Mama to 6~The Large Family Logistics

2008-Our Families Money Goals...

I decided that since Joe and I just totally revamped our budget for this year I would share it with you all, so you can see that it is completely possible to have one income, save, pay off bills, and live on a budget.  Our 2008 goal is to pay off a not well planned out loan that we got when we bought our house.  What we did was borrowed from my husband's 401k to pay for our down payment.  Talk about dumb!  Now we are on a quest to take the deer by his antlers and pay this baby off!  Ready??....here goes.....

Mortgage $715.04/month -178.76 week

Car Insurance $76.20/month-19.05 week

Water approx. $135.00/3 months-11.25 week

DSL/Phone approx $37.00/month-9.25 week

Garbage $61.44/month-5.12 week

Cell Phone (now only used for emergency)$16.20/3 months-1.35 week

Van Payment $225.28/month-56.32 week

Extra Money $200.00/month-50.00 week

Gas $240.00/month-60.00 week

Savings $80.00/month-20.00 week (If extra money, some extra will be put into savings)

Union Dues $39.00/month-9.75 week

Grocery $200.00/month-50.00 week

Girl's Dance $64.00/month-16.00 week

Lex ortho $92.00/6months-4.60 week

Amanda ortho $40.00/3 months-3.33 week

Weekly Total Expenses:  $494.78

Monthly Total Expenses: $1,979.12

Yearly Expenses:  $23,717.52

Since our living expenses budget is less than Joe's income (plus whatever extra I may make), we will put everything over and above into this loan.  Also, if we end up having extra in any of the above categories, we will put that on the loan as well.  This amount we plan on is $438.00 month/109.50/week.  Going at this rate we will pay off this loan in approx. 1 year (give or take).  The total balance on this loan is approx. $5,000.00

Once that is paid off we will then tackle the van payment.  Which by next year should be fairly low.  What is really motivating is seeing that we will be able to take the $438.00/month (what  we were using to pay off the 401K loan +40.00(amount we will be freed up after paying of the 401k loan, plus take the regular van payment of 225.28=$603.28 per month will be what we will be able to pay on the van after the 401K loan is paid off!  At that rate we can pay off the van in no time!

Then.....the final debt...student loans will be next.  I will post later on our scenario for that one.

After that...we will be free from debt, other then our mortage.  At this point we will then be able to invest 15% of our income. 

I also wanted to let you know that we decided that during this debt repayment plan if our 1997 Plymouth Voyager dies...we are going to sacrifice and live with 1 vehicle (our other van).  We figure it will be well worth the sacrifice.  Like Dave Ramsey says:  "Live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else".

What we are doing is exactly what Dave Ramsey recommends in his book, "The Total Money Makeover".  I did not mention Step 1 though, it was to save $1,000.00 fast for an emergency fund.  Then tackle the debt.  Since we were able to already scrounge together that, we are already on Step 2: Paying off the debt as soon as possible.  Another one of Dave's suggestions is to NEVER take out a loan for a vehicle AGAIN!  He says to save that money that you would normally pay for a car payment and eventually pay cash for a vehicle.  This is now our long-term!  Why did it take so long for Joe (almost 34, and I almost 31) to figure this out!  I think it is because in America we live in a gimme, gimme culture.  Student loans, car payment are the norm.  Everyone has them, so you don't think that we can live any differently.   

Untitled Comment

08:23, Thursday, January 3, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

Hey, thanks for posting numbers. Just a quick comment because we have a similar size family...are you currently feeding your family for $50 a week? In my area milk is now $3 a gallon and staples like cheese, flour, sugar, etc. are all going up.
My goal is $150 for all household spending and I thought I was cutting it close. I would love some pointers.

ArdenLynn
NoiseFatigue.blogspot.com

You're doing great!

11:49, Thursday, January 3, 2008 .. Posted by kjprice616

Trust me ... it took my husband and myself a bit longer to figure it all out, too (we're 39!). We've been doing really well with investing into a 401k for about 15 years, but we still haven't hit the 6-figure mark. Frustrating to say the least! Thanks for being so honest with your figures. We look similar, but you do way better than I do on food. Our family of 4 is about $400-500/month for everything - groceries, personal items, etc. Food has gotten so expensive and I cook from scratch and buy lots of produce, so I am comfortable with the way I shop. Keep sharing!

Kris
Senior Editor, HomesteadBlogger.com

Untitled Comment

07:54, Thursday, January 3, 2008 .. Posted by mulberrylane

It is interesting to read your journey as we are in the same boat... trying to reduce. It helps by giving me new ideas as I hear about yours.

All ideas ultimately are passed to Dh who then makes the overall decision. His recent one is to make the monthly bills manageable for me. I struggle with day to day happenings... every day is the same to me... no special day to signal week's end or pay day or whatever... so we are working on setting up accounts that get money deposited directly into them...sort of the envelope approach with accounts at the bank. And trying to find a way to stay on top of payments!

Warmly, ~Melissa

Budget

01:47, Friday, January 4, 2008 .. Posted by Natalie

HI,
We also have 6 kids. We live in Canada and spend $900 on food and toiletries etc.Don't know how different our food prices are. I don't buy pre packaged foods or boxed cereal etc. I do however buy mostly organic fruit and veggies and go through a gallon of milk a day. Any pointers to help me lower our bill? Any advice would be appreciated.
Regards, Natalie.