northern Louisiana, western Georgia, and now Colorado). As much as I miss living in Boston, I couldn't imagine paying for a private school education there!  :?

I'm impressed it's that low. I just checked ours in Delaware. I can find schools with K-8 tuition as low as $5-$6K - if you're lucky enough to get a spot in a school at all because most parishes don't have a school and there are lotteries. The cheapest Catholic high schools are double that. (And the Catholic K-12 school starts at 10K for the little ones and goes to 20K by high school).

[audette]

Mar 1, 2015 22:13:01 GMT -5 pyramidsloth said:

Yep, sorry, another thing I forgot about! Both H and I have life insurance policies through the military. It's automatically deducted from H's paycheck, which is why I forgot about it. 

You may want to doublecheck the insurance payouts. For the servicemember, SGLI and the death benefit may be sufficient coverage. But, the spousal life insurance is probably not as much as you want, with three small kids that would need care in your absence.

I'd also look at trying to increase the retirement savings, if you can, particularly in Roths (you can both have Roth accounts), because Roths can function as a last-ditch emergency fund if needed. The carrot of a military retirement is a big thing to shoot for (and you're more than halfway there), but it's not guaranteed. We know a lot of folks that have been unable to meet 20 years due to the recent downsizing in the military. It looks like DH may get hit with that about 2 years shy of hitting 20, even though we really expected him to hit retirement before he left the military.  At this point, I'm _really_ thankful that we have been contributing a decent chunk to retirement, because it looks like that's all we'll have.

Also, I know Prime can be a pain in the ass, particularly with referrals, but with you near a military center now, it may be worth evaluating if it is worth the cost-savings to switch back to Prime from Standard.  I think they've been making progress in the referrals area over the last few years, to make it easier to get referrals and to track them, as well, so it might be worth looking at how much out of pocket Standard is costing you.

[madisen]

You may want to look at a Coverdell as an option for tax savings and saving for private school at the same time. While they were originally for college like 529's they were changed so that some expenses in k-12 also qualify.

[pyramidsloth]

Mar 1, 2015 22:16:20 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Your budget looks like a decent balance between savings and small indulgences.

I would recommend maybe setting aside a "sinking funds" savings account. If you have something like Capitol one 360, opening another account and tying it to current accounts is really easy. I would average out money for vehicle maintenance, medical bills, and vet bills and put it there. Are you paying car and renters insurance monthly? You can usually get a discount if that is paid up front and I like to put that in the sinking fund account, too.

Also, do you have life insurance provided by the army? I assume something would be provided in the case of combat, but in general, especially because catholic school is so important to you, I'd want to provide for that in case anything happens to you or your husband.

Okay, after those considerations, I'd split the leftover between savings and Roth IRAs. The principle in an IRA can also be pulled out in an emergency.

How much do you have in savings? Also, once your new baby is in school, will you have a desire or opportunity to work when you are paying for 3 in catholic school?h

Hi msmerymac,

We will look into a sinking fund for vehicle maintenance, vet bills, etc. is there a set amont that sounds reasonable (a few thousand?). Yes, we pay car and renters insurance monthly, both through USAA. I'll check our total amount owed and see if we can get a discount if we pay for the total up front. 

Yes, we both have life insurance. Audette brought up a good point, though; while my H's coverage would be more than sufficient, mine probably isn't. We may end up increasing my coverage, especially since we have another baby on the way. 

Right now now we have $7500 in savings. Assuming we don't have a fourth child (we both have the "we'll evaluate how we're feeling about adding another family member" every 18 months or so mentality), then yes, I plan on working at least part-time once baby #3 is in school. A lot of that also depends on where we're stationed at the time, what the job opportunities are like in that particular area, and my H's schedule. 

[pyramidsloth]

Mar 1, 2015 23:23:47 GMT -5 madisen said:

You may want to look at a Coverdell as an option for tax savings and saving for private school at the same time. While they were originally for college like 529's they were changed so that some expenses in k-12 also qualify.

Oh that's good to know! I've never heard of Coverdell, so I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks!

[pyramidsloth]

Mar 1, 2015 22:59:21 GMT -5 audette said:

Mar 1, 2015 22:13:01 GMT -5 pyramidsloth said:

Yep, sorry, another thing I forgot about! Both H and I have life insurance policies through the military. It's automatically deducted from H's paycheck, which is why I forgot about it. 

