Mommy2BeautifulGirls
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Posts posted by Mommy2BeautifulGirls
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Just found an article that states that our metropolitan area is the "most affordable" in the nation. Translates to: Your house is not worth selling at this point... :glare:
It goes on to state that the average house price is still 37% below the peak.
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Where would I get these? Would I need a prescription?
They are also found in a lot of foods - sauerkraut, yogurt, some pickles.
Have you tried ginger root or papaya root supplements? Both of those aid in digestion. I can't eat certain foods without waking up with nausea in the middle of the night, and ginger root taken before such foods allows me to be able to eat them.
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Would it make financial sense for you to rent in a safer area and rent out your current home?
People here rent out their homes to rent in areas with better high school.
That way it would buy you time to save for your dream home.
We actually have an opportunity to build a home for about $65/sq foot, which is a really great deal. Around here, anything under $100/sq foot - even for used homes (unless you count short sales) - is great. And honestly, our payment will probably be around what we would be spending for rent.
During the boom (2005) we prequalified for some totally outrageous amount. If we had purchased a house at that price---eek. I looked at our budget, figured out what payment we could afford without spending every last penny, and that's what we bought. 8 months later, DH lost his job and was unemployed for TWO YEARS. We still made the house payment with no problems. I still thank heaven that we didn't listen to the mortgage brokers.
That was us, too. We purchased in 2004 and my husband lost his job in 2006. It was only for about six months, though, and we're still here. :)
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I kind of skimmed the responses, and saw a couple people mention Victoria's Secret. Take her there. All young girls like the pink store! She would probably really appreciate you taking the time to take her there. Of course, she might not show it...
And I don't think you're weird!
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28% (including taxes and home insurance) and we were so incredibly lucky to find a decent home in a safe neighborhood for that. Our home prices are incredibly high here and we are living just off my income, but we are comfortable nonetheless.
Im all for sound financial planning, but applying at strict percentage across all areas does not make much sense when home prices and personal financial goals vary so much. Id personally rather have the well maintained home in a safe neighborhood, then the prospect of globetrotting in my retirement. The tradeoffs are just not worth it to me (which would be raising my children in a rundown apartment in an unsafe area)
We're about to that point, too. It's not necessarily "unsafe," but it's not getting any better. And we live near an unsafe city that seems to be getting closer and closer to us.
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cost of living
Oh... duh! :glare:
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We're at 11% and wouldn't go higher. We do live in a low COL area and our money went far.
What is "COL?"
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I'm thoroughly confused - Maybe I should choose another chemistry program to use next year! :laugh:
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I am not a Dave Ramsey person, so I have to ask. What is take home pay? Is it what is left after our 401k contributions, insurance payments, charitable constrictions, and tax withholding? Because I would think the correct percentages would vary according to whether one's primary retirement savings are withheld by an employer or invested in from a paycheck.
And what is included in the mortgage? My mortgage payment, since refi with a veterans loan, now includes property taxes and insurance.
So our mortgage (plus property taxes and insurance) is about 35% of the pay dh takes home after having paid taxes, insurance premiums, and 401k contributions. I don't know if DR would approve of that or not.
Yes, that is exactly what I mean--after taxes, medical, etc. Dave Ramsay suggests you don't go above 25%, BUT... he also suggests you take out a 15-year mortgage. I'm not so sure many people actually do that.
Our mortgage would include property taxes and insurance. We were looking into a place that would have been 34% of our take-home pay, but then decided against it. Looking at payment amounts and our current budget, I think we could reasonably afford 28% and still have plenty of breathing room for "extras."
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Finally, EEBA is an app that you can use on your iPhone or Android that uses virtual envelopes. SOOOOO much easier and less stressful than keeping all of that cash around.
I like the look of that app. However, I've become quite fond of having all the extra change to put into savings. It really adds up quick if you use cash for all of your shopping. If the money gets to be too much, I'm totally going to get that app!
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Yes. We relocated here.
Do you currently have renters? If you relocated, I'm assuming you have a rental company handling everything, right? I ask, because we are going to be moving and renting out our current home while we wait for the market to return.
