asking a questoin you may not want to answr

Like others have said...I definitely am of the mindset that renting is pointless and its throwing money away...yet FH and I rent a 3br apt and probably will for the next 3 years. Why? We don't have enough money for a down payment and I refuse to buy a house with no money down (nor do I believe anyone would let us at this point). When we buy a house I want it to be at a time when we can afford a good down payment and a fixed-rate mortgage.

To answer the original question we make probably around $92k a year before taxes and that goes to support FH, FSD and I...we budgeted $750/month on top of all other bills for random expenses and even with that we still have around $500ish combined left over.

You can definitely live comfortably on way less than $125k a year.

---

Posted by stinenandy2010

I agree in theory no one wants debt and it should be paid off.....but without debt you wouldn't have credit history so thats why sometimes certain types of debt isn't bad.....The way I look at it is, I will probably always have car loans and for a long time I will have student loans since I went to graduate school.

---

That's very true. My credit score is790 because I always paid my student and car loans (own a used car - financed at the time) on time plus credit cards.

---

Posted by ellie424

---

Posted by MrsC2010

---

Posted by grkbarbie

ok.. i realllllllllllllyyy dont want to sound mean,ignorant,snotty,etc etc..cuz i honestly dont really know much.. so please dont hate me

but debt means u OWE somebody money..

how could u have savings, if youre -40k, -60k??

dont u pay an interest? it may not be 'frowned' upon.. but the DEBT keeps getting higher the longer u take to pay it off.

why would u go on and add MORE debt?

isnt it in your best interest to pay off that debt, b4 u go out and purchase a home?

---

i guess in theory it would make sense to pay off your student loans before adding more debt with a house....but its not realistic.

i owe 100k in student loans and that will take me a long time to pay off (like 25 years probably)....i wish i had 100 k to just pay it all back now.

So i will be getting a house in the next year or two and making payments towards paying both school loans and mortage payments

---

ITA...In the perfect world I think that it is def better to pay off your loans before buying a house..but it's not realistic for a lot of people. Unless you want to just rent for 15-20 years until your school loans are paid off. FH and are are going to be paying back school loans and a mortgage at the same time (when we eventually buy a house after we're married). We def won't have our school loans paid off for at least 10-15 years..and we don't want to just be renting when we have a family...we would like to be homeowners at that time.

---

interest on school loans is tax deductible. so if you check your credit score its listed as installment payments, the same way a car loan is listed.

when using freecreditreport.com, they breakdown your credit types into 4 categories according to how they impact your credit. Mortgage Loans (the best type of debt) has 4 stores, Installment Payments (car payment & student loans) has 3 stars, Credit cards have 2 stars & Revolving Credit (macys, vs cards) have 1 star. Companys want you to have good mix of all.

that's why have student loans are a good thing.

---

Posted by MarjorieFrank

---

Posted by ellie424

Wow..FH and I make so little combined compared to everyone who posted.

---

Me too.... this post is making me depressed lol..

---

Don't be depressed... FH and I are older than a lot of couples on here... you will all get there some day!!! We weren't making this money when we were younger... now we're 29 & 32!!!!

this past week i throw out over 20 bags of STUFFF

i cleaned out the TRUNK in my car i had 18 pairs of SHOES in there, bebe bags just shyt i havent worn in over 5 yrs. if u see any homeless ppl rocking steve madden platforms and abercrombie sweaters, tell them i said hi

i think about 70% of my money the past 10 years went to STUFF i didnt need. its a damnn shame

last night alone i threw out george forman grills,yes, more than 1 lol,dishes, tacky xmas decorations, make up etc etc.. and we stilll have CLUTTER.

ladiessssssssss becareful!!! just because somethign is on sale, doesnt mean u have to by 10 of that same item!!!!!!!!!!

until i get a full time teaching job, honestly fh and do not make very much-most we could prob walk away with this year before taxes is around 90k..hopefully once i get a full time job that number will go up

i realized awhile ago that i was spending WAYYYY too much money-my solution has been to budget EVERYTHING..i write down every dollar i earn and every dollar i spend (along with what i spend it on)..at the end of the month i total everything up, and set goals for myself for the following month-i started doing it about 3 months ago, and my spending has steadily decreased, which is good

---

Posted by AliP2010

see thats the thing.

I dont go out, he hates spending money. we are actually REALLY good savers.... i was raised that way.

we MAYBE spend $100 a month on us.

its just we dont live together now and want to when we are married obv. but renting *to me* not offence, is pointless, its money out the window. Id rather a crapshack that is tax deductable then rent.

i just dont know how i can pay for moms house , my wedding, and find a place for us to live

---

ITA renting is pointless... IMO its such a waste of money...

---

Posted by MrsC2010

---

Posted by grkbarbie

ok.. i realllllllllllllyyy dont want to sound mean,ignorant,snotty,etc etc..cuz i honestly dont really know much.. so please dont hate me

but debt means u OWE somebody money..

how could u have savings, if youre -40k, -60k??

dont u pay an interest? it may not be 'frowned' upon.. but the DEBT keeps getting higher the longer u take to pay it off.

why would u go on and add MORE debt?

isnt it in your best interest to pay off that debt, b4 u go out and purchase a home?

---

i guess in theory it would make sense to pay off your student loans before adding more debt with a house....but its not realistic.

i owe 100k in student loans and that will take me a long time to pay off (like 25 years probably)....i wish i had 100 k to just pay it all back now.

