You earn $130k, Mortgage and rent is $26k, Car payment $9,500, Gas $9,000. Where is the rest of the money going?
While we did earn 130K last year...that certainly wasn't the NET income. Taxes are pretty high here in Canada. However, given that you're from Australia I think you know all about high taxes....
Without breaking the numbers RIGHT down we took home slightly more than 70k. Our mortgage and rent doesn't include things like heat and electricity...which become phenominally more expensive in the winter. We're near 3K a year in heating costs for the 3 places alone. Food is quite expensive up here as well. Our food budget is 600 dollars a month on average. We do eat out quite often....which is terrible for health and the wallet...so probably another 2-300 dollars on that per month. Our cell phones cost a fortune up here....our internet for three places....on and on.
Its not all bad.....I do save 250 per paycheck into my TFSA. My wife puts away an additional 100 per pay into hers. So there is a savings. Having no credit card debt or any other real debt besides the mortgage and the two vehicles helps out significantly. If I want something...I save for it. Period. You all are going to laugh....but I just saved up enough money to buy myself a brand new ATV right off the showroom floor. Totally antimustachian......but I did save the cash rather than go into debt....so its a little bit Mustachian :)
As for renting the house out....well....I am still really on the fence about that. There are SO many horror stories out there about people trashing the places they rent. It's tough to find decent renters out there IMO. I would not be comfortable renting my house out to anyone. I'd sell it first.
As for our jobs being flexible. Mine is a bit more flexible as far as earning the same money is concerned. Her job is kinda bizzare in how they get paid. She couldn't move up here and earn the same money as what she earns down south. Sounds wierd but she is considered part time (although she works WAY more than full time hours usually...) Unfortunately...those hours tend to dry up the further north you go. And the pay structure gets all wierd when you move into smaller communities as a paramedic. As I mentioned...I could move to where she lives....but jobs in MY trade are really at a premium down there and there are plenty of tradespeople who commute to other cities for work and live down there already. Its not outside of the realm of possibility that I could find work down there, but there are lots of guys already ahead of me in that line.
Obviously there is huge room for improvement. I know I can reduce my cell phone bill. That frikken thing is downright stupid. The eating out budget should be tweaked down to almost nothing...as its too unhealthy to begin with. The major key will be moving back to my home town...getting back to work down there and saving tons of cash that way. So far I've had no luck with that but it doesn't mean I'm going to quit trying. The fuel bill likely won't change much....in fact...it will likely get more expensive as the price of fuel increases....as it is going to do....we all know it. I don't want to buy a cheaper car as having three vehicles to insure isn't my idea of fun.
