Stay at home moms--I know this is a weird ?? but please answer.?

Question

Okay...

#1 How much is your house payment a month?

#2 How much did you buy your house for?

#3 What is your monthly income?

#4 How many kids do you have?

Also do you have any budgeting advice?

All these questions because me and my husband want to buy a house in the next few months and we are not sure what we can afford I know that sounds weird but we are horrible budgeters' and he makes descent money I have a 7yr old and we just had a baby girl! I dont want to take on more then we can handle but I want to learn to be better with our money so we can have a nice house. He makes anywhere from four thousand to ten thousand a month but most of the time it is about five or six thousand a month.

Thank you in advance for all your advice I wish I could give everyone the ten points! I love yahoo answers!!!

Answer 1

You have a much better income than we have. They say that your mortgage/rent should not be more that 1 weeks pay. We do eat out but only 1x a week. We don't go to expensive places to eat. We leave those for special holidays. We put away 5% of a weekly check in savings. We try to pay cash for everything. If you don't have cash then you don't need it. You have to decide between a want and a need. Occasionally credit has to be used but we will only use for medical and complete emergencies. That will keep your debt down. I must admit the first year I had to quit working was a shock but know I am fine with it. I feel like I have accomplished something when I save for something. I never impulse buy at all. I watch things and then buy them when they have a good sale. I have alot of fun with bargain buying but I buy only things I need. My kids do not get toys all the time. The only get it Holidays or if they have accomplished something. I will buy arts and craft stuff through out but have learned that my kids really aren't playing with toys. They just sit there. When they are new they will play with them a few days and then they collect dust. They do not mind it at all. They have fun bargain shopping.

Answer 2

House payment $5600

purchased $975000

income 13000

soon to be 3

our real estate taxes are through the roof so that raises our mortgage alot each month. be sure you take taxes and insurance into consideration when you buy  - depending where you live it could at 1000's to your monthly payment like it does for us.  also, keep in mind utilities etc.   we have no expenses other than our mort, utilities, and food/extras.  we paid off all credit etc prior to buying also keep in mind things will go wrong with your house.  we have put over $50k into our house in the first year (its a 100 year old house).  so just dont think that once you buy thats it!!

good luck to you

Answer 3

figure your bujet using the lowest income, then when you have extra it will be a treat instead of a struggle.  I dont know where you live, but in MN, house payments are considerable less than renting.  1:$750, 2:N/A 3: $3000 4: 2.   I am a renter, I dont own my home.

Answer 4

Our house payment is $2100 a month, we bought it for $421,000 our monthly income is at least $10,000 and we have three kids with a fourth on the way.

When you go to buy a house look at the amount that you are paying in rent and go from there.  If You pay $1000 in rent then you should seek out a house that is somewhere in the same figure as far as a monthly payment and also remember that the more you can pay down the better the payment will be.  You also have to factor in that now you will have house insurance and all repairs as well as the monthly payment to make so shop around and see what the insurance will be on the houses you like.

Before you really get to the sticky part of the house look at all of your finances as a whole.  Look at all of the debts you have.......car payments, insurance, utilities, food, clothing etc and subtract that off of your total net income then 20% of what you have left for a house.  BUDGET HIGH.  If you usually spend $100 a week on food budget in $150 because as prices go up you will need that cushion to be there.  Also remember kids are going to get sick, need clothes etc so set aside enough for all of that.

Budget for extras.......vacations, birthdays, Christmas, college funds etc.  Take a set amount each week and put it into the bank for these reasons and do not touch it except for those reasons.  You can set aside as little as $50 a week and if you make it a habit to do it you will have a nice nest egg and you wont even miss the money when you get use to doing it on a regular basis.

Before you go into debt for a nice house think about the job security where your hubby works.  Is he at a job that is stable or one that could be sent overseas leaving thousands unemployed.  If it is the later than go with a nice but smaller home somewhere you can always get a better one later after you have put equity in that one.

