How are you all "making it" out there?
I am a mother and wife. My husband has a good full time job with great benefits. I had been attempting to run my own business, but after selling our house to lower our expenses and living with our friends, paying a modest 1650 a month including utilities for a huge portion of an amazing house in the northern va area, I have made huge changes - left my business in my partners hands and walked away. Got a fantastic full time job with amazing benefits. Put my 2 year old in daycare. Put my daughter in aftercare after school.
We have a car payment, credit cards, a 401k loan repayment, and if I were to open the mail I would find we have about 20k in medical expenses after my husband had a carcinoid tumor and a portion of his lung removed early last year and my 5 year old broke her femur right before Christmas last year. If we were to live absolutely bare bones we would have about $350 left each month (not taking into account months with extra pay checks.) If I were to plan for birthdays, Christmas, savings, car repairs, a yearly vacation, clothes, and another car payment (my husbands car has almost 200k miles and is 17 years old. He drives 3 hours or more each day and it will die any day now.) we would need an additional $2300 a month.
We spend $760 in daycare each month and are going to have to start paying another $500 a month for summer camp and daycare for my daughter starting in May.
How the hell do the rest of you Americans afford life???? I keep doing and redoing a budget thinking surely I have made mistakes or I will realize I don't actually have the debt I know I do....
We want to move into a small modest home of our own but can't find anything that isn't a shanty for less than $1800.
Tell me what we are doing wrong! (Other than the debt and the 401k loan. I understand the error of our ways I just need to fix it now)
April 05, 2017 at 11:33AM
