I agree about the going out. We are at the opposite end, 3 teenagers and they definitely want to eat so going out means they're all getting adults meals which really adds up!
Congratulations Melissa! I started following your channel when I was paying off my grad school loans (done!) while living in Vancouver, WA and have followed your journey since. Our family moved back home to Phoenix, AZ a couple of years ago and love it here but miss the PNW in the summers. We're expecting our third daughter in November (bring on 3 under 3!). Fun parallels! Have a great summer!
If you’re just looking for convenience for easy meals try grabbing some Costco premade meals. They’re more expensive than ingredients, sure, but you toss it in the oven or whatever, less dishes/time and they’re usually pretty good! You’re still saving $$ by not eating out but you don’t have to cook. 😊
So exciting!!! Congratulations!We’re right behind you guys - I love watching your videos because our finances are so similar. We also don’t eat out often as a family of 3 because we have a 2-year-old. But my husband and I (together or with friends) still somehow spend a decent amount on eating out 😬
Good to know … Mesa house built in 2017 and I hated that there were NO window sills ! No trim around windows at all ! Builders here are soooooi cheap ! I paid to add trim and Sills ( flat wood) /painted to all of our windows and a LOT of crown molding to our 10/12 foot ceiling … I love it BUT I had to pay it all out of pocket .. glenda
the outgoings is pretty good for how much you make and put away in 401k etc. I find with older kids the costs just seem to go up, we're trying to keep costs down, save more and put more away for retirement, etc. Not always easy to do!
We eat out when we travel .,, and only when no other options … but once a year on our birthday we splurge and have a amazing meal but we are grandparents so no kids allowed just a date night ! ❤Glenda
agree, we have an almost 2 and 4 yr old (both birthdays in Sept). for my almost 2 year old, we don't get him anything. he just eats from both of our plates at a sit down restaurant (unless its like fast food we'll get his own hamburger). Our almost 4 year old we do get her a kids meal, but most the time she wont eat either unfortunately lol
I still love eating out, we mostly do takeout and it’s still worth it to me even though it’s expensive, with groceries also being so expensive it feels like a wash and still much more convenient. We have a 6 and 2 year old. We either still make the kids home food if it’s a cuisine they don’t appreciate or we get one kids meal and they share or the 2 year old eats off our plates. We eat out average twice a week!
Also agree with eating out. It’s totally not worth it anymore. Groceries are expensive but you’re still much better off to spend extra there than eat out.
So sorry I didn’t explain!! I transferred $8k from my business account straight to my tax savings account. It didn’t go to my income draw that I take from my business. So it was a positive addition to the fund but in that column because it wasn’t part of the income we took home.
We didn’t eat out as a family for like 15 years when the kids were younger. I took the kids by myself to taco shops or something easy every once in a while. Now that the kids are older we go out but they pay for themselves! 😅 Youngest is 16!
Hey Marissa, I know once in a video you talked about doing insurance through a Christian share program? Do you still do that/do you recommend the company? If so could I please get the info from you? Thank you!!
I really can’t fathom how your utilities are so low. We are in Phoenix and between natural gas and electric we average $500 which just went down. It was $620 a month. We have a pool but at our old house with no pool and only 1800 sq ft with no gas and it was like $400 a month. We do the monthly averaging. So each month is the same cost.
I have a question on the Savings section that I'm not clear about. If you take the Emergency Fund for example, am I right to say that you are budgeting to save $1,257 but you actually only saved $1,044.75? And is Spent mean you spent $126.17 out of your beginning balance? But that doesn't make sense because the difference between Ending Balance - Beginning Balance = $1,170.92 or does this also take into account the 5% interest? So is the calculation Budget - Actual - Spent + 5% interest?
Hi, I’ve been watching a lot of budgeting content, i notice some do their expenses against their available checking balance like in YNAB, and some do against their net income. I’m not sure what the advantages are of each way but getting confused. I’ve just been tracking all my spending and categorizing like rent, gasoline, groceries etc then have two main header sections “basics” and “lifestyle”. This way i know if something has to go i can focus on the lifestyle since i could live without Netflix. But not sure about the positive values, net income versus checking account balance.
We are USAA members and signed up with them years ago! I’ve recently worked with Ethos Life and they are wonderful too for affordable term life insurance!
When it comes to calculating your total net worth, how do you estimate the value of your vehicles and how often do you confirm that number for depreciation? Thank you!
