Life Situation: Married filing jointly; our ages in 2019: 31, 31, 5, 4, 2; Kentucky; my wife does not work
Gross Salary:
$4400/month in salary
$800/month in foster care subsidy from the state
Pre-tax:
$120/month for workplace HDHP
$500/month for HSA (employer also contributes $1000 to reach $7000 annual match)
$1000 into 403b (employer also contributes $400/month)
Taxes: $500/month
Net: $3080/month
Current expenses:
Mortgage: $834 (PITI: $208/$353/$145/$128) – $117,500 at 4%
Utilities: $436 total – $90 for mobile, $65 for internet $105 for gas/electric, $78 for alarm system (I don’t want to talk about it), $70 for water/sewer, $18 for trash, $10 for HOA
Car Insurance: $145
Life Insurance: $60
Preschool: $200 (to prepare for school; ends in April and then free public school in August)
Groceries, Household, Clothes, Misc: $725
Restaurants & Entertainment: $150
Gas: $150
Car Maintenance & Registration: $100
Healthcare: $100
tIRA: $50
Charitable Giving: $130/month
Assets:
Home: $200k-ish
Emergency Fund: $10k
Various Retirement Accounts (all non-Roth): $85k
HSA: $13k
529s: $7000
Taxable Accounts: $2000
Liabilities:
Mortgage balance is $107,000
No student, auto, or credit card debt
Specific Question(s):
We cut our expenses significantly in 2018 to allow my wife to stay home. We don’t have the lowest expenses in the world, but we’re able to save a decent percentage of our income—especially accounting for employer contributions. We would love to increase our income, but I love my employer and don’t plan to leave in the near term (5 years).
My wife is on board with saving and living frugally, although FIRE is not her top priority. She supported me through school, and there was only a short window (1 year) where we were both making decent income—and we were not living according to MMM principles at that time. I’m looking for any suggestions on how to trim some fat or otherwise optimize our spending. I’m also curious for estimates when we may reach FI.