Location: WA State (Thurston, Pierce, King county).
Professions: Heavy mechanic/Nurse
Current bills: $5900/m
Rent- $2450
Cars/insurance- $800
Food- $2000
Utilities- Electric, Water, Internet, trash, fuel $650
Income- $68.89hr 40/$103.33hr 8 (wife), $65hr 40/$97.50 10 (husband)
372k USD/yr.
Can you guys help me figure out our first house price to remain a standard living? Would $700k be alright? What is the MAX cash car we can afford to drive to remain frugal? Are $60k cars outside of the question? When is it okay to step away from a civic/Accord/Corolla? Is it ever a good idea?
Currently stashing away everything post taxes, and it’s hefty. I just don’t know if we should save up 3-4 years and pay cash for a house or do the traditional mortgage aspect while cramming the rest into the S&P or what. We’re 30, very blessed. I just want to remain the course and hopefully retire by 45-50.
I’d really like some help here if possible.
Can you help me be frugal? 370k/hhi.
byu/Inner_Arm2682 inFrugal
Posted by Inner_Arm2682
9 Comments
Sounds like you want /r/fire not /r/frugal. This sub is more for people who are bringing home. . . Like a tenth of your income.
Curiousity question: What do your groceries look like that you’re spending 2k total on food for 2 people (unless I’m missing some people)?
Reduce your spending on food.
This is probably not the right place for this question – you might try [https://www.reddit.com/r/HENRYfinance/](https://www.reddit.com/r/HENRYfinance/) . Paying cash for a house is probably a mistake though, since mortgage interest is deductible and ARMs are not exorbitant interest rates. What value would you actually get out of an expensive car? Frugal thinking is to get the cheapest car that meets your needs, not wondering how expensive a car you can justify.
Also for budgeting you should probably separate groceries and restaurants rather than grouping it all as “food” – there is a big difference in cost per meal between those two approaches to eating.
Frugal is a great community for managing day to day expenses, but most answers will be the ‘drive it till it dies’ type. Which is a valid strategy, but may not balance frugality vs value the way you might like at your income level.
You might benefit from additional perspectives navigating the big/long term decisions in one of the FIRE communities (or personal finance, but they’re a little stonks dudebro sometimes so proceed with caution)
Your priorities seemed skewed. You can’t have 60k cars, mortgage, and retire in the next twenty years.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you should eat only rice and beans and drive the same car until the wheels fall off. Instead of looking at the MAX of what you can do, try looking somewhere in the middle. You should especially consider how volatile the economy is at the moment, if you were to get those 60k cars, how long could you afford the payments if you or your spouse (or god forbid both of you) suddenly lost your jobs?
The only 2 cents I have to add on cash v. mortgage is you should consider all the costs of owning a home before you buy in cash. You might want to renovate, or you could have an unexpected emergency right after closing while you’re short on funds.
Good luck on your journey!
With that salary I could easily afford $1,800,000-$2,500,000 house. I don’t understand why you would even need to be frugal making that much money.
I think what your really trying to do is effectively budget your income and not be silly with your monies. With what you are both banking, what you need to determine is how to effectively invest that income into areas that will deliver you bigger returns layer in life. I suggest fidelity 🙂
More frugal? Gee, dunno, is it possible to rent for less than 2600/ month in your area? Can you set it up to walk or bike to work to eliminate car expenses? And 2k/month on food… food! Partner and I do about $500/ month – just how many calories are you actually consuming?