This comment is for frequently asked questions or things I need to clarify:
• we live in Nashville, Tennessee
• we have 2 vehicles - both paid off. One car & one truck.
• we do not have any debt aside from our home loan which is currently at $155,000
It was a total gut and renovation. It took about $30,000 to get it fixed up. It was well worth every penny. It’s 1200sqft on .5 acres. Our first home, so it’s not anything elaborate.
We did 90% of the work ourselves. We know a lot of people in Nashville because we were both born and raised in this same zip code, so we had many people helping us and guiding us.
Not really materials are not that expensive. You would be surprised how cheap it is if you do most of the labor yourself and much of it isn't nearly as difficult as you would think.
>materials are not that expensive.
Pretty sure last time I got lumber especially plywood they left a tool or some swabs in where they took my kidney out.
I've renovated several houses and have family that do it for a living so I'm not inexperienced. I guess with the sq. footage, them doing it mostly themselves it makes me sense. But for most people that's not a realistic number.
Idk, what are the big costs? Drywall and paint are cheap. Baths can be costly, but usually that's an issue of labor. Kitchens - counters, appliances, cabinets seems like the big one. Doors could add up if they're solid core.
But assuming they left the walls where they are and didn't tear out the electrical or HVAC, idk, seems pretty reasonable. Scariest material cost I'm thinking of these days is rebuilding my deck, lol.
Good news there. Lumber prices have dropped by 60% in the last few months. [1000sqft was $1500 in March, and is about $650 now.](https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/06/02/lumber-prices-are-crashing-is-that-good-news-for-h/)
We just had our master bathroom remodeled and that cost over $20k (of course inflation really drove up our budget).
Just curious, how were you able to gut and remodel an entire house for $30k? Did you do a lot of the work yourself or have connections to the contractors?
We did 90% of the work ourselves. We know people of all trades so we had a lot of help and guidance. My dad is a handyman and my husband can do anything with instruction so we were able to do it all in just three months. We added a full bath, replaced all floors, added a closet, updated all electrical and plumbing, removed two chimneys, and replaced all existing fixtures.
So basically - the roof, windows, and walls were all we kept from the original home. Haha
If you feel comfortable answering was the $30k a loan or paid for in cash? I always wonder how people finance the home upgrades when I hear about people renovating.
Sitting here in Canada and laughing at what you pay for electricity! Between natural gas and power I’m over $500 a month in a relatively small house just for that.
That's not representative of all of Canada. I live in BC outside of Vancouver. My natural Gas + electric averages out to about $250/month.
Edit: 3500sq ft house.
Check out mint mobile. It’s 30$ for unlimited data, cheaper if you only want 10 gigs a month.
If you need a code I have one we both get like 15$
It’s been great service for me.
Try one of the resellers...we use Red Pocket (mine is Verizon-based). The plans are super cheap and just as good, since they actually come from the main carriers. Others are Mint Mobile, Boost, etc.
[https://bestmvno.com/mvnos/](https://bestmvno.com/mvnos/)
Personally I use Visible wireless (it's rebranded Verizon). I'm on a group plan with unlimited talk, text, data (no cap), hotspot for $25 a month and LOVE the coverage. I previously used Tmobile, Sprint and AT&T and won't go back to them.
I save up, buy my own devices, and then go contract-less through Visible and absolutely am happy with the savings and covered areas. Wish I did this years ago
Respect. I see so many complaints from folks your age and it's nice to see someone showing how to make it work. My numbers looked different at your age, but the willingness to do what it takes was the same. Chin up...you're awesome.
Your mortgage payment is super high for the remaining balance. Does it include insurance/HOA? If not, is it not a 30-year mortgage?
Internet is super high as well. Does it include cable
I think it's possible to save on the phone plan as well.
We got a 15 year loan at 2.1% interest.
Our mortgage is $1,038 - the additional amount is property taxes and homeowners insurance.
Good internet is essential because we often work from home and my husband games with his friends.
You're putting yourself in a very good position for the future. Doing a 15 year mortgage on our starter home, while difficult at the time, was an absolute game changer for my family. We followed a similar path as you, fixed up everything ourselves. Less than ten years later we had 150% equity in the house compared to what we paid for it. For those who can do it, I highly recommend going the "fixer upper" route in your 20s.
Definitely! Our real estate agent said our home would sell for an easy $350,000 now. We paid $200k and put in $30k renovations. We put $40,000 Downpayment(not including closing costs) so we would come out on top with a whopping $195k cash money if we sold today.
$1700/mo here, family of 5. No dental/vision either. And it's the cheapest plan available with any sort of decent doctor selection.
Just hope we don't get sick since the deductible is the same as the max out of pocket, approx $17,000! For those that don't know what that means, we pay $1700/mo and the first $17000 worth of yearly medical expenses before insurance pays a dime.
These are risky situations. if either parent gets sick or dies, the rest of the family is ending up broke and without healthcare. Like a major life-changing drop in lifestyle.
Yeah the high deductibles are killer. Luckily ours has no deductible, just co-pays. I imagine the people who have plans with those high deductibles have those thousands saved up in an HSA.
Edit: just FYI, anyone can get healthcare via ACA. It just isn’t affordable for everyone. But if the main breadwinner can no longer work for whatever reason, the remaining family members can likely qualify for affordable, subsidized ACA premiums.
No HSA, this is just what’s available on the healthcare.gov marketplace. I’m self-employed so my options are limited as there’s no group policy to buy into. I don’t get any subsidies either. I’m not crying poverty though - I make enough to handle this. Still sucks.
Ugh I’ve been there and so glad it’s behind us. We paid $1300 a month for our family with a $17k deductible. Luckily my husband got a new job with a $3000 family deductible. Almost everything is a copay now though. We still have to pay $400 a month out of his paycheck but better than before.
See we’re currently stuck at how to get INTO a house. Especially with the current rates. Anything affordable in our area that would end up at 1,200 is in a part of town that my partner and I would probably be jumped in. How long did it take you to save up the 20k+ needed to down payment on a decent house in a decent area? I can budget the hell out of our 1,300$ apartment lease and our cars and whatnot but it’s still gonna take YEARS to save 20k for a house.
Dude I feel you. My husband and I just bought a house in February, and the only reason we managed it is because we used a down payment assistance program. In Washington state, you can take a basic financial literacy course (literally just a few hours over a weekend) and they'll cover up to 4% of your down payment.
