Great job on the turnaround and killing your debts! But I do see several areas that are definitely going to be facepunch-worthy... apologies if it seems harsh (not intending to be mean, just very blunt so it registers - which is the point of a "facepunch" on this forum). If you did make some further changes, you likely would be doing REALLY well and on track for a decent retirement that might just be a bit earlier (no idea how old you are but 4 kids, I'd say you have to be at least in your mid 20s-30s).
The fact that there is no $ in your budget for dental, clothing, college funding (although you and your wife's retirement funds should take priority over college) and have a very wasteful mulitvitamin MLM scam in there (advocare)? Yikes. That crap is... well, crap. So glad that's going away, but it's disturbing you had it in there at all. If you got any benefit from it, it was a placebo effect, and spending $200 a month on something awful like that should be a wakeup call. Garbage supplements are not the way to be healthy.
Glad you realize the cell phone situation is silly as well. That could be waaaaaaay less than you're paying.
On a single income with that many family members, it's is wrong IMO you tithe 12 THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR. I get that church obligations can sometimes be a touchy subject, but logically that is not in any way a good use of funds. You should reduce that significantly (especially if you are basing it off of gross salary, plus overtime which is going away). I'd cut that in half (at least) and donate time instead to do volunteer work if you feel an obligation to your church, but that's crazy you prioritize that much money over funding your dental, your medical or your own retirement/future, or even saving a bit for your children's college.
Why on earth do you have 3 cars? Lose one and reduce your insurance and maintenance payments.
Do you have an IRA for your spouse? Not sure if the Roth IRA is a single one or combined amounts from yours and hers, but in any case you are woefully underfunded for retirement accounts and you can fund both your own and a spousal IRA (as long as you make under the IRA limits to open one in the first place). It's only going to allow you a max of $5,500/yr per person, but it's better than your current contributions. And yes, you absolutely should be funding your 457 as well if not maxing it out - find the least expensive broad market fund and go hard into it (maybe use the money cut from the tithing?). See the
investment order post to figure out what should go where in what priority.
Station meals, food storage, eating out and groceries - your family of 6 (and I'm going to assume your children are not all teens so do not require adult sized meals) spends over 1,200 a month on eating. That's crazy. Groceries are at $900? Your wife stays home? One of her jobs is to get that budget/food prep down. I read several bloggers with large families (including
Frugal Girl, who has 4 kids - 2 teens and 2 tweens - she posts about her grocery breakdowns and great recipes/budgeting, is a one income family and also religious) and their food budget is quite a bit less than this. You can do better, but it may mean taking a hard line on what brands are purchased and batch cooking. Shop the sales/loss leaders. Check out places like Aldi if you have one nearby. Reduce expensive meats and eat more veggies/beans/rice. Meal plan for the week and cook in bulk, freeze portions for later so you're not eating on the same thing and get bored (unless you like leftovers - we do in my family and eat till it's gone). Cut out things like juice and snacky junk food.
Budgetbytes.com has fantastic recipes and great breakdowns on pricing. No idea what station meals actually means, but if you can, you should be packing a lunch not buying one. And paying $100 a month for food storage is just blowing my mind... really, what is this and why is it even necessary?
Right around $500 a month on things like presents and "fun stuff" and date nights. I get that fun stuff should be in the budget, but there are ways to do so cheaply. Public parks, library (with lots of fun free programs for kids and adults), you already pay for the Y membership, so that counts as fun as well so right there we're up to almost $600/month... but they do include free child watch and have a huge variety of activities for both kids and adults you should be taking advantage of.
What about friends or family that can watch the kids, or arrange to have a babysitting share where you watch friend's kids one day a week and they watch yours on another day so everyone gets some date night time at no cost? And do special occasions always equal spending money? What about making things/crafting for presents for any adults, a few small presents for birthdays/x-mas for the kids and then doing something for your community/church on special occasions - to both appreciate what you have and are building on while teaching your kids that community service is a gift to both them and their society?
