Budget Update

what's the $47 you pay for education?
edit- are you working out? considering you sit on a chair so many hours/day, exercising should also be on your routine imo

lol sounds really boring being responsible for a family and careful with expenses.
btw.... car payment = bought car on finance? what sort of interest do u have to pay on car finance?

this is good stuff.

suzuki sx4 tho? this thing looks ugly as ****
i'd suggest something like Audi A6 (avant, wagon, sportwagon how ever you call it) with right engine it will have space and not expensive
also Honda accord, mazda 6, subaru ?

Yea I kind of like it. Will try to do something similar when I've moved. Before that it just seems really hard to get a handle on what I spend money on.

On March 27 2012 11:55 Raidern wrote: what's the $47 you pay for education? edit- are you working out? considering you sit on a chair so many hours/day, exercising should also be on your routine imo

The education was just some books and supplies my wife needed for her classes. I'm not really working out right now, but we have a pool so in a few weeks I will be able to swim in the mornings. We also have a treadmill/elliptical but it doesn't get much use. I'm also considering using my Bicycle/attaching a baby seat to it and taking a few bike rides per week. The library is only a few miles from my house so it wouldn't be too hard of a ride to take a few times per week, and could be something to do with our daughter after we are down to one car.

On March 27 2012 12:02 Ket wrote: lol sounds really boring being responsible for a family and careful with expenses. btw.... car payment = bought car on finance? what sort of interest do u have to pay on car finance?

Car interest is obviously rape, I think around 5%, but considering that the money is leveraged meaning I get to use the difference in my bankroll, I think I get a better than 5% return on the money not being used to pay it off. I'd like to be free of a car loan by the end of the year though, it's one of my top goals.

On March 27 2012 12:07 dUUd_ wrote: this is good stuff. suzuki sx4 tho? this thing looks ugly as **** i'd suggest something like Audi A6 (avant, wagon, sportwagon how ever you call it) with right engine it will have space and not expensive also Honda accord, mazda 6, subaru ?

I certainly wouldn't mind getting a wagon, or a late 90's accord but my wife suffers from the myth that SUVs have more interior space (not like we use it anyways) than wagons. I think she actually just likes being up high and feels safer on the road though. That and there's a mental block about owning a cheap car.

Also, I kind of like how the SX4 looks. Here's a side-by-side of it and our current SUV (Hyundai Santa Fe).


Kind of quirky looking I guess, and less trunk space but I don't mind, and I hear it's fun to drive, and is one of the only decent SUVs that come with a 5-speed. Will try and test drive one soon and post how it rides.

-wh00sel

On March 27 2012 11:34 thewh00sel wrote: SPOILER: Sorry no bird/spider tattoos in this post.

lol

sounds good to me, 6.7k is alot :o gl etc!

Hm.. how can you spend such an absurd amount of money ;o.

I think even $5XXX monthly is insane.

I spend about $600 a month! Anything over $1.5k a month is insane

On March 27 2012 13:56 Twisted wrote: Hm.. how can you spend such an absurd amount of money ;o. I think even $5XXX monthly is insane.

I know kind of embarrassing, but obviously trying to get my costs down. Some stuff is not going to change like 2k /month for mortgage, and $400/month in health insurance for my family. But hopefully by cutting out some unnecessary stuff we will just have mortgage, utilities, gas/insurance, food, phone bill, internet and that will be it by the end of the year. That will still be like 4k per month though, but that will be cutting my costs in half since last year so I would be pretty happy with that.

WTF? Entertainment 4.99

On March 27 2012 15:38 casinocasino wrote: WTF? Entertainment 4.99

rented a good movie if u know what i mean

Why is your mortgage payment so big? what are the terms?

On March 27 2012 13:56 Twisted wrote: Hm.. how can you spend such an absurd amount of money ;o. I think even $5XXX monthly is insane.

Given its family expenses and given they pay about $2k mortgage I dont think its absurd, just somewhat high.

Btw Whoosel, what system do you use to track your expenses?

I'm surprised to see so many people think he's spending a lot. My average monthly alcohol expenses alone have his current total beat (although the average drops every month by a lot since black friday).

I like this blog a lot, seems like a fun and objective way to be smarter with your money.

On March 27 2012 16:02 Joe wrote: Btw Whoosel, what system do you use to track your expenses?

I use mint.com. Not sure if it's available for people not in the US but it's very nice free tool to give you a big-picture overview of your financial situation. Links up to your bank accounts/credit cards, etc. sidenote about it that's kind of cool: Some young kid invented it and then sold it to a company (chlorox I believe) for many millions.

Yea mint is sadly only working with US banks