Our Current Financial Situation

I am going to try to give an overview of our family's current financial situation as of 5/19. I am going to break down the loans we currently have, and our income as best as possible, plus explain a few of the oddities about our budget at the moment. This post is somewhat long and I apologize for the rambling, but I'm trying to paint a whole picture, and I'm not much of an artist, so things get a little bit out of control sometimes.

Debt

The vast majority of our debt is student loans. We have 2 credit cards, one for general use and emergencies ($300 limit) and one to the jewelry store where we bought my wedding ring ($1800 limit). The jewelry store card is paid off already, but the account remains open because closing it after less than a year would be a major hit to Jason's credit score.

Sallie Mae
     Signature Unsubsidized...................................................................................... $9680.62     6.25%
     Signature Subsidized........................................................................................... $2003.74    6.80%
     Signature Unsubsidized....................................................................................... $9105.17    6.25%


Department of Education
     Stafford Unsubsidized......................................................................................... $1782.11    6.80%
     Stafford Subsidized............................................................................................. $4367.01    6.80%
     Stafford Unsubsidized......................................................................................... $4298.28    6.80%


AES
     ALPLN Unsubsidized......................................................................................... $27020.85   6.74%


Jason's Parents........................................................................................................ ~$12500.00  6%


Jes's New Loans..................................................................................................... $2900      4.5% 
(? Still in my grace period so I haven't looked into them very much yet. I know the amount, just not the interest rate, but I do know the rate is significantly lower than our old loans, perhaps as low as 3.65%. I'm estimating higher here.) 


Credit Card................................................................................................................ $172       23.0% (Yikes!)


Total:  $73,829.78 (WOWZA!) 


So that is pretty much where we stand today. At this point in time, we are paying $231/month to Sallie Mae, $133/month to Dept of Edu, $155 to AES (going up to $230/month starting June 1st), and $25/month on the credit card (but we actually try to pay it off whenever we can so that's usually closer to $150-200/month). My new loans are still in their grace period since I am still in school, so those are not an immediate cost, and even though we were paying $200/month to Jason's parents, those payments stopped after I got laid off. The good side of family debt is that it's much easier to put on deferment in case of emergencies, but still not recommended. And yes, they do actually have a contract written up with interest rates and monthly payments scheduled to start as of Jan 1st 2013.

Other Bills

Here's a quick breakdown of the rest of our expenses by month, unless stated otherwise:

Rent: $750

Phones: $99

Electric: $40

All Other Utilities: $115

Internet: $72

Car Insurance: $472 per 6 month period

Auto Gas: $200

Babysitting: $20/day

Groceries: $400

Laundry: $40

Rent is set until September, no way around it, but luckily it won't be changing when we move. Phones are under contract for another year. We don't have data, we don't have smart phones. Our phones are at least 2 generations old, and not in very good condition. We have 750 minutes a month and unlimited texts. That's it. It really only goes up from there, and we are up for an upgrade right now, but we haven't taken it because it will cost us an extra $30+ a month and lock us into another 2 year contract. Yuck!

As far as utilities go, electric is the only thing we are individually billed for, and we try to keep this bill as low as possible. It is usually in the $32 range, but has gone up a little as the weather has gotten warmer, but hopefully with both of us working and me not being home all day and needing to cool the house, we will end up saving more here. All of our other utilities are (in)conveniently bundled for us by the apartment managers. Basically they take the total bill for the building and split it between the number of apartments that are occupied at the time. This sucks. A lot. It has effectively doubled our bills from our last apartment for utilities because we  have absolutely no recourse or say in keeping these bills down, plus they actually charge us a convenience fee for doing this. I hate it. This system has completely nullified our ability to save money on utilities by monitoring our water usage and things of that sort. 

We have found a reasonably priced babysitter who is willing to watch Logan for $20/day that we need her, which is important since our schedules both change from week to week and a traditional daycare is too expensive, and doesn't meet our needs. Sometimes this comes out to $40 for the whole week, other times it can be $100/week. This is a pretty big range that we have to keep in mind at all times.

Our grocery bill may seem a bit excessive. It's only the 3 of us, and Logan is happy to eat nothing but Goldfish and hot dogs if we would let him. But I don't actually budget for any other shopping that we have to do because it's a pain, so included with groceries is things like diapers and bathroom products. If either one of us needs clothing of any sort, it will most likely come out of the grocery budget, and we definitely come in under this budget more often than not. Our actual food expenses only amount to about $130 every 2 weeks. 

Lastly, laundry. Not having our own machines or any way to hook them up even if we did, we have to use the laundry facility onsite. This amounts to $3 to wash and dry one small load of laundry. Our work clothes are always the first priority to get washed, and everything else gets stuffed in wherever it fits. The only way to combat the backed up pile of dirty laundry is for me to wash it in the bathtub and hang it out to dry on the balcony. It is a HUGE pain in the ass, but it does save a little bit of money, and eventually its gets easier (like when your arms stop feeling like they're on fire, and you get good at wringing the water out effectively). 

Income

At this point in time it is really difficult to give an accurate picture of our income. There are several factors at work here. First of all, Jason works piece-rate, he is not guaranteed any hours or any amount on his paycheck. Summer is the busy season, so he is starting to pick up a little more now, but our monthly income from his job can vary from $1200/month to almost $3500. For the most part I plan for about $2000/month from his job. Sadly, he is working outside of his field, and if he were to go back into his field of study he would actually take a pretty big pay cut. Keep that in mind too. If you are struggling to find work in your chosen field, find work elsewhere and find a way to incorporate the two. Both of our previous education is in aircraft maintenance. Alas, this means we have a mechanical background that can be carried over to any number of other fields. You just have to convince the guy interviewing you that you can relate the two.

As of today, I have just completed my first week being back at work. I was home for 18 months with our son, and was finally able to get a job that pays enough for me to actually bring in a little extra money after daycare. Not much though. Unless I get a sudden influx of hours, I am only expecting to bring home about $300/month from my job. $9/hr is a little over minimum wage, but when you're only working a couple 2-4 hours shifts a week it doesn't amount to much.


Starting July 1st I will also be helping my mother take care of her properties here in CO. This will amount to $250 a month extra income for us. BUT we are also about to reach the end of our lease in this apartment, and are going to be moving into one of her houses, so instead of actually having $250/month extra, she will just be giving us a discount on rent. The end result is that instead of paying $750 a month for an apartment that we HATE, we will be paying the EXACT same amount to live in this house, and have a backyard plus our own utilities, and our own washer and dryer! So I will not call this money income in the traditional sense, but it is a sort of buffer that will improve our living situation drastically.

Total Income: $2000+300+($250)