I feel stuck. I used to be so much better at managing my money back when I was dirt poor than I am now that I have an average income. I've been following along with MMM for a while now and thought I'd throw my situation out there to solicit some ideas from others. I'm very impatient to get out of debt but I just seem to keep digging myself a deeper and deeper hole. A little over a year ago I took the plunge and bought my own house. It's turned out to be a real money drain!
Okay *deep breath*.
Here are the numbers:
Income:
Take home pay = $2,800.00
Rental Income (from roommates) = $450.00
Rental income varies between $450 and $900; I rent two rooms out but haven't been able to keep people there very consistently. A couple times I've also hosted exchange students and even though you aren't supposed to profit off those I always had some money left over after paying their expenses.
Total monthly income = $3,250.00 (a little more when I can keep a second roommate there but in the end the only income that I can truly count on is my $2,800 monthly from my salary)
Monthly bills:
Mortgage= $1,164.00, $162,000.00 balance @ 4.875%.
This includes PMI payment of $62/mo; have about 12 percent equity based on Zillow "Zestimate" or 9 percent based on my original appraisal. Once I get to 20 percent of the original appraisal the PMI goes away. I do make extra payments since I split it into biweekly rather than monthly.
Home improvement loan = $200.00, $20,000.00 @ 4% Most of this is to try to decrease my heating, but also to get off of oil.
My previous heating bills were about $300 per month. Don't know what they will look like now that I'm on electric and am well insulated. I can probably get them to take this down about $50 now that my final bill is in (it was less than the estimate).
Home improvement loan= $85.00 $1,500.00 @ 9% Almost paid off, been aggressively putting as much as I can toward it.
Student loan = $400.00, $80,000.00 balance @ 4.85% Currently on forbearance so I can have money left over for food, etc.
Cell = $75.00 - Thought about paying the early termination and going with Google Voice and prepaid
Garbage= $25.00
Water/Sewer = $65.00 (This is the mininum payment regarless of if I use any)
Internet (a must have for renters) = $55.00
Netflix = $8.00 (this and going to free meetup.com groups are really my only sources of entertainment)
Pest control = $85.00 (Thought about getitng rid of. There were termites when I first moved in.)
Car Lease = $260.00 (2.5 years remaining, no option to transfer or terminate)
Gas = $50.00
Car Insurance = $80.00
House Repairs and maintenance = $500.00 This is an average over the last year. Hopefully I'm all caught up on repairs and maintenance for a while.
Electric = $40.00 was running about $40 a month. Will go up now that I'm using electric heat (ductless heat pump plus radiant heaters in rooms)
Total bills = $3,092.00
As you can see most of my expenses are related to the house in some way (as is some of my income). My total bills almost equal my total income leaving little left over for food, etc. (I've solved this by first using up all my savings and then putting student loans on forbearance but that is not sustainable). Even leasing the car was related to the house. I moved from the city to the suburbs in order to be able to buy a place of my own but they cancelled all buses near place a few months later so I felt stuck so I broke down and got a vehicle. Probably shouldn't have gone with leasing a new car, but it's too late for that now since the lease terms don't let me terminate or transfer.
I have moments where I think about giving up the house and going back to renting but now the total house debt including those improvement loans is more than I could sell it or rent it for after expenses and transaction costs (what was I thinking!?). I had a property management company look at it and they said I could get maybe $1,000 a month after their fees, that's less than the mortgage (plus I already have some income from renting rooms that would offset that). Also, since I made the transition from renter to owner, rents have gone up so much locally that I'm looking at $1,200 for a studio apartment should I move. There are some places I’d qualify for “low income” housing that would run about $800 in the suburbs to $1,200 in the city (closer to my work). If I do give up home ownership I could also rent a room in a rooming house for about $600 a month.
Oh, as for my personal situation, I am a 40 year old single guy who would like to NOT be single but I don't feel like I can afford to date (who the heck wants to date someone who is a financial burden and/or a cheapskate?). I have a master’s degree in community development and environmental science bachelors plus about 6 years’ experience in economic development (I graduated about 6 years ago). I don’t have particular marketable skills beyond the basics (good with computers, office type stuff, research skills, some basic gardening skills). Absolutely NOT very handy with tools. Wish I was so I could be more independent with house repairs.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
