Current expenses:
$1,745.00 Rent & Util
$15.00 Seattle City Light
[b]$121.33 Phones[/b]
$60.00 Internet (Wave G)
[b]$832.00 Waldorf[/b]
$100.00 Discover Card
$400.00 Groceries
$30.00 Household
$30.00 Health & Beauty
$40.00 Pets
$20.00 Activities
[b]$8.25 Amazon Prime[/b]
$10.42 Renters Insurance
$3.00 Harry's
$500.00 Emergency Savings
$0.00 HBO Now
[b]$16.41 Spotify Premium[/b]
[b]$10.95 Adobe CC[/b]
Recently canceled HBO Now. We still have Spotify Premium. Adobe CC is used for my photography hobby. That Activities budget of $20/month is regularly overspent. We definitely have an issue with spending money outside of the home, on dining ventures. Not fancy stuff. Things like coffee shops, ice cream, etc. But a lot of little $10 outings adds up!
Assets: $2,500 EF
Liabilities: Discover Card payment of $100. This was an amount left-over when we filed bankruptcy in 2014.
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How do we do it? I would love recommendations here. I feel like we don't have enough food, despite making everything from scratch except things like bread and cereal. I feel like we're not going to ever be in a situation where we could afford to take time off work, much less get injured/fired or retire... Granted, there are plenty of advancements in our future, but it seems pretty dire right now.
The $1,800 we pay in rent includes utilities and pet rent. We actually only pay 53% of our unit's market rent value because of Seattle's MFTE program that allows us to pay based on our income level. This $1,800 unit is a 2x2, something unheard of in Seattle. It's location allows us to live a car-free lifestyle.
The $832/month is for our daughter's Waldorf school. She is now old enough to go to Public, but she wanted to do one more year of kindergarten at Waldorf, then start Public in first grade (Waldorf does two years of kindergarten). The school gives us 50% tuition aid (normally $1,664).
It feels as though we may never reach financial freedom. How does one buy a house in this city without being rich first?
Warning: long post
I hope I will be able to help at least a little.
1. Change your attitude.
I know it is hard at your age to see the light. But I was not dreaming of a future at your age - although I was starting to see that I am "lucky". I considered that if I do my part as good as I can things will work out. I can say things worked out. Although I am 38 and just started really saving last year, I think I am fine. And just to give some details on how lucky I was: at 25 years of age I worked in a computer store with low wage - one year later as a Junior developer/tester, one more year later to
another company as a Tester (still living with my parents because the income was too low). Now, after 13 years, I have a family, a house (not living in it, it is in my native country), earning good, moved to Seattle one year ago (to the
same company above).
I would say that if you like what you do your "luck" will come too.
And I admit that until 30-33 I was more interested in parties and going out than savings - part because the income was so low that I did not see "the light".
Don't pass on having fun, just make sure your having fun does not screw you on the long term. So have fun without destroying your health.
2.I made some of your expenses bold, will start with the easy ones.
Phones:
he last year I had Republic Wireless - 35 USD for two phones. I finally got fed up with them trying to call only over wireless and switched to TMobile - 98 USD for two phones. You can save between 90 and 30 USD/month there. You could look at Republic Wireless, now they have more phone options and they are out of the hardware of the phones.
I would go to Republic/other cheap option for at least one year (the good thing is that you are not locked in) if I were you -
90 USD/month difference is a lot I think. It is almost your Discover card payment.Amazon Prime + Spotify Premium:
- Get rid of at least one. Amazon also has music and movies, could you just use that?
Or even better, get rid of both if that makes you buy less.
One thing to keep in mind:
make sure that Prime membership does not trick you into buying things.Getting rid of both: 36 USD/monthGetting rid of the Premium part of Spotify: 17 USD/month.
Adobe CC:
If you like the stuff you are doing with it look into getting something out of it too.
Part time photography? I see a lot of people coming to the Discovery park with photographs - some have newborn babies, some are newly wed people, some are just people who want some better pictures?
Waldorf:
This is the hardest one to shut down for me as I want the best for my kid too.
But: we have our kid in a co-op preschool and we are very happy with this - we paid 200 USD/month last year, now will pay 400 USD/month as we will go one more day /week.
It is only 3 hours/day 3 days/week, so I don't know if this suits you as you both work.
It forced my wife to socialize, work for the co-op and it allowed us to integrate quicker.
The education part is very good too from our opinion - my wife should be able to tell, she has a B.SC in Psychology focused on teaching kids with mental disabilities, went to a highschool to become a teacher (don't know the name for this type of school in the USA), worked for 10 years as a preschool teacher in our country.
I don't think this is a problem for you if you are born in this country, but I thought I should mention this :).
In the end this is only for one more year - although it adds up to a nice amount.
Would those 9,000 USD help you do something else and still have a good start for your kid?
So, the easy ones to cut (for me at least) above go to more than 100 USD/month.
If you can also cut the kid tuition you get even more.
Put everything to pay the Discover card and after you pay it off you can save this money.
I would even put more from the monthly emergency fund toward the Discovery card. If something happens you still have the card and you can put some expenses on it, but at least you don't pay interest.
EDIT: Forgot to address one more important thing.
You ask about buying a house in Seattle. Don't do it. Forget about it.
I did the same in my country when I started to earn more (thanks to my "luck"). I got a mortgage and built a house.
As the plans did not match the expenses for the house it added to some work related stress - and I am 99% sure that some of the health problems I have now are from that stress.
So don't think about buying a house now.
Get into a comfortable state financially/mentally. And when you will have enough you get a house too.
Last:
The fact that you posted here is a good sign for you - you will get advice on fixing things.
Use that advice.