money question

I don't post topics often but I have to ask.....if you feel comfy, how much do you have left over each month after everything is paid for (mortgage, taxes, food, oil, electric, etc)
We are bidding on a house and I don't want to over extend ourselves...I've done all the mortgage calculators and how much we can afford and all of that, but real life how much is a safe number to have left over for savings and things like that? THANKS!

Re: money question

Great questions! I want to know the answer to this too!

Re: money question

Maybe this will help?

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I feel like this answer can vary greatly from couple to couple. Way too many variables at play, KWIM?

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ill put it this way, we afford all of our monthly bills, are able to go out to dinner at least one a month, and treat ourselves to at least something special once a month, and still be able to put a little money away....we aren't very good savers...we could be rich if we saved and didn't spend on non necessary things

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Dh works and I work 10 months out of the yr.

We make enough that both sets of our bills are paid i.e car insurance, student loans, Con Ed, going to movies, hanging out, eating out everyday, etc.

His extra goes to savings.

My extra goes to shopping or things like massages, nails, tanning, whatever extra stuff I want to do either w/ DH or solo.

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Honestly it does depend. When you own home(s) things pop up unexpectedly all of the time. So you need to have alot put away for those just in case moments. Then after that i believe after all bills & food & misc bills are paid you should be able to put away at least 1000 if not more away to savings per month & still have money to play with. DH & I DO NOT believe in living paycheck to paycheck. We believe in living the lifestyle we are accustomed too & making sure that our retirement will not be affected as well. We never want to fight over money so we make sure we do what needs to be done.

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Posted by julesrbf

I feel like this answer can vary greatly from couple to couple. Way too many variables at play, KWIM?

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I totally agree with this. DH and I live mostly off of my salary and his salary goes for savings, vacations, home repairs, etc.

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We're very comfortable money wise, because we're great savers, even though I don't make 'great' money and pull my own weight. We're currently renting, but still pay insurance, cable/tv/phone, etc...we estimate that our monthly nut will increase by about 800 from taxes when we buy a home, but that should still leave us saving a very generous chunk of money a month. But I think it all depends really.

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DH and I own a co-op ... it was mine before i even met him and i was paying the bills on my own and had maybe 1-200 per month 'extra'. Now that DH is in the picture, i get to save a lot more since he obviously contributes towards the mortgage, supermarket bill, etc

i found that i spent about $500-700 per month on 'extra' stuff which includes food, gas (for the car), going out, etc (eg: bills that are not consistent) ... this was just me though so it's prob a bit more now that DH is in the picture too

HTH

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we include gas, food, saving for the pets, car maintenance, saving for gifts in our budget so we don't really have any 'extras' that sneak up on us. We also teach private lessons and use the cash we get from those to go out to eat, shop etc. so that the money that's left after our budget goes into savings. We estimate having a decent amount of that even when we have a house mortgage instead of the condo. I can't help but be nervous about it though lol

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This is just too subjective of a question to be able to get a 'correct' answer... Everyone has diff salaries ranges, mortgage payments, etc

My dad once told me 'If you sit down and figure out the $$ you need to own a house, you'll never buy one!' You find ways to afford everything somehow (as long as you're realistic)... Some months we are cruisin along just fine... other months like this one, we're dead broke from overextending ourselves with gifts anf trips for our anny So now we know for the next few months we need to start building the savings again... You'll find a way to regulate it all once you've been doing it a while... it'll work out, it always does!

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Posted by FuTuRe MrS MaZz

This is just too subjective of a question to be able to get a 'correct' answer... Everyone has diff salaries ranges, mortgage payments, etc

My dad once told me 'If you sit down and figure out the $$ you need to own a house, you'll never buy one!' You find ways to afford everything somehow (as long as you're realistic)... Some months we are cruisin along just fine... other months like this one, we're dead broke from overextending ourselves with gifts anf trips for our anny So now we know for the next few months we need to start building the savings again... You'll find a way to regulate it all once you've been doing it a while... it'll work out, it always does!

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THANKS EVERYONE...this post def helps. Right now we are living rent free with my dad in a basement apartment so we have tons of disposable income and never really had to watch what we spent. We set a budget for a house and went way over it but it is still managable, especially with our raises and everything but its just so scary!!! I just want to make sure we are saving and not living paycheck to paycheck you know?