You may want to doublecheck the insurance payouts. For the servicemember, SGLI and the death benefit may be sufficient coverage. But, the spousal life insurance is probably not as much as you want, with three small kids that would need care in your absence.

I'd also look at trying to increase the retirement savings, if you can, particularly in Roths (you can both have Roth accounts), because Roths can function as a last-ditch emergency fund if needed. The carrot of a military retirement is a big thing to shoot for (and you're more than halfway there), but it's not guaranteed. We know a lot of folks that have been unable to meet 20 years due to the recent downsizing in the military. It looks like DH may get hit with that about 2 years shy of hitting 20, even though we really expected him to hit retirement before he left the military.  At this point, I'm _really_ thankful that we have been contributing a decent chunk to retirement, because it looks like that's all we'll have.

Also, I know Prime can be a pain in the ass, particularly with referrals, but with you near a military center now, it may be worth evaluating if it is worth the cost-savings to switch back to Prime from Standard.  I think they've been making progress in the referrals area over the last few years, to make it easier to get referrals and to track them, as well, so it might be worth looking at how much out of pocket Standard is costing you.

That's a very good point about my life insurance; you're right, my H's is more than sufficient, but mine most likely isn't. I'm really sorry to hear that your H might not get his 20, due to downsizing. ? That's so depressing. We definitely want to increase the Roth, in case of a situation like that.

We had Prime for most of the time H has been in the Army, and to be honest, I don't miss it. My good friends are stationed here at Carson with us, and they have Prime and they hate it. Evans hospital is really bad about getting people in for appointments in a reasonable time (her little boy had what she thought was strep throat, and a fever, and the soonest he could get an appointment was the following week. She ended up taking him to the ER at Evans and it was four hours before he was seen). We really don't pay all that much for Standard, and it's been really nice choosing the midwife I wanted, at the hospital I want to deliver at, the pediatric group I want for my kids, etc. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely some benefits to Prime, and if we were in a worse off financial position I would absolutely switch back. At this point, though, the small amount of $$ we pay is very much worth it. 

[pyramidsloth]

Mar 1, 2015 22:17:00 GMT -5 namasteak said:

I would get your total retirement up to 15% from the $500 and if there is any left add it to the $1000 for savings. After you reach your goal (September) throw the money at your car loan.

Will you need to pay for delivery? Any new things for #3?

We will need very few things for the new baby (bouncy seat to replace our old one that finally died, maybe a few newborn cloth diapers). We will only pay $18/day for every day that I'm in the hospital. ? 

Do you think it would make more sense to throw the extra $$ at the car loan, or put towards tuition for school? I only ask because our interest rate on the loan is pretty low, and my H wants to build up his credit (he has a good score, in the 700s, but he would like it to be a little higher).

[pyramidsloth]

Mar 1, 2015 22:29:30 GMT -5 delawarejen said:

Mar 1, 2015 21:52:31 GMT -5 pyramidsloth said:

We're hoping to cash flow school for all three kids. *Most* schools will do some kind of discount if you're a member of the parish (we are), and if you have more than one child attending the school. I do like the idea of being a year ahead in terms of saving for school, so we might look into opening up a separate savings account for a Catholic school fund. Plus we'd have to factor in uniforms (although they don't do uniforms in preschool), field trips, stuff like that. Most of the places we've lived in, with the exception of Boston, charge around 4K/year for parochial school (since we've left Boston in 2011, we've lived in northern Louisiana, western Georgia, and now Colorado). As much as I miss living in Boston, I couldn't imagine paying for a private school education there!  :?

I'm impressed it's that low. I just checked ours in Delaware. I can find schools with K-8 tuition as low as $5-$6K - if you're lucky enough to get a spot in a school at all because most parishes don't have a school and there are lotteries. The cheapest Catholic high schools are double that. (And the Catholic K-12 school starts at 10K for the little ones and goes to 20K by high school).

Oh my gosh, we could never afford that! Lol not unless they have some really sweet financial aid packages. I never looked at the tuition rates when we lived on the East coast (mainly because I didn't want to know!), but if it's that high in Delaware, I can only imagine how bad it is in the Boston area. 

I miss a lot of things about New England, but the HCOL is not one of them.