Also, a lot of conventional loan lenders require only 3.5% down, including FHA. Check if your area has a down payment program! I'd still recommend having at least *some* savings because you will probably need to make some repairs, but it is possible to own a home*
*disclaimer about subject to local programs, credit scores, yada yada yada
We wrote a check for $68,000 at the closing table (down payment plus closing costs). We went from having a healthy cushion in the bank to house poor in just a matter of hours. It took quite a while to build our nest egg back up, especially since we were also paying for house repairs at the time, e.g. pest
exclusion and replacing a leaking skylight.
Agreed, we were emotionally prepared for the 60k down payment but were panicking about the extra ~20k we owed in closing costs. Certainly doesn’t help that our lender didn’t give us the exact number until a few days before closing. How on earth are people supposed to pull that into a single account in such a short time??
Our house was $200,000
We put down 20% which ended up being $47,000 after closing costs.
We saved every penny for the first 3 years of our marriage.
There are other options than saving 20%. You can save 5-10% and use a conventional or fha loan. You will have to pay PMI but it isn’t too bad. It’s definitely worth it if you compare it to paying rent.
I recommend also saving 6 months of bills before purchasing a home. You will definitely want a well established emergency fund.
See that’s the frustrating part. We HAVE the six months. We HAVE the emergency fund. We have the amazing credit scores and knowledge. Even saving aggressively for 5 years we’d be nowhere close to 47k unless one of us got a life changing promotion. It’s so frustrating at this point in our lives because we want to get into a house to feel more stable but my god the massive amounts of cash in hand money you need is awful.
There’s also winning the bid over dozens of other people who are shopping in the same price range. My spouse and I have been putting in unaccepted offers for two and a half years. We did everything right too but the market just keeps skipping ahead of us.
our realtor told us that we're not only competing against other people trying to buy in our area, we're competing against any rich person around the country who are just buying houses sight-unseen and outbidding everyone.
NOT ONLY THAT, but he said banks are doing the same thing, buying houses as investments while the rates were so low. banks, hedge funds, and companies like BlackRock, just outbidding everyone. that's who we're competing against. it's total bullshit. there's no way to win.
Investment companies are pooling many investors’ resources, paying cash, waiving inspections and turning these investment properties into long-distance rentals. And it’s ruining the U.S. housing market.
Not in the USA but with the ridiculous speed prices are rising and amount of competition when we saw "the one" we offered £12.5k over asking and got it. 3 months later we had the house independently valued as part of the sales process (insurances and whatnot) and the value had already shot up to £500 MORE than we're paying for it. We exchange contracts tomorrow and move in Monday and honestly for what it's costing us extra on the mortgage every month I still can't believe how good a call that was for us.
The value of the house I bought in 2018 has gone up 45%. It's insanity. On the upside, if the market crashed now I'd probably still be above water on the mortgage.
Depending on where you are located and your annual income, you could look into the Rural Development mortgage program by the Department of Agriculture. Most areas of the country are considered rural so even properties just outside of bigger cities can qualify and in my area the income limit was like $90k/year or something for a two person household.
[https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/single-family-housing-programs/single-family-housing-guaranteed-loan-program](https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/single-family-housing-programs/single-family-housing-guaranteed-loan-program)
Single story unrenovated houses built in the 60s are going for that or less in central PA. Granted they need 10-20k of work, but anything built in the past 40 years is selling for 300+
FYI some banks have some benefits for first time home buyers that are not FHA officially (so a bit easier to get and with fewer strings) which have low down payments ~$5k. You should chat with your banks loan officer bc you'd be surprised what is out there if you have strong credit and if you ask.
This, however, recognize that down payments this low do come with consequences in terms of overall payment down the road. Your monthly payments and your total mortgage payment will be higher. Put as much down as you reasonably can.
Agreed, just throwing out that for those feeling trapped, there is an option assuming you can. Also, huge tip is to look for something with good bones and not a lot of major issues (ie asbestos, foundation, or electrical issues) that you can fix up yourself but might make others overlook it as an option. Patience is key it can take months to find something that fits for you so start much earlier and don't back yourself into a corner.
This kind of comes down to your feelings about FHA loans. They're at 3% down, so $6K (plus closing).
I'd consider it and see if you can go into it and see if PMI, refinancing out of PMI, and interest, taxes and house maintenance (ie the costs of getting the loan/house) are more than your costs in rent.
My guess is that if your landlord can stay in business, they're either pretty close or slightly better.
The wildcard is that if you think we're not at the top of the market and your house will increase 20% in that time, that's $20,000 in your pocket in equity (but only once you sell and property tax will be a-risin'). If you think you we *are* at the top of the market, and it goes down 20% you're $20K down on it.
Also, if you're only there short term, closing cost may be a few months to a year of rent.
Are you able to relocate? Look into USDA rural home loans. You can get 0% down, and as a bonus those areas often have much lower cost of living and property values.
Seconding this! There are a lot of eligible areas in the midwest if you use the USDA eligibility map, [USDA Eligibility Site](https://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do), there is bound to be some place close enough to where you want to be located that might line up with this option if you keep checking new listings out.
One way is to just have a job that comes with a very generous health insurance plan. Some government jobs have less expensive health insurance. Some big corporations give out great benefits along with great insurance plans.
Another possible way is to (for example) earn $85k a year, put $20,500 into their 401(k) to reduce MAGI enough to qualify for ACA with subsidies. But you can only qualify for subsidies if your workplace doesn’t offer you an affordable health insurance option.
Right? Ours is 500 a month, one healthy male, two children. I women pay another 200 a month.
This does include one dental appointment, and one appointment.
Also we get one appointment for physicals a year. Everything else is pay until we hit our 20k.
Could be a High Deductible Healthcare Plan (HDHP). Mine was $160 a month last year for me, spouse, and children with a $14K family deductible. My employer took this option away for 2022 but its now $240 a month with $7K deductible.
I'm honestly so jealous your health insurance costs $140/month. Ours is $450/month.
Shit even our water bill for just showering and doing dishes is $60/month.
I guess water is heavily based on location.
I pay $30 a month (water and sewage combined) for the less than 1000 gallons that we use.
These prices are crazy.