Our bills are high, but we own our own company and have a large income and yet we still base everything on half of what we actually bring in so that we can save more in case something tragic ever did happen.  Get rid of credit cards and go instead of buy now pay now, hold onto cars for an extra year cut out a lot of the needless spending and put that money aside for emergencies.  Your kids are young but the day will come they need braces and other expensive items.  The best thing is look at how much you have saved now.  If you only have a few hundred saved with the income you have then you know you need to make changes and save up because you will want to pay at least 10% down on the house.

Answer 5

well when i did stay at home:

1 & 2 : we rented his moms house, very, very, cheap

3. he ONLY brought home $3,000 but we didnt have any bills, just the electricity, gas, food and one car payment

4. we have two kids. I stayed home when we had our second

It sounds like your husband makes a lot of money. Are you talking about a mortgage payment of 5-6 thousand? Thats a big payment! Are you buying a big house? When we went house hunting we knew we didnt want to a big payment (we bought right before the market tanked), so we bought a small condo (we live in Cali) in a great neighborhood. I knew I did not want to worry about the mortagte each month.  Maybe you should look into something smaller. With bigger house is bigger bills. Good luck

Answer 6

Modern economists say 20% of your income.  Traditional economists say what you can pay cash for.

If you are in debt get out of debt first!!!!!!!!!!!!Don't make major purchases while already in debt.

Monthly payments should not be larger than rent you are paying plus what you have left over at the end of the month.

As far as budgeting, you have to sit down as a couple and decide where you can cut back.  what do you buy that isn't necessary?  Where do you buy new?  Goodwill/Salvation Army?  Dollar Store?  Name brand?  Best?

Then based on the $5000 average decide what you want to spend where.  On months he makes 10 thou bank the excess for the lean months.  When enough money (say $10000) is in the bank invest in a CD or mutual fund.  Make sure, however, there is always enough money in the bank to cover a short month.  Ideally keep enough that if your husband looses his job, you can survive a month or two.

House ??% = $_ _____________

Car ??% = $______________

Food ??% = $______________

childcare ??% = $______________

Tolietries ??% = $______________

Household (chemicals to clean, maintenence, etc) ??% = $______________

List the necessities first.

Then the nice things

gifts ??% = $______________

new clothing ??% = $______________

Entertainment ??% = $______________

Then luxeries

vacation ??% = $______________

Then don't spend more than you budgeted or saved from a past month.  Let's say in November, no one has a birthday or anything.  In Dec. you can use Nov and Dec gift budget.

You may want to give each category a page in the family ledger.  That way you can keep up with how much you spend on each thing.  (an interesting thing to do).

Some suggestions for saving $.

1) Eat at home.  Initally it costs more (pots, pans, ingredients) but once your pantry is stocked it is much cheaper and your family will bond better.

2) Choose cheap or free entertainment options.  Often they are more family friendly.

     Major league tickets  or highschool hometown heros?

     A local theater group's show or a movie?

     A snowball fight with the kids or laser tag?

     Making creative toys from boxes (oatmeal boxes make good train cars, milk and soda cartons are good bathtub toys (boats), old socks make good stuffed toys tin cans make stilts) or taking them to the mall?

     Family board games or a new video game?

     Theme park, mountain cabin, beach vacation or camping?

Sometimes the expensive option is worth it, but make sure you have brainstormed cheaper options first.

      3) Pay tiethe and offering.  God honors those who honor him.

      4) Hate debt.  If possible avoid it at all costs.  Your husband will be healthier riding a bicycle to work than getting a hernia trying to pay for a new car.

    5) Don't worry about the Jones.  You don't have to keep up.

    6) Start college saving now.

Answer 7

1700, 350,000, 6,000, 3.  

Cut out the junk.  Make a list of things you want and then work on one thing at a time.  If you are horrible at budgeting--start by eliminating debt(credit card) then you will have freedom to get the house you want.