Earlier this year I got divorced and saw my household income get reduced from $220,000 down to $40,000. I'm a teacher in the rural south east(cheap cost of living), and for the past several years of marriage, I have never had to worry about money because we lived well under our means. Obviously things have changed now, and I'm needing a sanity check to make sure I am doing ok financially.
Here's the breakdown of my income and expenses:
$1198 on the 15th and 30th of every month salary
$110 (average) for after school care paid twice per month
$720 mortgage(no PMI)
$360 car payment
$150 Student loan
$90 average electric
$60 Internet
$60 Cell phone
$300 groceries and gas
A couple things I forgot to include is that I don't have any kids and I have a girlfriend that contributes $250/mo towards bills, however I don't include that money in my budget because even though we're stable things can always change.
I am well aware that my car payment could be lowered if I traded in my truck for something else, but I am not wanting to do that. In addition, my student loan will be paid off soon. I owe $8000, but I have already mailed in the paperwork to receive my $5000 loan forgiveness for teaching 5 years, and as soon as that goes through I will pay off the remaining $3000 in a lump sum. Once it's paid off, that $150 will go towards my truck.
I have $4000 in my checking, $10000 in savings, and $9000 in my 403b.
I am sure there are things I can do better, but at the moment I am just trying to get my ducks in a row and make sure I can do this. Thanks in advance for any help and advice.
Submitted December 16, 2017 at 10:07AM by Cubby8 http://ift.tt/2onxTAt