[orval]

Mar 1, 2015 23:41:57 GMT -5 pyramidsloth said:

Mar 1, 2015 22:29:30 GMT -5 delawarejen said:

I'm impressed it's that low. I just checked ours in Delaware. I can find schools with K-8 tuition as low as $5-$6K - if you're lucky enough to get a spot in a school at all because most parishes don't have a school and there are lotteries. The cheapest Catholic high schools are double that. (And the Catholic K-12 school starts at 10K for the little ones and goes to 20K by high school).

Oh my gosh, we could never afford that! Lol not unless they have some really sweet financial aid packages. I never looked at the tuition rates when we lived on the East coast (mainly because I didn't want to know!), but if it's that high in Delaware, I can only imagine how bad it is in the Boston area. 

I miss a lot of things about New England, but the HCOL is not one of them.

My ds goes to Catholic school in NC and elementary school is right at $6k.  HS is up to $10k.  Those are with the Catholic discount.  They do give a discount for multiple kids. 

[msmerymac]

I would put $150+$50(vet)+$185+100(car maintenance) in a sinking fund each month, so around $500. If you use that for all the incidental things that come up over the year, like medical and vet bills, oil changes, yearly or semi yearly insurance payments, car tags, then the 7500 you have in savings can be either a "literally do not touch unless an emergency" fund, or it can also act as seed money for your son's school (you can also usually get a discount by paying up front).

If you decide to just use that as your emergency fund, I would start another account and split the other $500 between savings for school and retirement.

I wouldn't worry about paying the car off early. The interest is pretty low. I'd prefer to invest more in an IRA.

[ijack]

Mar 1, 2015 23:41:57 GMT -5 pyramidsloth said:

Mar 1, 2015 22:29:30 GMT -5 delawarejen said:

I'm impressed it's that low. I just checked ours in Delaware. I can find schools with K-8 tuition as low as $5-$6K - if you're lucky enough to get a spot in a school at all because most parishes don't have a school and there are lotteries. The cheapest Catholic high schools are double that. (And the Catholic K-12 school starts at 10K for the little ones and goes to 20K by high school).

Oh my gosh, we could never afford that! Lol not unless they have some really sweet financial aid packages. I never looked at the tuition rates when we lived on the East coast (mainly because I didn't want to know!), but if it's that high in Delaware, I can only imagine how bad it is in the Boston area. 

I miss a lot of things about New England, but the HCOL is not one of them.

have you priced schools here in CO yet? I'm in Denver which does have a higher COL, but the catholic school that good friends go to is over $7k/yr.

[Deleted]

Welcome! Your little ones are adorable.

The only budget "weaknesses" I see are in the grocery and starbucks categories I love me some starbucks, but $60 / month is a decent chunk o change. I realize a growing family (with #3 on the way, congrats) means a higher grocery bill, but I expect you could find some fat to trim in there.

Overall you guys are doing really well and I'd like to see you double down a bit more on retirement. You'll never get the time back for compounding interest, so I'd recommend hacking through the budget to try and get to that max at least, and ensure you have a nice account in your own name too as a SAH mommy!

Although I probably couldn't follow this advice since I hate debt, I'd put money into retirement over the paying off of the car loan. Pay it on schedule, but not ahead.

Hope to hear from you more, it's always great to "meet" new posters

[Deleted]

PPS: Once you get to a 6-8 months e'fund, start investing that cashola - first in retirement accounts & then outside. Transferring 1k per month is AWESOME so keep that up.

[pyramidsloth]

Mar 2, 2015 16:49:19 GMT -5 ijack said:

Mar 1, 2015 23:41:57 GMT -5 pyramidsloth said:

Oh my gosh, we could never afford that! Lol not unless they have some really sweet financial aid packages. I never looked at the tuition rates when we lived on the East coast (mainly because I didn't want to know!), but if it's that high in Delaware, I can only imagine how bad it is in the Boston area. 

I miss a lot of things about New England, but the HCOL is not one of them.

have you priced schools here in CO yet? I'm in Denver which does have a higher COL, but the catholic school that good friends go to is over $7k/yr.

Hi ijack,

I checked out three preschools in the COS area, and eliminated two of them based on distance alone. We live about 5 miles south of Fort Carson, and some of those schools/parishes were WAY too far away (as in, a 40-minute drive each way). That would never fly for us, as we'll have three kids including a newborn by the time by son starts preschool. The one I'm looking at right now is $4k/year, but that's kindergarten and up. I'm kind of keeping my fingers crossed that preschool won't be as expensive, since it's only half days and 4 days/week. We'll see...I'm also going to ask if they offer military discounts of any kind. 

