I'm working toward financial independence but I have a few challenges I'm not sure how to address.
A little background info: my wife and I are both 29 and we have two kids under 3. My wife and I both work, but my wife actually earns a little less at her job than what daycare costs (I realize this is not ideal).
There are certain things on which I'm all set:
- I have no debt
- I have a relatively high earning power (currently earning $50/hr, full-time)
But I also some problems that are really hindering my savings rate:
1) Housing costs. Right now we pay $1075 in rent, which is way more than what we need to pay. Luckily, our lease is up in just a few months. My wife and I would like to buy a house (I'm thinking a <= $50K house with a <= 15 year mortgage) but unfortunately I can't get a loan due to my employment situation. According to the loan officer I need to have either a full-time job or two years of self-employment in order to get a loan, and I have neither. What's more is that any job through a staffing agency not only doesn't count as a full-time job, but any staffing agency job also resets the clock on self-employment. I have a staffing agency job now and it's looking like my next job will be another staffing agency job as well. So I might be screwed in the loan department. The remaining option, of course, is to rent somewhere cheaper, which is what I guess we'll do. The problem with that is that my wife seems to be unwilling to go below a certain standard of living. She's really not on board with the whole financial independence idea.
2) Transportation costs. We've been a one-car family before but now we have two cars. My wife and I both work downtown, which is about 8 miles from our apartment. My wife is not willing to ride a bike except for leisure, but we could conceivably get rid of one car and I could ride my bike to work each day instead of drive. The problem with that is that my wife starts work pretty early each day before daycare is ready to take our kids, so I take the kids to daycare, meaning we both have to drive. Obviously, she could just stay home and we could save money a) by not paying for daycare, which costs more than she earns at work and b) by being able to shed one car. However, my wife is really adamant about having a job because she likes having a job (I wish I did!), so unless I want to say "thou shalt not have a job" we have to live with that constraint.
If I could be paying <= $500/mo in rent/mortgage, and paying only for one car (or better, 0 cars), that would be fantastic. Unfortunately I'm having a hard time seeing how I could accomplish this without putting on my dictator cap and making my wife miserable. Any ideas?