Hello all - I've made a new reddit account just for this question because I'm going to use real details and don't want it connected back to my main account, but I've been following this sub for a while. Thank you very much in advance for reading. Some relevant details: I grew up in a family that didn't have a lot of financial literacy, and I'm realizing I'm very behind on hitting important savings milestones. I only have about $9000 saved at 31 years old. My main goal right now is growing that to a $15k emergency savings, and then start an investment portfolio with everything I save after. My salary is $90k, and after taxes and retirement contributions, I take home $4500 per month. I send $800 of that immediately to savings, budget $600 for people and pet food, and then my other non-housing expenses are $350 per month. I pay $440 for my HOA fee+parking.
I live in Chicago, in the Rogers Park (RP) neighborhood, in a 100 year old building. I bought my little condo in 2020, and my taxes and insurance are escrowed. All together, my mortgage+escrow payments have been just over $1000 per month (ranging between $1006-1009). Obviously if you're following along in the math, this left me a buffer in my budget of about $1300 per month for fun, home improvement or repair projects, flights, gifts, etc. Some months I would use it all, most months I'd have a few hundred left and would just let that sit in my checking account.
My property taxes in 2022 were $1465, and in 2023 they jumped up to $4580. This wasn't just me, apparently: I have read that big increases like this have happened across the neighborhood. My mortgage+escrow payment is now $1720 per month, which is just an insane jump to me. I expect that amount to be reduced again once my shortage is made up, but still, it's wild to me that my taxes are almost half of the cost of the actual condo. Now my monthly buffer is down to about $600 per month, and while I know I will be able to cut back for a bit and be okay, this really doesn't feel like enough to me. Have I just been spending way more than is practical and I should take this as a reality check? Or have I been spending normally and this is just a weird blip that needs to be dealt with? Is there anything in here that makes you think "aw geez, that's not sustainable?" I really don't know where else in the city I could afford if not here.
Submitted August 03, 2023 at 10:42PM by weepy_asterisk https://ift.tt/zexq9hu
