Budgeting help

[mymmaeforhelp]

DH and I are having our first child in March. This is our budget:

Income: $6720 after taxes, medical insurance and retirement plan

Rent: $1,400 (sister and BIL live with us and pay $800, so our total on our part is $1,400)

Food: $300

Gas: $300

Electricity, water, and gas: $150

Entertainment: $100

Cell phone: $175 (My iPhone, plus a line for sis and BIL...DH's work pays his phone)

Credit card payments: $200 (mine is secured and DH's is for emergencies, but I'll use about $200 a month on mine and pay it back)

Car payment: $500 (we are looking to trade in or get a lower payment)

Internet: $100

Car/renter's insurance: $60

Netflix: $20

That leaves around $3,415...am I forgetting anything? DH is expected to get a raise between 5-10% within this month. My job as a nanny allows me to bring baby to work, so I won't need daycare costs. DH gets free breakfast and lunch at work, along with free public transportation. Where should the leftover money go? Can we afford a a baby, or do I need more income?

[sporky]

Where is your surplus going currently? Some missing categories: child expenses (diapers, formula etc.), gifts, retirement, toiletries/household, clothing/hair cuts/etc, fun money.....

[Roc A Bee]

I'm confused about your credit card expenses.

[belovedbride07]

My budget also includes categories for auto registration, auto maintenance, charity, travel, medical, and gifts. We also currently have a line-item for "baby savings" that we'll convert to "baby miscellaneous" once we have one.

Where do clothing and hair cuts get categorized?

Our budget is similar (but with the categories listed above plus some more). Everything else goes into our down payment savings right now. We plan to add a baby on our current income, and aren't too worried about it.

[SJ]

Your food line seems a little low. I would also like more information on retirement. Are you both contributing or just your husband? How much do you currently have saved? How old are you?

If you aren't already doing so I would take $800/month and max a Roth IRA for each of you.

Do you plan to continue to have roommates forever? Would you like to buy eventually?

Is the car your only debt? What interest rate is the loan at? How much do you have in savings? I expect you have a lot if you really have a surplus of over $3000/month...

[lys]

500 car payment is on the rediculous side. Only buy what you can pay for within 3 years.
I would sell it and buy something more economical.
Fund ROTH IRA
Build emergency fund

[Deleted]

Dec 10, 2012 9:23:54 GMT -5 lys said:

500 car payment is on the rediculous side. Only buy what you can pay for within 3 years.
I would sell it and buy something more economical.
Fund ROTH IRA
Build emergency fund

It's ridiculous that you don't use spell check.

Op- what are you contributing to retirement?

[Deleted]

I hhink you're in good shape if you don't have childcare costs, but would you have to take a paycut? I wouldn't want to pay full rate to my nanny if she had her infant with her.

[minniebee]

What about eating out? Is that what the entertainment budget is for? I suppose $100 a month is doable, but that would be really tight for me. That's like one dinner & a movie night.

Clothing? Gifts? Haircuts? Vacations? Car maintenance? Savings?

You'll have lots more expenses with a baby, have you estimated those? Diapers, formula, clothing, medical co-pays, babysitting if you want a night out, etc.

I think you can afford a baby, I just think your budget is leaving out a lot of things.

[countthestars]

Are you paying for your sister's and BIL's cell(s)? If yes, why?

Food seems low to me. Entertainment seems a little low as well.

Where is the rest of that money going?