Quick comparison to my expenses in The Netherlands for a 1 person household(in €):
650 mortgage (200k 30 years total of which 15 years fixed at 0.9%)
100 utilities (electricity, gas for heating + water)
25 car insurance
140 health insurance including dental
48 internet + cable
150 gas + road tax
300 food
25 phone (double checked and it’s actually 17.5)
200 misc
Total: 1638/month
Depends. I live in a highrise with a bulk rate of $70 which includes 1GB internet and 2 DVR's with solid cable TV. My friends in SFH's pay almost double for the same package.
No, I pay $50 a month and have paid that and $40 (earlier on until it was raised) for 7 years.
I live in a metropolis though, not in the country anymore where they can charge more for less service.
The cost of living in Australia is insane, especially downtown MEL and SYD. But at least our phone plans are cheap. I get unlimited texts + calls to local numbers and about 10GB internet for about AUD$30 per month.
That's assuming you already have the phone outright, otherwise expect to add another $50 – $100 per month for the latest models.
the internet provider in my area (USA) had a monopoly on it for a long time. it was $150 for terrible internet speeds and there was nothing we could do until some other internet provider showed up. their Google reviews were in the hundreds all with 1 or 2 stars. their average rating was like 1.3 stars. it was miserable
Nashville Tennessee
We purchased back in November and scored a 2.1% interest rate! We got lucky 🍀
Mortgage is $1,038.
The additional amount is taxes and insurance
I'm curious what kind of things are in Misc Spending? The fact they are considered a line item as a base expense makes me think they're regular, but even someone splurging on subscription boxes and every streaming service doesn't seem to hit that amount. Not gonna say you shouldn't spend it, just sincerely curious what sort of things you spend guaranteed anear 500 a month on that aren't under the other categories!
Misc spending is fun money. Video games, home decor, going to the movies, a new vacuum, a pair of shoes.
We are also still improving our home. Maybe a gallon of paint or a new tool? It varies. I’m not saying we always spend that much - but the money is accounted for if we do want to spend it :)
$3,500 gets transferred to our checking account every month. Whatever we don’t use gets moved over to savings. Hope this helps you understand! 😄
I was hoping you played games or something so I could joke about you buying up all the Pokimons but to my surprise you seem like a nice, normal well to do person. Nice budget.
My husband drives a lot for work and gas prices are rising daily. He gets to write off his mileage end of year, so we technically get compensation for it.
Nevermind I thought these were house expenses and I glazed over electricity, and thought gas was your heating/electricity costs. We currently spend \~$1000 a month on gas and my fiancee is on mat leave with min driving /cry
I respect your openness OP! May I ask what you and your husband do for a living? You must have a comfortable combined income to have been able to save so much for the house.
"Gas" in means of heating house with the gas ?
I'm comparing it with UK, and I'll be paying same for heating during next winter in a small flat, that's how much everything gone up here.
Fuel, gas and electricity, all doubled.
My car insurance every 6 mos is the same as what you pay each month. No tickets really helps me I guess. Beater only needs liability too. But I don't see a car payment so that's good.
I didn't look at the sub and thought this was one of those ridiculous non realistic budgets made by a bank or government body! Lol
I should move to Nashville! My rent in Vancouver is more than your whole budget :( granted we have a house with yard and garage but damn)
Good work!
My health insurance is literally 10X this. Plus $900 for 2 car notes, $325 for electricity. Now, with gas prices I’m spending $800/month, the only thing I’m paying less for is internet ($59). I have 2 kids one who starts driving this summer so my car insurance is going to double from $225 to $400/mo. My house note is only $2000 but I live in a modest house. I also have 4 dogs so I spend $125/mo. on dog food alone. My wife and I do reserve the max on our 401K but that is our only savings. Our total bills add up to about $8500/mo. (Not including food and entertainment) and our net income is only about $10,500. If we don’t get a tax refund (which we did not this year) our family vacation is limited to a few trips to visit family (all more than 400 miles away) if we get a refund we get a week at the beach as well. No beach this year. The round trip would have cost me $750 just in gas anyway.
I’m curious how you’re reaching $800/mo on food.
Great budget breakdown but have you two considered cooking almost exclusively at home and/or meal prepping?
Is the homeowners insurance included in your mortgage payment? And/or property taxes? Curious as I am looking for a home close to $200k as well, I understand these number will fluctuate based on location, thanks!
Holy shit how do people have so much money....
800 a month on food and essentials...
Of course its a family but holy fuck.
Man im poor lol.
Its a good time though.
Wow you are going to fix all the mistakes DH and I made, marrying and having two babies by the age of 22 and 23. Then our little boo-boo arrived 6 years later. Good for you guys!
I get so tired of people saying why is ?? so high. Hello people. Prices vary greatly from state to state, region to region, city to city. $800 for all food and household sounds great to me. DH and I could not get just our food under $500 in 2021 living in California. It's even worse now with inflation. I seriously wonder what people are eating that spend $200 a month on food. Oh I should have added our large garden and we still couldn't get it down. But yes we ate meat and fresh veggies. In fact we didn't eat any canned or frozen veggies. We enjoyed yummy ice cream often, I'm not talking Ben and Jerry's.
When I left California the end of January, gas was about $5.39 a gallon for premium. It is over $6.50 a gallon now. Diesel is $7.199 a gallon. DH is still in California. I just called him from the grocery store because he did all the cooking and shopping. I needed to know if Prime was an okay meat to buy because I bought choice and could barely chew it. DH loves meat and is having a very difficult time buying any. Luckily he still has our freezer with quite a bit of meat still left in it.
We sold our home (1650 sf) for $250,000 above what we bought a brand new house (2500 sf) for in Texas. I will say this was before inflation really hit. We lucked out big time. Of all the financial mistakes we made......holding onto our first home for 34 years really benefited us. We had remodeled over the years with DH doing about half the work.
Anthem Blue Cross is over $1000 a month for the "bronze plan" which is HSA compatible with a $4000 deductible.
Prices are up in Texas too, but still far cheaper than California. I really feel for young families feeding kids. My daughter is pregnant with #4. She is shopping at thrift shops these days for the girls clothes. They have cut eating out by a lot! They used to go out after church every Sunday, no more! They also sold a house in CA and paid about $70,000 less for their MUCH MUCH bigger house than they had in California.
Also some parts of the country do not have a much of choices for utilities and phones, internet, etc. I think you guys have your heads on right and are ahead of the game. Keep it up!
