r/stayathomemoms • u/Consistent-Credit423 • Dec 19 '24

Question How much does your husband make

Does anyone have any advice on how we can save money? We make 100k a year, but it feels like we're struggling to make ends meet while saving to purchase a house. Additionally, we need to kickstart a college fund for our child and plan to have another child in a couple of years.

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u/Mundane-Bass-2257 Dec 19 '24

Post your budget! Unless you live in California, you shouldn’t feel like you’re struggling.

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u/Ok-Avocado-5876 Dec 20 '24

Idk, my husband makes about 100k and we barely make ends meet in southern Maine.

His take home: $5k/month

My budget:

Mortgage: $2,450 (2bdrm, 1000sqft ranch) Utilities: $600

Food, diapers, household items, toiletries etc: $600

Gas:$300

Car insurance: $220

Motorcycle insurance: $50

Phones: $60

Student loan payment: $90

Music and entertainment services: $35

NICU payment from sons birth: $20

We have about $500 of wiggle room for any other expenses per month. We had a $350 medical bill come through this month. It's tight.

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u/Mundane-Bass-2257 Dec 22 '24

5k take home does not sound right. Assuming you’re married and have one child living in Maine, you should take home $6800/mo after taxes. With two children, it’s about $7000/mo. And with more kids you’d take home a bit more.

Are you saving a lot towards retirement or do you have expensive medical insurance being withheld?

I know you don’t live in a massive home or anything, but $2450 on a mortgage is kind of high on your income. Could you have bought further away from down or chosen a 2bd townhome to keep costs down?

Being a stay at home mom is an awesome choice, but it doesn’t mean that math doesn’t apply. You have to make choices that make it sustainable in the long term!

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u/Ok-Avocado-5876 Dec 23 '24 edited Dec 23 '24

5% towards retirement and yes, health insurance is taken out beforehand like most people. Idk what to tell ya, but that's what it works out to be. 🤷‍♀️

The problem with house pricing is my husband works on a shipyard. Shipyards are on the coast and coast=very expensive. So we live pretty far away and honestly it's the farthest away we want to consider for his commute, but those prices are still high. It's just a hcol area unfortunately.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '24

From Cali and boy do I know. H commuted 50 miles daily one way

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u/Ok-Avocado-5876 Dec 26 '24

Yup. And then sitting in traffic just to get on and off yard is sometimes longer than the commute.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '24

Traffic on the 101 in Cali thankfully was smooth. Biggest problem was the winter heavy rainstorms  

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u/Ok-Avocado-5876 Dec 26 '24

Thats good. Where we are, they try to cram thousands of people onto the same tiny island all at the same time, sometimes through only one gate. Same thing trying to get off. He has sat there for an hour in traffic just trying to get off base at the end of the day.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '24

That stinks. And if it's a military base....don't forget ID checks and car stickers as you go through.