Income: Both my wife and I work regular 9-5 jobs at the moment, and earned ~105k in 2013. I also run a small side business that has profits of ~5-6k/year. I'm 28, and she's 32.
1 child, girl, 1 week old.
Current expenses:
Mortgage (15 yr, ~111k balance @ 3.375) 1100/mo.
Student loan (5,800 left, min 150/mo) 400/mo. (Plan is to pay this off by the end of the year)
No Other Debt.cell phones (2) 50/mo (republic)
Gym 44/mo - Covers both of us, but seriously considering getting a weight rack for the house.
lights/gas avg, 80/mo, but can go as low as 50 and as high as 120
Trash/sewer/water - 45/mo - this probably wont get much lower, ever.
gas - 250/mo - Probably high for us (I walk to work every day and my wife's commute is ~5mi). Should start to get lower as we get in the habit of biking/walking more.
Food 708/mo, broken down like:
- groceries: 375/mo
- resturants: 175/mo
- bars/booze: 83/mo
- fast food/coffee shops: 100/mo
Netflix: 17
Car Insurance: 150/mo (2 cars, 1 2010 ford ranger, 1 2011 nissan rogue)
House projects/stuff: 1k/mo (avg, expect this to go down as 80% of stuff is now done)
Savings Contributions: 1000/mo
Retirement Contributions 500/mo - low because we both will have pensions (hopefully)
Retirement contributions are low for now, we've been focused on updating our house and paying off debt.
Avg Monthly Expenses (From 2013): 6036, but includes savings/retirement.
Assets:
Primary home - conservative value of 220k.
Roth IRA - 8000
Brokerage account: 1k
Money Market - 20k
Savings/Cash - 14,500
403b 1,000 - contribute 1500/year
Liabilities: Amount - rate - description
111k - 3.375 - house loan
5500 - 6% - student loan.
Total: 116,500
Specific Question(s): Looking to reach FI as soon as possible. Our expenses have been high over the last 18 months because we bought a pretty drab/beat up property in a good neighborhood at a low cost, and have sunk quite a bit of time/money into making it something that looks like and would sell for much more than we bought it (150k - apr 2013).
I know that our food spending is high (and I realize it's much higher than it should be). Probably need some tips on how to stay at home and eat when facing a time crunch at night (yes, we have a crock pot, yes we use about 1-2x/wk).
So, mustacians, where can we cut and start investing in the proceeds?
I've toyed with the idea of pulling some equity out of the house and purchasing a rental property, but it's not exactly a great time (just had a kid). The rental market in our area is totally whack (you can buy a house for 115k, rent it for 850-900/mo) because of a military installation.
Thoughts? Places to cut (besides food, gas)?