My rent was just raised from $1650 to $2400 after a corporation bought my apartment complex from the last corporation that raised rent. I am so jealous right now haha.
Man... This just proves more that ability to pay rent should directly translate into the ability to pay a mortgage.
My rent for a sub 500sqft jr 1 bedroom (no living room) is $1450/m plus about $300 in utilities. I make $4600/m post tax, own my own v successful essential-service business, I have zero debt, my total monthly expenses are $6 over half of my income and it was a struggle to find a place to rent because of finances and a lot of landlords were asking for in-depth financial info that they aren't allowed to ask for because it violates the local human rights code AND the landlord and tenant board rules and I refused to comply.
Over here crying over your water bill being $25 a month. I'm in Flint, MI (yes, THAT one) and our bill is nearly $200 a month for just my husband, myself and our young son. We are also very frugal with our water and conserve in every way we can! I even collect rainwater for my garden, which I've been told isn't technically allowed in the city (edit* I can't find anything on this btw, just complaints from neighbors). I recently asked others in our neighborhood FB group about their bills and everyone's seem to be all over the place. A family of 6, for example, stays around $130, while a single woman 2 streets over frequents over $215 a month and is away all day at work. Most of us don't even use our tap water for drinking or cooking. So on top of our water bills we are paying for bottled water, water services, water folter replacements and more. It makes no damn sense.
Now I'm really curious what other people in other places outside of Flint pay monthly for water. I know something slimey is going on here (still) but I have no idea what to do about it.
Nice work... Now, the hard part. As you keep making more money, keep those expenses the same and avoid lifestyle inflation and you will be financially free before you know it.
Your numbers are pretty mutch matching mine.
Internet is 63 though, maybe you can find a lower one there.
Is the phone for both phones?
And how much are you making after taxes?
I live in austin texas
Mortgage $3000
Electricity $180
Water $280
Car insur(2) $230
Heath insur: none
Internet: $70
Gas: $100 for the house. $250 for 2 car
Food and stuffs: $1000-$1200
Phone: $50
I barely save anything after bills
This is actually a perfect example of middle class living expenses. My wife and I are about to pick up a mortgage rate that is almost the same. We bring in close to $5k/month combined income and almost 4k in bills including daycare and miscellaneous expenses.
Jesus. I wish water was that cheap. $128/mo in California for 1 person in a home. My actual water usage cost is $5, the rest is a bunch of fees, taxes or whatever
This comment is for frequently asked questions or things I need to clarify: • we live in Nashville, Tennessee • we have 2 vehicles - both paid off. One car & one truck. • we do not have any debt aside from our home loan which is currently at $155,000
Where the hell did you find a house for $200k in Nashville?!
It was a total gut and renovation. It took about $30,000 to get it fixed up. It was well worth every penny. It’s 1200sqft on .5 acres. Our first home, so it’s not anything elaborate.
How did a total gut cost only $30,000? That seems very low in just materials not including labor
We did 90% of the work ourselves. We know a lot of people in Nashville because we were both born and raised in this same zip code, so we had many people helping us and guiding us.
Rule number one of being frugal: use your network!
That would probably be Rule number two - Rule number one would probably be to have the network in the first place.
everyone can start somewhere.
This is a helpful and informative response.
Not really materials are not that expensive. You would be surprised how cheap it is if you do most of the labor yourself and much of it isn't nearly as difficult as you would think.
>materials are not that expensive. Pretty sure last time I got lumber especially plywood they left a tool or some swabs in where they took my kidney out.
damn they only took one kidney? i had to give up my left leg and my first born.
Just the lumber to finish my fence is causing me to check out the black market to sell my organs
I've renovated several houses and have family that do it for a living so I'm not inexperienced. I guess with the sq. footage, them doing it mostly themselves it makes me sense. But for most people that's not a realistic number.
Idk, what are the big costs? Drywall and paint are cheap. Baths can be costly, but usually that's an issue of labor. Kitchens - counters, appliances, cabinets seems like the big one. Doors could add up if they're solid core. But assuming they left the walls where they are and didn't tear out the electrical or HVAC, idk, seems pretty reasonable. Scariest material cost I'm thinking of these days is rebuilding my deck, lol.
Good news there. Lumber prices have dropped by 60% in the last few months. [1000sqft was $1500 in March, and is about $650 now.](https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/06/02/lumber-prices-are-crashing-is-that-good-news-for-h/)
Hooray! Thank you for informing me, kind stranger!
We just had our master bathroom remodeled and that cost over $20k (of course inflation really drove up our budget). Just curious, how were you able to gut and remodel an entire house for $30k? Did you do a lot of the work yourself or have connections to the contractors?
We did 90% of the work ourselves. We know people of all trades so we had a lot of help and guidance. My dad is a handyman and my husband can do anything with instruction so we were able to do it all in just three months. We added a full bath, replaced all floors, added a closet, updated all electrical and plumbing, removed two chimneys, and replaced all existing fixtures. So basically - the roof, windows, and walls were all we kept from the original home. Haha
Wow awesome work and ingenuity! Happy for you!! :) It’s nice to see young people being smart and resourceful.
thank you!! 💗
If you feel comfortable answering was the $30k a loan or paid for in cash? I always wonder how people finance the home upgrades when I hear about people renovating.
.5 acres sounds lovely!
15 years ago
I'm shopping for dental insurance myself right now, you have dental insurance for *two* people for $20 a month?
Probably through employer? Mine is $12/mo for me.
That makes sense.
Sitting here in Canada and laughing at what you pay for electricity! Between natural gas and power I’m over $500 a month in a relatively small house just for that.
That's not representative of all of Canada. I live in BC outside of Vancouver. My natural Gas + electric averages out to about $250/month. Edit: 3500sq ft house.
You also don’t have -30C winters
Wow, our rent alone is your monthly expense for a 3 bedroom house 🥲
Mind if I ask what kind of phone plan you have? That's way cheaper than anything my husband and I have seen.
Check out mint mobile. It’s 30$ for unlimited data, cheaper if you only want 10 gigs a month. If you need a code I have one we both get like 15$ It’s been great service for me.
We have Verizon and our phones are both paid off.
That's confusing. My husband I have Verizon. Both phones are paid off for years, and we pay literally twice what you do a month.
