Babies on the Brain
KFog
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Raising a family on 50k?
KFog
member
Hi all,
My husband and I want to start trying to have a baby this coming September. I want to stay home with our babies and my husband wants that too. He currently makes about 50k a year. I don't think it is realistic to have a mortgage payment, car payment, food money, etc. and be able to raise a family on 50k.
My husband thinks that 50k a year is plenty of money. I don't.
Does anyone have a similar experience? Is it doable without living paycheck to paycheck?
Any advice/thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!
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Re: Raising a family on 50k?
That all depends on your cost of living. If you live in San Fran, then no, it's not really that feasible. If you living in a small town in Kansas, then yeah, it would be doable.
Sit down, make a budget, live off of his income alone, and see how far you have to stretch yourself.
It depends on where you live (cost of living is different everywhere).
I live in Idaho, and if my husband made 50K a year, we'd have two cars, a new house, and all our bills paid off. If my husband made 50K a year, we'd have no problem adding a second child to our family.
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Thanks for all of the responses.
We live in MN, cost of living isn't super high but also isn't low. We pay about $1300 in rent right now, looking to buy a house in the next 6 months.
I do not make enough money to justify working once we have kids, my take home pay after daycare wouldn't be worth it, and I really want to stay home with our babies.
Yeah, I didn't see that. No, it's no doable at that price.
A kiss he will never forget- Disney World 2014
It's doable depending on your expenses. For instance my parents raised two kids and built a house on about 30k a year, but we lived in trailer, didn't get to eat out much, had paid off older vehicles, and it took 6 years to build the house.
Where we live 35k is pretty average for most one income families. But our monthly mortgage payment is just under $600 for our 2bd 1.5ba house. I can't even imagine paying that much for a house payment much less rent I mean wow. If we had a take home of 50k a year our house would be almost paid off in about 5 years as well as his truck and plenty extra.
Me: 27 Dh: 35 Testing Begins 3/5/13
Six SA's show DH has low numbers across the board = severe MFI
Genetic testing for me = MTHFR+, also carrier for blood clotting disorder Otherwise all else normal
Dh's karotype= Normal!!
Where do you live? I'm so down for moving there!
OP, I can tell you that yes it is possible even with that mortgage, granted I don't know your car debt or credit card debt... But you are going to have to sacrifice in a big way to make it happen. Might be a good time to move into a less expensive place at least temporarily and when you buy your mortgage payment will need to be less than what you've got now.
DH makes about 50k but is lucky enough to have bonus opportunities as well. When I lost my job we cut all the fat out of our spending and would be able to make due. Our mortgage with HOA is just a bit higher than yours. But I can honestly tell you that we could never live like that for an extended timeframe.
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If my husband's support of me being a SAHM waned because of these things, I would have a major issue. Why aren't his savings supposed to help cover any emergencies?
Lurker here... I saw your post on money matters, but my response seemed more appropriate to post here since everyone is going over rent cost.
I pay exactly what you pay in rent ($1300, but for a one bedroom in a very HCOL area) and barely make it by on 60k. My husband is school full time, so we live off just one income. I don't make 60k, so we've been dipping into some inheritance money to get by (IMO it's better than ending up with student loans when all is said and done).
50k seems a bit low to me if your rent is already $1300 AND you have a car payment. Make a budget and see if you can get by. If you're in a LCOL area, it could work, but I truly think you should be looking for a place with lower rent/mortgage payments. From my experience, money is uncomfortably tight.
Good luck!
Ditto whoever said to try living on just your H's income for a while. Save your entire paycheck and see how it is with just you two.
A friend of mine lives near Seattle, is a SAHM with 3 kids, and her H makes ~55/year. Their rent is a little less than yours, though, and the only debt they have is one student loan payment.
I remember reading an article about a dad who stayed home 'cus it saved them money in the long run. Of course I can't find it now. But they downsized to just one vehicle, his commuting costs were gone (gas, parking, car insurance), he had time to look for the best deals at grocery stores and use coupons, cooking and packing lunches instead of eating out, no more dry cleaning bills for his suits, not buying work clothes anymore, no more Starbucks on the way to work, etc.
What would you and H be willing to give up for you to stay at home? For a different friend, all they had to do to really make it work was give up TV.
OP, ditto what everyone said about trying to live on just one income for awhile. Take the fantasy of being a stay at home mom away, and look only at the facts.
If rent is that high, then you probably couldn't afford to purchase/maintain a house on one income.
You would be cutting out (or drastically limiting) vacations, emergency savings, education savings, new vehicles, retirement savings, etc.
Living on 50k can be done, but I think only for a limited time. I don't believe it would be possible if you are forced to eliminate too many luxuries that other people have. Over time, you and your DH might start to resent how tight finances are. All work and no play is not a good thing, and you don't have the option when money is that tight.
Would it bother you if you were no longer able to keep up with what your friends/families are doing and buying?
Can you get a part-time evening job to help get a little extra money for the family?
I am a SAHM, and it's hard, you get bored, tired and start to feel like you don't have much of a life outside of your kids. If we didn't take family vacations and get away from time to time, I know my marriage would suffer. DH makes well over 100k a year though, and works out of town, so in our case it makes sense for me to stay home. Our mortgage is $1200 a year, and we by no means live a ritzy lifestyle. In order for our income to be cut in half, we would have to eliminate emergency/retirement/education savings, and that would cause a lot of strain on our marriage (and future).
If you can stay home and still manage to be moving in a forward direction financially, then I would say go for it. If you have to stand still, then I say there is no way you can make it work.
That wouldn't be do-able at all in the city I live in (High cost of living). My husband and I make about three times that amount combined, but our mortgage is $2800. I will still have to work full-time if we have a kid. (And if we have one, there is no option for more than one child)...
I would highly recommend meeting with a financial planner in your area. Preferably one who specializes in young families. Look for someone with a CFP designation. They can help you determine what you can afford and find ways for you to cut costs in your current budget. Good luck!
Whoa!!! Seeing what everyone pays on rent just about makes my heart stop. $1000 would barely get you a one bed-one bath basement apartment (all bets are off if you were planning on buying; that would run you, like, $1500) in my area (DC Metro. I mean, maybe if you were out in the burbs you could get a decent townhome, but that would be a stretch.
But since you live in MN, yea, rent may be half your OH's paycheck, but what else are you paying for? If you have no student loans and other bills are fairly low, than 50K might be just enough for you to live on. Sit down and make a realistic budget to see if 50K is something you'd be happy living with in the next few years.