Hello, all
We are a family of 5 wanting to decrease our monthly budget. Here's the information.
Me: College Professor, 30 years
Husband: Stay-at-home dad, substitute teacher, working on Masters for Teacher Education, 30 years
Kids:
8 Year Old has autism, will likely not be able to live on his own
5 Year Old has medical needs, hospitalized 8x in 5 years, but should be able to function as normal adult
2 Year Old is typically developing
3195.10 - Take Home Monthly Wage (after taxes/insurance/retirement) (Okay, okay, that's not my real monthly pay because I'm paid every 2 weeks instead of twice a month. But I'm not good with math so that's my check that I get every 2 weeks x2).
6% - Amount Company Contributes to 403B
3% - Amount I contribute to 403B (maxing out match, but hope to contribute more)
Currently have 67K in 403B retirement (not all from this company, but that's my total)
50K in bank accounts getting very little interest (Capital One 360)
25K in mutual funds through ShareBuilder
Husband substitute teaches for $85/day. He averages 2 days a week, but the jobs are available to work every single day. We just moved and he's been working on projects at home so he hasn't subbed as much as he could, but he would like to work more in the fall, at least 4 days a week.
1361 - Mortgage (Home was 217K, put down 20%, owe 172K, 4.5% interest. Just purchased. Very stupid, extravagant home with 3000sf/marble bathrooms/granite windowsills....but we needed this school district for their autism program so whatever)
177.71 - AFLAC
20.56 - Life insurance (have 300k on each adult)
130 - Electricity average
40 - Cancer policy on family
40 - Gas average
20 - Hospital insurance
174 - Cell phone
75 - Water/sewer
120 - Internet/cable
83 - Car insurance
450 - Food
80 - Gas
200 - Misc
=2240ish
No Debt Whatsoever besides mortgage - I got a PhD with no school debt and hubby is taking classes at my college for 50% off (and we're paying cash). No car debt. No credit card debt.
I work from home teaching for an online university. We live within easy walking distance of the kids school. We have 2 vehicles, a 2006 minivan and a 2005 truck. We don't drive a lot because we don't commute.
I don't think early retirement is really an option for us since we really need health insurance and my health insurance through my work is FABULOUS! Our oldest child is likely going to be with us forever, so we've got to consider that.
We'd just like to reduce our overall expenses. Since moving to this extravagant, expensive area, we've been disgusted by all the Moms waiting in the carpool line for an hour in their giant SUVs and then driving through Starbucks for a latte and later doing lunch at an expensive restaurant...we don't want to be like that. We want to save for whatever the future holds. We don't want to be stupid.
Where can we start cutting expenses to save for the future? My number one goal would probably be to pay off our house early. If we can do that, we really have a lot more options. I just want to make sure that we're doing everything we can do to care for our children, 2 of whom have special needs. Do you have any advice? We would also like to know what to do with our savings--where should we put it to get more than the .75% interest we're getting now??