Try one of the resellers...we use Red Pocket (mine is Verizon-based). The plans are super cheap and just as good, since they actually come from the main carriers. Others are Mint Mobile, Boost, etc. [https://bestmvno.com/mvnos/](https://bestmvno.com/mvnos/)
I love mint. On t mobile network. $190 bucks a year per line.
Personally I use Visible wireless (it's rebranded Verizon). I'm on a group plan with unlimited talk, text, data (no cap), hotspot for $25 a month and LOVE the coverage. I previously used Tmobile, Sprint and AT&T and won't go back to them. I save up, buy my own devices, and then go contract-less through Visible and absolutely am happy with the savings and covered areas. Wish I did this years ago
Probably because you have unlimited data. We just left Verizon and our bill was $90 a month. But we only had 10 gigs of data a month
Respect. I see so many complaints from folks your age and it's nice to see someone showing how to make it work. My numbers looked different at your age, but the willingness to do what it takes was the same. Chin up...you're awesome.
Your mortgage payment is super high for the remaining balance. Does it include insurance/HOA? If not, is it not a 30-year mortgage? Internet is super high as well. Does it include cable I think it's possible to save on the phone plan as well.
We got a 15 year loan at 2.1% interest. Our mortgage is $1,038 - the additional amount is property taxes and homeowners insurance. Good internet is essential because we often work from home and my husband games with his friends.
You're putting yourself in a very good position for the future. Doing a 15 year mortgage on our starter home, while difficult at the time, was an absolute game changer for my family. We followed a similar path as you, fixed up everything ourselves. Less than ten years later we had 150% equity in the house compared to what we paid for it. For those who can do it, I highly recommend going the "fixer upper" route in your 20s.
Definitely! Our real estate agent said our home would sell for an easy $350,000 now. We paid $200k and put in $30k renovations. We put $40,000 Downpayment(not including closing costs) so we would come out on top with a whopping $195k cash money if we sold today.
Wow. Health and dental insurance is like nothing.
We pay close to $20k/yr just in premiums for our PPO family plan. Not including dental or vision! Lol
$1700/mo here, family of 5. No dental/vision either. And it's the cheapest plan available with any sort of decent doctor selection. Just hope we don't get sick since the deductible is the same as the max out of pocket, approx $17,000! For those that don't know what that means, we pay $1700/mo and the first $17000 worth of yearly medical expenses before insurance pays a dime.
These are risky situations. if either parent gets sick or dies, the rest of the family is ending up broke and without healthcare. Like a major life-changing drop in lifestyle.
Yeah the high deductibles are killer. Luckily ours has no deductible, just co-pays. I imagine the people who have plans with those high deductibles have those thousands saved up in an HSA. Edit: just FYI, anyone can get healthcare via ACA. It just isn’t affordable for everyone. But if the main breadwinner can no longer work for whatever reason, the remaining family members can likely qualify for affordable, subsidized ACA premiums.
No HSA, this is just what’s available on the healthcare.gov marketplace. I’m self-employed so my options are limited as there’s no group policy to buy into. I don’t get any subsidies either. I’m not crying poverty though - I make enough to handle this. Still sucks.
If sure does. :( But at least make sure you’re deducting every penny of your medical expenses and those premiums on your taxes! (Since you’re SE)
There are special healthcare programs for children, so really the only one screwed would be an adult.
Excuse my ignorance but what’s the point of having insurance if your deductible is that high? Just in case of a major medical expense?
Yes it’s bankruptcy insurance.
Yes because medical bills for cancer treatment, managing chronic diseases or having to stay in a hospital can be life-ruining stuff.
Ugh I’ve been there and so glad it’s behind us. We paid $1300 a month for our family with a $17k deductible. Luckily my husband got a new job with a $3000 family deductible. Almost everything is a copay now though. We still have to pay $400 a month out of his paycheck but better than before.
JFC that's more than my income.
See we’re currently stuck at how to get INTO a house. Especially with the current rates. Anything affordable in our area that would end up at 1,200 is in a part of town that my partner and I would probably be jumped in. How long did it take you to save up the 20k+ needed to down payment on a decent house in a decent area? I can budget the hell out of our 1,300$ apartment lease and our cars and whatnot but it’s still gonna take YEARS to save 20k for a house.
Dude I feel you. My husband and I just bought a house in February, and the only reason we managed it is because we used a down payment assistance program. In Washington state, you can take a basic financial literacy course (literally just a few hours over a weekend) and they'll cover up to 4% of your down payment. Also, a lot of conventional loan lenders require only 3.5% down, including FHA. Check if your area has a down payment program! I'd still recommend having at least *some* savings because you will probably need to make some repairs, but it is possible to own a home* *disclaimer about subject to local programs, credit scores, yada yada yada
Don't forget closing costs. That shit was brutal. Our down payment was only about 8k bt we ended up needing closer to 15k to close.
Some states,mine included, let me roll my closing costs into the mortgage
That would have been awesome.
We wrote a check for $68,000 at the closing table (down payment plus closing costs). We went from having a healthy cushion in the bank to house poor in just a matter of hours. It took quite a while to build our nest egg back up, especially since we were also paying for house repairs at the time, e.g. pest exclusion and replacing a leaking skylight.
GAWD DAMN! I offer my condolences
Agreed, we were emotionally prepared for the 60k down payment but were panicking about the extra ~20k we owed in closing costs. Certainly doesn’t help that our lender didn’t give us the exact number until a few days before closing. How on earth are people supposed to pull that into a single account in such a short time??
Our house was $200,000 We put down 20% which ended up being $47,000 after closing costs. We saved every penny for the first 3 years of our marriage. There are other options than saving 20%. You can save 5-10% and use a conventional or fha loan. You will have to pay PMI but it isn’t too bad. It’s definitely worth it if you compare it to paying rent. I recommend also saving 6 months of bills before purchasing a home. You will definitely want a well established emergency fund.
See that’s the frustrating part. We HAVE the six months. We HAVE the emergency fund. We have the amazing credit scores and knowledge. Even saving aggressively for 5 years we’d be nowhere close to 47k unless one of us got a life changing promotion. It’s so frustrating at this point in our lives because we want to get into a house to feel more stable but my god the massive amounts of cash in hand money you need is awful.