So i will be getting a house in the next year or two and making payments towards paying both school loans and mortage payments

---

Same situation here. We make a lot of money combined, but because of our respective student loans (and FH's bad credit card history), it just can't work right now. We live in a 2-family with FMIL and FSFIL.

---

Posted by AliP2010

---

Posted by grkbarbie

oh.. and another thing..DEBT.. theres no such thing as savings when u have debt. pay that shyt off ASAPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

b4 u even LOOK to byu property, if u have debt. take all ur wedding money and PAY IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!

---

hahah a) i am too dumb to make a website or business cards but thanks

b) we have no debt. thats the one thing we have for us.... my mom on the other hand does, which is why i am supporting her

---

Barb is giving you some pretty good advice. People can make every excuse in the world why they don't have enough money and then do nothing to try and fix the situation... that makes me nuts.

A year ago I had $25k in CC debt. I am down to $7k right now... I stopped spending on things I didn't need. Of course I still buy myself stuff but I pay cash. No more CCs for me!!!

And no you don't need to make 6 figures to survive on LI, does it make it easier? Sure! But you can definitely get by on a lot less if you're smart about it. My mother never worked and my father didn't make a ton of $$. We did just fine. You just have straighten out some priorities.

I agree with Barb... start up a cake business, 'I'm not smart enough' is a cop out!!! You don't have to be a genius to go onto Vista Print and make up some business cards... if you have a wedding website you can figure out how to make one for your cakes... Why not make money off of something you enjoy doing? Isn't that supposed to be the ideal situation, having people pay you to do what you love?

There are plenty of mother-daughters out there. FH and I have been house hunting and saw a TON of houses with apartments in them. That way the house you're paying off every month has YOUR name on it and will go to you some day. Or have FH move in to your parent's house after the wedding and have your mom put your name on the deed.

There are options... never think there is NOTHING you can do to make a crappy situation better!!!!

I think there is no answer to these questions...it really depends on your priorities and where you and FH are right now.

FH and I make very good money, rent a 1br apartment in Manhattan and plan to rent until we buy (hopefully a 1 or 2br) apartment in NYC, but we are in no hurry. I sometimes feel that renting is waste but we love where we live and can't afford the type of apartment we want yet so we're willing to wait and deal with the steep rents in the meantime.

Having student loans is not a reason to not buy a house/apartment though Maybe its because I have low student loan interest rates (I graduated from undergrad in '02, rates were lower when I consolidated), but there is no way I am paying off my loans in a hurry.

I think that buying a home when you have credit card debt, etc. isn't ideal, but if you are able to make the monthly payments on your credit card on time (even though they may be getting steeper these days), there isn't a reason why you can't do it.

---

Posted by AngnShaun

---

Posted by AliP2010

see thats the thing.

I dont go out, he hates spending money. we are actually REALLY good savers.... i was raised that way.

we MAYBE spend $100 a month on us.

its just we dont live together now and want to when we are married obv. but renting *to me* not offence, is pointless, its money out the window. Id rather a crapshack that is tax deductable then rent.

i just dont know how i can pay for moms house , my wedding, and find a place for us to live

---

ITA renting is pointless... IMO its such a waste of money...

---

I have to agree...I would never rent, because its just money going out the door that you will never see a return on.

to answer the first question, well im laid off right now but with my unemployment money lol we make about 110k a year. thankfully we don't have a mortage because its paid off but our bills are still pretty high for utiliities. in terms of saving we each put 150 a week into our 'wedding account'. once the wedding is paid off it will turn into our 'new home savings account'. because right now neither of us are really saving any money. our only savings is going torwards the wedding at the time being. but we're 2/3 of the way of paying off the wedding.

Youh ave to start from somewhere and take it a day at a time... my FH was the one bringing home the money at first... ( boiler operator for jersey board of ed ) he would average $70-95k a yr.. ( Overtime etc ) and I was bringing home alot less..and I also thought we would not get anywhere if I didnt get the promotions I was looking for.. but in due time it happened.. and still happening. I was at the $12 per hr stage for a while... its a tough world out there.. but honestly we made it work.... saving what we could.. investing in some things to have money for later... getting rid of 2 car notes.. etc.. 5 yrs later we have an investment property & I have a good job we average about $125 with no over time on his end ) ... but it takes time and faith!!! Trust me. Even with making what we make our wedding is still small scale.. we didnt go crazy and spend our savings at all... honestly we didnt EVEN TAKE OUT A LOAN, CHARGE A CC OR ANYTHING.. WE USED RESOURCES AROUND US, BARGAIN SHOPPED AND MADE THE BEST OF EVERYTHING! WE DIDNT EFFECT OUR DAY TO DAY LIVING AT ALL PLANNING THE WEDDING... MORTGAGE STILL HAD TO BE PAID NO MATTER WHAT... BEST OF LUCK

This is actually a awesome thread.

Luckily I only have 20k in loans from undergrad and fortunately I'm able to pay for grad school out of pocket.

I had about 10k in cc debt before I started working full time and I paid it off in about a year and have since started saving.

The best way for me to save is to use my resources.. who do you know that can hook you up (not in a freeloader kinda way). In regards to a cake business for you I think it's an AWESOME idea. The best way to make extra $ is using ur natrual talents. Start picking your friends brains and see who is good in business. Even go back to friends you had in HS who are now working in that field and see if someone can help you out with a website. Barter girl barter!! Start making cakes for people for free (just for a little bit). Soon word will spread and then you can start charging and oops.. you have a business!