family size of 3. spend $4,000 a mo.?

gootl

Wed, Aug 05 2015, 9:11 pm

well its official, every where I go today people find me offensive. no idea why. I was voicing a wonderment that everyone has cars. whatever. my husbands main job is 32 hrs, 14 an hour. he also leins at a shul for 600 a month. he sometimes works for the chevra kadisha which pays 60/shift. when he does that he does 2-3 shifts. and someone helps us a little-750 a month. but he is looking for a better job, more hours and better pay, so he wont have to do so many hours or take tzedakah. if I was in school or working we would pay between 250 and 350 in child care based on the babysitter we use occasionally now who runs a day care from her home. I dont know why I am responding but I am hoping that I wont get attacked again. on a different site this evening I offended all working moms. so now its people who own cars for whatever reason.

cnc

Wed, Aug 05 2015, 9:17 pm

gootl wrote:

Didn't seem like anyone was offended, just people explaining why 2 cars are necessary in that situation. And also that your numbers didn't match up...

seeker

Wed, Aug 05 2015, 9:17 pm

I'm thinking the needing 2 cars goes along with the $900 rent+utilities. If you lived in NY you would have great public transportation but astronomical rent. There's always a tradeoff.

Fave, I'm assuming OP's DH didn't even START his residency because she says he has zero income. Income starts with residency, from what I understand.

I don't know all the personal details and considerations that went into OPs choices, but I'm with Dolly in questioning whether it is really a good idea for them to both be full time students (ok intern, whatever) at the same time. Sometimes you just need to choose. Wife can get a lower-paying job for a couple of years, maybe from home, save on the car and start earning money instead of piling on loans, and then she can go back to school when DH starts earning money. Or maybe she can do some schooling part time at night. But I don't see how it is going to work out for them with nobody earning money and two people going to school and having children at the same time. They are going to be paying off debts when everyone else their age is ready to retire.

cnc

Wed, Aug 05 2015, 9:20 pm

seeker wrote:

Fave's comment is due to the fact that this thread is from 2012.

amother

Pewter

Wed, Aug 05 2015, 9:25 pm

I wasn't offended at all, sorry if I came off grumpily. I was just pointing out that cars are one of the least helpful items to discuss when it comes to budget because it is highly specific to location. If you live in a city with good public transportation, you don't need one, and it's nice not to have that expense or responsibility. But that doesn't mean cars are an unnecessary expense in general. Move just thirty minutes out, and suddenly it IS necessary. Move to the next state over, and you need not one, but two. Happens to be, housing costs usually drop where car necessity increases, so you are more able to afford the car. I do know of people who moved from, say, NYC to Long Island and were all excited about the bundle of money they were saving on housing only to realize that they needed a car now. They still saved on the housing, but a decent chunk of the savings were moved over to a new expense column, that of car ownership.