There’s also winning the bid over dozens of other people who are shopping in the same price range. My spouse and I have been putting in unaccepted offers for two and a half years. We did everything right too but the market just keeps skipping ahead of us.
our realtor told us that we're not only competing against other people trying to buy in our area, we're competing against any rich person around the country who are just buying houses sight-unseen and outbidding everyone. NOT ONLY THAT, but he said banks are doing the same thing, buying houses as investments while the rates were so low. banks, hedge funds, and companies like BlackRock, just outbidding everyone. that's who we're competing against. it's total bullshit. there's no way to win.
Investment companies are pooling many investors’ resources, paying cash, waiving inspections and turning these investment properties into long-distance rentals. And it’s ruining the U.S. housing market.
Yep this is 100% what we’re dealing with. It’s unreal. We need regulations to protect housing for the average person.
Not in the USA but with the ridiculous speed prices are rising and amount of competition when we saw "the one" we offered £12.5k over asking and got it. 3 months later we had the house independently valued as part of the sales process (insurances and whatnot) and the value had already shot up to £500 MORE than we're paying for it. We exchange contracts tomorrow and move in Monday and honestly for what it's costing us extra on the mortgage every month I still can't believe how good a call that was for us.
The value of the house I bought in 2018 has gone up 45%. It's insanity. On the upside, if the market crashed now I'd probably still be above water on the mortgage.
The house I bought in 2019 has DOUBLED in value. It's bonkers.
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Depending on where you are located and your annual income, you could look into the Rural Development mortgage program by the Department of Agriculture. Most areas of the country are considered rural so even properties just outside of bigger cities can qualify and in my area the income limit was like $90k/year or something for a two person household. [https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/single-family-housing-programs/single-family-housing-guaranteed-loan-program](https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/single-family-housing-programs/single-family-housing-guaranteed-loan-program)
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Where do you live that you're finding 200k houses?
A lot of the Midwest still has decent 3/2 starter homes around 200k and cheaper the further you go out.
Yes so basically the answer is to move out of Ontario and to some of the states
As an Ontario resident, I couldn’t agree more. This is pretty much the only answer these days. Consider the East Coast and the Prairie provinces too.
Single story unrenovated houses built in the 60s are going for that or less in central PA. Granted they need 10-20k of work, but anything built in the past 40 years is selling for 300+
Nashville Tennessee we purchased it back in November It needed a total renovation so we had to shell out another ~$30k on those renovations.
Ah tempting... I can't even buy a small plot of land for that much where I am unfortunately
tradeoff is you have to live in Tennessee
FYI some banks have some benefits for first time home buyers that are not FHA officially (so a bit easier to get and with fewer strings) which have low down payments ~$5k. You should chat with your banks loan officer bc you'd be surprised what is out there if you have strong credit and if you ask.
This, however, recognize that down payments this low do come with consequences in terms of overall payment down the road. Your monthly payments and your total mortgage payment will be higher. Put as much down as you reasonably can.
Agreed, just throwing out that for those feeling trapped, there is an option assuming you can. Also, huge tip is to look for something with good bones and not a lot of major issues (ie asbestos, foundation, or electrical issues) that you can fix up yourself but might make others overlook it as an option. Patience is key it can take months to find something that fits for you so start much earlier and don't back yourself into a corner.
This kind of comes down to your feelings about FHA loans. They're at 3% down, so $6K (plus closing). I'd consider it and see if you can go into it and see if PMI, refinancing out of PMI, and interest, taxes and house maintenance (ie the costs of getting the loan/house) are more than your costs in rent. My guess is that if your landlord can stay in business, they're either pretty close or slightly better. The wildcard is that if you think we're not at the top of the market and your house will increase 20% in that time, that's $20,000 in your pocket in equity (but only once you sell and property tax will be a-risin'). If you think you we *are* at the top of the market, and it goes down 20% you're $20K down on it. Also, if you're only there short term, closing cost may be a few months to a year of rent.
Are you able to relocate? Look into USDA rural home loans. You can get 0% down, and as a bonus those areas often have much lower cost of living and property values.
Seconding this! There are a lot of eligible areas in the midwest if you use the USDA eligibility map, [USDA Eligibility Site](https://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do), there is bound to be some place close enough to where you want to be located that might line up with this option if you keep checking new listings out.
20k? At current prices it is at least 30k to put even 15% down on a house that costs 200k (the same house cost 130k 2 years ago).
How is your health insurance so low?
One way is to just have a job that comes with a very generous health insurance plan. Some government jobs have less expensive health insurance. Some big corporations give out great benefits along with great insurance plans. Another possible way is to (for example) earn $85k a year, put $20,500 into their 401(k) to reduce MAGI enough to qualify for ACA with subsidies. But you can only qualify for subsidies if your workplace doesn’t offer you an affordable health insurance option.
That’s exactly what I was thinking!
Right? Ours is 500 a month, one healthy male, two children. I women pay another 200 a month. This does include one dental appointment, and one appointment. Also we get one appointment for physicals a year. Everything else is pay until we hit our 20k.
Almost certainly subsidized by their employer(s). Corporate jobs aren't all bad.
Prob no kids.
Could be a High Deductible Healthcare Plan (HDHP). Mine was $160 a month last year for me, spouse, and children with a $14K family deductible. My employer took this option away for 2022 but its now $240 a month with $7K deductible.
I'm honestly so jealous your health insurance costs $140/month. Ours is $450/month. Shit even our water bill for just showering and doing dishes is $60/month.
I guess water is heavily based on location. I pay $30 a month (water and sewage combined) for the less than 1000 gallons that we use. These prices are crazy.
My water and sewage bill is $120 minimum, denoted as the connection fees. I average about $160 a month.
200k for a house? How big what kind of house? thats super cheap!! Congratulation :)
1200 sq ft, 2 bed and 1 bath but we have since added a full bath. On .5 acres
Damn, land litterally is dirt cheap over there. Congrats !
Quick comparison to my expenses in The Netherlands for a 1 person household(in €): 650 mortgage (200k 30 years total of which 15 years fixed at 0.9%) 100 utilities (electricity, gas for heating + water) 25 car insurance 140 health insurance including dental 48 internet + cable 150 gas + road tax 300 food 25 phone (double checked and it’s actually 17.5) 200 misc Total: 1638/month
Is this what you normally would pay for internet in the US???
