It is a bit difficult to say because of how you report income. I'm also too lazy to add up all your income and expenses to see what the difference is. You are saving 1-2 k a month but have you started repaying your downpayment help and are you saving for the wedding already? My general thoughts are that your house seems expensive relative to your income, especially since you had to borrow for the downpayment, you are probably underestimating your home repair/maintenance budget, you don't seem to be saving up for large expenses like a new roof or car or furnace, you haven't listed any spending for clothes, personal care items, gifts, eating out, etc. Is this really a complete picture of your finances?
We have not started pay back my parents yet but have plans to do so towards the end of this year. We also have already started saving for the wedding. The house is new construction so while I understand the need to budget for home repair and maintenance, I don't foresee any issues that wouldn't be covered under warranty or by our savings at the moment (knock on wood).
What I have provided is generally a normal month for us. What I listed for Misc under our mutual section includes money we spend on gifts, eating out, etc. Personal care items and clothes come out of our own individual accounts.
Welcome to the forums!
Just trying to understand your debts...
Mortgage: $449k
Debt to parents for your house down payment: $50k - I would not be able to stand owing my parents or in-laws money. This would be my first priority.
Other large upcoming expenses:
Wedding expense: $28K - Sounds like a very fancy wedding! Ours was around $10k before we found MMM, and many other readers here will have some ideas for cutting that expense.
Fiancée's doctorate tuition: How much do you expect this to cost?
A $449k mortgage when you're making $72k (is that correct? I'm not sure if I follow the way you laid things out) sounds a little crazy to me. What do you expect to be making when you both finish your graduate degrees?
Thank you for your input! I am uncertain as to how much she will be paying for her doctorate, but her company will be reimbursing her full AFAIK. She is a bit underpaid as a registered nurse with 3 years of experience, but by the time she's finished her doctorate, we're hoping close to 6 figures. I am hoping to make low 6 figures by the end of this year.
Your house is crazy expensive for what you're making. From what I can tell, your combined income seems to be around $84,000? ($6000/month combined income + $500/month each.) Maybe you're anticipating high incomes in the future after school is complete (since it appears she's going to be a doctor.) But still... you jumped the gun a little IMO.
But it's done now so I would focus on cutting back as much as you can everywhere and maintaining a GOOD emergency fund. Your savings accounts are looking good.
Yes, we jumped the gun a bit, but considering new construction and the location of the home, it was a dive we decided to take together. We plan on staying here for quite some time.
EIther way, there's no point in dwelling over what's already done. We want to work with what we have and figure out ways we can improve upon that :-)