[pyramidsloth]

Mar 2, 2015 17:30:58 GMT -5 @shoegal said:

Welcome! Your little ones are adorable.

The only budget "weaknesses" I see are in the grocery and starbucks categories I love me some starbucks, but $60 / month is a decent chunk o change. I realize a growing family (with #3 on the way, congrats) means a higher grocery bill, but I expect you could find some fat to trim in there.

Overall you guys are doing really well and I'd like to see you double down a bit more on retirement. You'll never get the time back for compounding interest, so I'd recommend hacking through the budget to try and get to that max at least, and ensure you have a nice account in your own name too as a SAH mommy!

Although I probably couldn't follow this advice since I hate debt, I'd put money into retirement over the paying off of the car loan. Pay it on schedule, but not ahead.

Hope to hear from you more, it's always great to "meet" new posters

Hello shoegal, and thank you!!! 

I do agree with you on the Starbucks..it's one of our weaknesses. H and I are avid coffee drinkers, and we buy a pound per week of the Guatemalan Antigua to brew at home. It's (about) $15/pound, so that averages out to about $60/month. I know it's definitely on the high side, but by the same token, we don't do random Starbucks runs for fancy drinks or anything. I know our grocery bill is on the high side as well, but I'm not quite sure how to trim that down. I'm pretty good about cooking every night of the week (I grew up in a super traditional Italian American family, and that was the norm for me), and I generally make four big meals every week that we can eat as leftovers the next day. Honestly, the biggest problem is my kids-I swear, they eat us out of house and home, and they're only 4 and 2!! My H and I have the view of, "you can eat anything you want whenever you want, as long as it's healthy," and we always keep things like fresh fruit, yogurt, string cheese, hummus, stuff like that stocked in the fridge. My kids will seriously eat about 5 breakfasts in the morning.   It's unreal. They also eat everything I serve them, so I do think they're actually hungry and not just bored (maybe going through a growth spurt?). In any case, I just can't keep enough food in the fridge! 

I talked to my H today, and we're both on the same page about adding more to our retirement fund. I'm going to pay off the few hundred on our credit card (we just moved to the area last month, and we racked up some expenses during the move), and then we're going to hammer out a new budget for April that will include more $$ going towards our retirement fund.

I definitely want to participate more! Thanks so much for the advice and the warm welcome!

[Deleted]

I think you're getting good advice from a lot of folks, so I just wanted to add a welcome! I hope you stick sround!

[pyramidsloth]

Mar 2, 2015 22:07:11 GMT -5 @idaholakelady said:

I think you're getting good advice from a lot of folks, so I just wanted to add a welcome! I hope you stick sround!

Thanks so much! I agree, I've gotten some great advice so far. I'll definitely stick around!

[truckentruck]

I just wanted to chime in and say I think $700 for a family of 4 with one on the way, especially if you're buying a lot of fresh ingredients and cooking every night, is great! You're well within the low-cost average, according to the USDA: www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/CostofFoodDec2014_0.pdf

[WinterWine]

Mar 3, 2015 10:26:38 GMT -5 truckentruck said:

I just wanted to chime in and say I think $700 for a family of 4 with one on the way, especially if you're buying a lot of fresh ingredients and cooking every night, is great! You're well within the low-cost average, according to the USDA: www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/CostofFoodDec2014_0.pdf

You have received a lot of good advice from PP, but I just wanted to second this. My family is just two adults and I end up around $700/month as well.  I tried to have a budget of around $500 but it just wasn't realistic.  Like you, I buy lots of fresh, healthy ingredients and cook all meals from scratch.  I just can't seem to do it for less without compromising the quality of ingredients.  I'd say as long as you are shopping sales for items, particularly meat, and aren't throwing out vegetables due to things going bad, I wouldn't worry about it too much. My view is that I can either pay more for healthy ingredients now, or buy lower quality ingredients now and pay for it through increased healthcare costs later.  Maybe extreme, but that's how I justify it

And your kids are ADORABLE!!  Welcome, I hope you stick around and continue to post more!

[Deleted]

Mar 3, 2015 10:26:38 GMT -5 truckentruck said:

I just wanted to chime in and say I think $700 for a family of 4 with one on the way, especially if you're buying a lot of fresh ingredients and cooking every night, is great! You're well within the low-cost average, according to the USDA: www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/CostofFoodDec2014_0.pdf

As a DINK I will take back my feedback on the grocery bill . Data for the win!