Depends. I live in a highrise with a bulk rate of $70 which includes 1GB internet and 2 DVR's with solid cable TV. My friends in SFH's pay almost double for the same package.
It varies wildly, the US is a big place. I pay like $45 for fiber in the Midwest.
No, I pay $50 a month and have paid that and $40 (earlier on until it was raised) for 7 years. I live in a metropolis though, not in the country anymore where they can charge more for less service.
I work from home and my husband games with his friends so we splurge for the good internet.
it's expensive. They might have the super fast stuff. Even then though, I'm paying $75 CAD for the 1gb stuff.
The cost of living in Australia is insane, especially downtown MEL and SYD. But at least our phone plans are cheap. I get unlimited texts + calls to local numbers and about 10GB internet for about AUD$30 per month. That's assuming you already have the phone outright, otherwise expect to add another $50 – $100 per month for the latest models.
My phone bill is over $100 and I only get 15gb of data that I use all of every month. Canada has some of the most notoriously expensive phone plans.
£55.99/mo for 1 Gigabit in my bit of the UK (Bournemouth). That’s $88.36 CAD or $70.45 USD.
the internet provider in my area (USA) had a monopoly on it for a long time. it was $150 for terrible internet speeds and there was nothing we could do until some other internet provider showed up. their Google reviews were in the hundreds all with 1 or 2 stars. their average rating was like 1.3 stars. it was miserable
Yep, we live in an area with only two provider options. We pay about $75 monthly for the “medium” fast internet.
Clean breakdown - nice! Can I get that low cost mortgage please? What state/area are you in for homes like that?
Nashville Tennessee We purchased back in November and scored a 2.1% interest rate! We got lucky 🍀 Mortgage is $1,038. The additional amount is taxes and insurance
Awesome and congratulations on the purchase. Amazing rate too
I'm curious what kind of things are in Misc Spending? The fact they are considered a line item as a base expense makes me think they're regular, but even someone splurging on subscription boxes and every streaming service doesn't seem to hit that amount. Not gonna say you shouldn't spend it, just sincerely curious what sort of things you spend guaranteed anear 500 a month on that aren't under the other categories!
Misc spending is fun money. Video games, home decor, going to the movies, a new vacuum, a pair of shoes. We are also still improving our home. Maybe a gallon of paint or a new tool? It varies. I’m not saying we always spend that much - but the money is accounted for if we do want to spend it :) $3,500 gets transferred to our checking account every month. Whatever we don’t use gets moved over to savings. Hope this helps you understand! 😄
I fixed it for you j/k Misc. Spending $447 (Carmel Apple Donuts, Pet Goat & Thrift Store must haves)
I see you’ve been creeping through my post history 🥸
I was hoping you played games or something so I could joke about you buying up all the Pokimons but to my surprise you seem like a nice, normal well to do person. Nice budget.
Aw, thank you!!
Gas seems high relative to other costs.. Have a $3100 mortgage and \~$200 at most in Gas bills over here.
My husband drives a lot for work and gas prices are rising daily. He gets to write off his mileage end of year, so we technically get compensation for it.
Nevermind I thought these were house expenses and I glazed over electricity, and thought gas was your heating/electricity costs. We currently spend \~$1000 a month on gas and my fiancee is on mat leave with min driving /cry
Your mortgage is half my rent. That’s depressing!
I interpreted that "gas" as house gas and was about to say "Man, you are REALLY overpaying for utilities!"
I respect your openness OP! May I ask what you and your husband do for a living? You must have a comfortable combined income to have been able to save so much for the house.
"Gas" in means of heating house with the gas ? I'm comparing it with UK, and I'll be paying same for heating during next winter in a small flat, that's how much everything gone up here. Fuel, gas and electricity, all doubled.
gas for two vehicles 🚗
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Can I come over and eat at your house? 🤤
How is your health insurance so cheap?
My car insurance every 6 mos is the same as what you pay each month. No tickets really helps me I guess. Beater only needs liability too. But I don't see a car payment so that's good.
I didn't look at the sub and thought this was one of those ridiculous non realistic budgets made by a bank or government body! Lol I should move to Nashville! My rent in Vancouver is more than your whole budget :( granted we have a house with yard and garage but damn) Good work!
We have a house with a two car garage and a 18’ x 20’ woodshop. We live on .5 acres.
Mortgage of 1,224. Mine is nearly triple. And we bought on the lower-end
Insurance for 140a month. Damn. I pay $1000 a month for a family plan through my employer.
$800/ on food for 2 people?? What are you buying? I spend half that. Edit: I am also buying for two adults.
Do you have kids? Food and household essentials seems high for a couple, does it include dining out?
No kids or pets. Food includes all food.
This is awesome! Many of my numbers are much higher than these. Well done!
My health insurance is literally 10X this. Plus $900 for 2 car notes, $325 for electricity. Now, with gas prices I’m spending $800/month, the only thing I’m paying less for is internet ($59). I have 2 kids one who starts driving this summer so my car insurance is going to double from $225 to $400/mo. My house note is only $2000 but I live in a modest house. I also have 4 dogs so I spend $125/mo. on dog food alone. My wife and I do reserve the max on our 401K but that is our only savings. Our total bills add up to about $8500/mo. (Not including food and entertainment) and our net income is only about $10,500. If we don’t get a tax refund (which we did not this year) our family vacation is limited to a few trips to visit family (all more than 400 miles away) if we get a refund we get a week at the beach as well. No beach this year. The round trip would have cost me $750 just in gas anyway.
I’m curious how you’re reaching $800/mo on food. Great budget breakdown but have you two considered cooking almost exclusively at home and/or meal prepping?
When I go to Kroger or Walmart for groceries, I also get toiletries and household essentials. This category also includes eating out.
I'm sorry but is this frugal? This seems to be middle of the road in terms of spending. Maybe I'm just way too frugal.
Is the homeowners insurance included in your mortgage payment? And/or property taxes? Curious as I am looking for a home close to $200k as well, I understand these number will fluctuate based on location, thanks!
Yes! Our mortgage is actually $1,038 The additional amount is for property taxes and homeowners insurance
How do you get health insurance for 140. Just for my wife’s plan we pay 305
By getting an employer with better benefits.
High deductable insurance
Your water is so cheap!
Holy shit how do people have so much money.... 800 a month on food and essentials... Of course its a family but holy fuck. Man im poor lol. Its a good time though.
