Apologies in advance for a long post...
Hi all. I'm not new to MMM or plans for early retirement, but I've spent most of my time daydreaming and not putting anything into action, which needs to stop. I'm a constant planner and reader, but suffer deeply from analysis paralysis and never actually follow through with plans. Again, something that has to stop now.
I'm currently heading into a new unknown, which is again is leaving me afraid of starting anything until I get things sorted out, but this time I really want to get a follow through going, knowing that plans can, and usually do, change...so it doesn't hurt to start something, even if the end result may not look the same as expected.
Me: 34, employed and newly married. 1 child from previous marriage. $0 in current retirement savings. <insert facepunch #1 here>
Spouse: 32, stay at home mom (for now). 2 children from previous marriage. $40k in retirement savings.
We got married in Dec, so when I did our Married filing jointly, we got a decent refund (about $8500 combined from state/fed). I've since updated my withholding so that we won't get one again next year. This was from my withholding as single status up until we got married. We're in the process of combining households, and moving her from NYC to Maryland, at which point she's going to start looking for work.
The newest blessing in our situation is that she lives with her mom in NYC, and mom has agreed to sell her home and buy us a home in MD. We're getting a lovely house w/ a beautiful separate in-law suite for mom with 3.3 acres for everyone. Mom is going to retire, using the difference in home prices as a big nest egg and a fair pension from a previous job to live. As part of our arrangement with mom buying the house is that we (wife and I) would cover prop tax and utilities. Mom may help out on that as she adjusts to retired life and sees how she can live on what she has, but for the time being - we're expecting to cover all expenses for the house except for mom's food and her car/insurance.
I was a Dave Ramsey follower, so I have little debt. I was debt free, but before buying this house, I was trying to save for a downpayment of my own and ended up putting about $2300 on my credit card instead of paying cash for things so I could have some extra money down. Which I will no longer need since mom's buying in cash.
So here's a quick rundown of the basics. There's a fair amount of money left over, but doesn't account for a lot of the "consumer spend" that we still have. The wife is fairly frugal for herself, but has a weak spot for the kids, and thus things like Disney channel are a requirement for now. As we adjust to the new house and hopefully some outdoor fun around our larger property, we can revisit it.
Mortgage/Rent 0.00
Property Tax 370.00
Property Insurance 75.00*
Trash 29.00
Electric 200.00*
TV 100.00*
Internet 50.00*
Heat (Oil/Gas/Propane) 165.00
Groceries 350.00
Auto Insurance 170.00
Auto Gas 250.00
Tolls 100.00
Child Support 600.00
Cell (me) 45.00
Cell (wife) 60.00
Total: 2,564.00
Income: 3,600.00
* costs are estimates as we haven't moved in
This doesn't include any house maintenance, car maintenance, or "fun" money. But there's LOTS of facepunchable stuff here.
Assets:
Savings: $12,000
Jeep (paid off): $2000
Hyundai (paid off): $3000
Debt: $2,300 (credit card)
I work from home, but my job is shaky at best. I haven't driven my Jeep in about 3 months because it has no heat, and I think we could realistically become a 1 car family. Though if she goes back to work soon, I may need something. My truck is a real Dave Ramsey "beater." Cheap, no heat, runs ok. Wouldn't want to replace with anything fancy, though having a small pickup truck might help around the property for hauling wood and other junk around. I think that's a frill purchase though...I could get away with a small trailer hooked up to my jeep for most of that.
Theoretically I have almost $1000/mo to save, though some of that will disappear for other things. Obviously if she gets a job, we'll add child care expenses, but everything after that can be savings because we can easily cover all the bills with what I make.
We're also in the process of getting full custody of her daughter, so she may get child support from that. Much of that would go to saving for future college expenses, but some would be used to offset some of our expenses. The reason gas and tolls are so high is that we have to drive to NYC 2x a month to pick the daughter up. That may go down if we get custody and only have to meet halfway for transfer to her father.
Give me some face punches as needed. Advice appreciated. Not even sure what to ask, so I put what info I thought was relevant out there.