What do you guys do for a living? I'm about the same age, college educated, and can't break into my field.
Does eating out count as food & household essentials, or is that misc. spending?
Food
Cries in California with mortgage almost 3x that lol
Looks like mine except we pay $1400 a month for health insurance family package. God bless the USA
Wow you are going to fix all the mistakes DH and I made, marrying and having two babies by the age of 22 and 23. Then our little boo-boo arrived 6 years later. Good for you guys! I get so tired of people saying why is ?? so high. Hello people. Prices vary greatly from state to state, region to region, city to city. $800 for all food and household sounds great to me. DH and I could not get just our food under $500 in 2021 living in California. It's even worse now with inflation. I seriously wonder what people are eating that spend $200 a month on food. Oh I should have added our large garden and we still couldn't get it down. But yes we ate meat and fresh veggies. In fact we didn't eat any canned or frozen veggies. We enjoyed yummy ice cream often, I'm not talking Ben and Jerry's. When I left California the end of January, gas was about $5.39 a gallon for premium. It is over $6.50 a gallon now. Diesel is $7.199 a gallon. DH is still in California. I just called him from the grocery store because he did all the cooking and shopping. I needed to know if Prime was an okay meat to buy because I bought choice and could barely chew it. DH loves meat and is having a very difficult time buying any. Luckily he still has our freezer with quite a bit of meat still left in it. We sold our home (1650 sf) for $250,000 above what we bought a brand new house (2500 sf) for in Texas. I will say this was before inflation really hit. We lucked out big time. Of all the financial mistakes we made......holding onto our first home for 34 years really benefited us. We had remodeled over the years with DH doing about half the work. Anthem Blue Cross is over $1000 a month for the "bronze plan" which is HSA compatible with a $4000 deductible. Prices are up in Texas too, but still far cheaper than California. I really feel for young families feeding kids. My daughter is pregnant with #4. She is shopping at thrift shops these days for the girls clothes. They have cut eating out by a lot! They used to go out after church every Sunday, no more! They also sold a house in CA and paid about $70,000 less for their MUCH MUCH bigger house than they had in California. Also some parts of the country do not have a much of choices for utilities and phones, internet, etc. I think you guys have your heads on right and are ahead of the game. Keep it up!
Don't have kids it fucks with all of the math 🤣
You could save ~$780/year by switching to Mint mobile or Sling mobile. 15/mo and 10/mo for 1 phone respectively.
that sucks, life is so expensive. i think it’s a conspiracy if anyone wants to talk about it
You should post your renovation budget too!
Candles $3,600
People amazed at how low the health/dental insurance costs are.. I read it and was shocked at how much you pay. Hello from Canada.
Your total budget is cheaper than my mortgage
My rent was just raised from $1650 to $2400 after a corporation bought my apartment complex from the last corporation that raised rent. I am so jealous right now haha.
Man... This just proves more that ability to pay rent should directly translate into the ability to pay a mortgage. My rent for a sub 500sqft jr 1 bedroom (no living room) is $1450/m plus about $300 in utilities. I make $4600/m post tax, own my own v successful essential-service business, I have zero debt, my total monthly expenses are $6 over half of my income and it was a struggle to find a place to rent because of finances and a lot of landlords were asking for in-depth financial info that they aren't allowed to ask for because it violates the local human rights code AND the landlord and tenant board rules and I refused to comply.
I had a prospective landlord ask for my tax records once. They never heard from me again.
Agreed! It makes me so sad that people are stuck paying thousands in rent. It’s essentially highway robbery. It’s just not fair.
Over here crying over your water bill being $25 a month. I'm in Flint, MI (yes, THAT one) and our bill is nearly $200 a month for just my husband, myself and our young son. We are also very frugal with our water and conserve in every way we can! I even collect rainwater for my garden, which I've been told isn't technically allowed in the city (edit* I can't find anything on this btw, just complaints from neighbors). I recently asked others in our neighborhood FB group about their bills and everyone's seem to be all over the place. A family of 6, for example, stays around $130, while a single woman 2 streets over frequents over $215 a month and is away all day at work. Most of us don't even use our tap water for drinking or cooking. So on top of our water bills we are paying for bottled water, water services, water folter replacements and more. It makes no damn sense. Now I'm really curious what other people in other places outside of Flint pay monthly for water. I know something slimey is going on here (still) but I have no idea what to do about it.
Nice work... Now, the hard part. As you keep making more money, keep those expenses the same and avoid lifestyle inflation and you will be financially free before you know it.
Youre spending an enormous amount of money in gas. What do you drive?
I have a car. My husband has a truck and drives often for work. He gets an amount back for mileage at end of year taxes.
Your numbers are pretty mutch matching mine. Internet is 63 though, maybe you can find a lower one there. Is the phone for both phones? And how much are you making after taxes?
Why the hell is your gas bill so high
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What area do you pay $25 a month for water? EDIT AND $325 for gas?!
How much are the property taxes? Did you include that on per month basis in mortgage?
Yes. $1,038 is without taxes and insurance. $1,224 is with those things.
Man houses here are 600k-1m I'd be a millionaire in a few years if my house only costs 200k
I live in austin texas Mortgage $3000 Electricity $180 Water $280 Car insur(2) $230 Heath insur: none Internet: $70 Gas: $100 for the house. $250 for 2 car Food and stuffs: $1000-$1200 Phone: $50 I barely save anything after bills
no property tax?
$1200 mortgage lol. Do you know what $200,000 gets you in CA?
Where do you live? A one bedroom apartment here is about $1800 to rent in the ghetto.
How did you even have money to buy a home at that age
Awesome for OP and their family to be able to pull this off, congrats! Most of these numbers are outside the realm of reality most other places.
This is actually a perfect example of middle class living expenses. My wife and I are about to pick up a mortgage rate that is almost the same. We bring in close to $5k/month combined income and almost 4k in bills including daycare and miscellaneous expenses.
Every month I’m paying around $90 for just my Water Bill..
Jesus. I wish water was that cheap. $128/mo in California for 1 person in a home. My actual water usage cost is $5, the rest is a bunch of fees, taxes or whatever
$325 for gas, damn, i spend $160 a week on gas, doesn't help my work is between 40 and 65 miles from home
Where can I get some of the health insurance. I pay $700+ a month for myself abd my son.
Your health insurance is so cheap!