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I don't know anything about Dave Ramsey so obviously I won't know what he recommends.
Around here because of tightening of home mortgage, it is hard to get a new loan or to refinance at anything above 33% of gross pay (before tax)
We are currently at 28% of take home pay for our 2nd home. Our 1st home is paid up. When we were paying two mortgages we were at 80% of take home.
Also it really depends on how much is take home pay. 65% left at a higher income bracket is a lot more breathing room.
Do you still own your 1st home?
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I was rereading through my somewhat controversial thread on mortgages and was wondering something. It's clear that 35% or take-home pay is more than a lot of people are willing to spend. However, what ARE people comfortable with? Do most of you try to stick to the 25% that Dave Ramsay suggests?
We are currently at around 14% with our current mortgage, but I know at one point almost an entire paycheck was going for the mortgage and the other paycheck was going toward everything else. It was rough, but we made it work.
Also, how many renters are out there in TWTM world? Do you rent because you have to, or do you just not want to have a mortgage?
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Wow! That is really good!
I agree with nansk that the only thing I found wrong was her misuse of "me," but I disagree that it's a "basic mistake." I am surrounded by people who misuse that in speech all the time. I'm sure she'll correct that on her own as she learns more grammar.
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It is a very nice paragraph. She has a nice topic sentence and gives good examples. The last sentence needs some help as I'm a bit unsure what she means.
:iagree:
The last sentence is confusing, but overall, I think she did a great job for a first paragraph!
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Good news! I went through everything my girls are going to be using in the next year (hopefully!), and it came out to $575! That leaves the extra $225 for science supplies, art supplies, etc.
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Well, let me throw a wrench in. LOL :crying:
I think it probably depends on what you are using for curriculum. I know I will have spent more than that on 3 kdis for next year. Of course, I have a junior high student so that means my stuff costs a little more in the things I have selected. I realistically will spend about $1300-1400 on curriculum. Plus, I spend about an extra 500 a year on books, ink, paper, etc. Now, I buy books. Our library is limited and I do not want to have to always be going. The convenience factor is worth it for me. And, I also purchase new. (I have some OCD issues. :o )
I guess what I am saying is not to be surprised as your kids age that some of your expenses may increase.
I will keep that in mind. I'm sure our co-op fees will increase, as well. For now, I think I can do it for this, but I can always change it in the years to come. And I can work extra to cover further expenses.
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Busted! My current budget has me putting $50/month aside for school curricula and supplies, while $35 is put aside for our co-op. The $1200 is actually more than I currently have "budgeted," and for some reason I got that $600 stuck in my head. I really do mean $800! But that has to cover EVERYTHING: books, art supplies, printer ink, paper, science experiment items, etc.
Based on everyone's responses, though, it does seem like this should be doable. I just have to sit down and figure out how many Moving Beyond the Page literature units I will need, as that will be a tad bit pricey.
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When we did Real Science 4 Kids, I ordered the kit from Home Science Tools that went with it. The kit was about $50 or so and had the hard to find items for the experiments.
My only complaint was that the three RS4K books didn't last us a full year. I ended up getting a science fair book from the library for DD to stretch out the material.
How long did a book last you? We do science just 2 days a week.
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I haven't used Mr. Q, but it's free, so you could try it and the free sample of RSO (if they still do that) and see which one fits.
They do still offer the first so many weeks free.
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I would suggest putting your curricula plans in a spreadsheet, with prices, and calculate how much you'll need. Everyone spends different amounts, and it largely depends on how much you use the library, whether you need any special programs, and how much work you want done for you. There is sometimes a trade-off between money and time (though not always).
Also, I recommend padding your estimate a bit too take into account changes you may need to make during the year.
That is a good idea. I could put everything I plan to use, and if we change course, I'll just have to try to stay within the budget. Honestly, I'm surprised I haven't already done this. I'm usually a list/spreadsheet gal!
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We took $2500.00 to closing on the house we had before this one. It was the only way to sell it. Banks have tightened up about how many "fees" can be rolled into a mortgage and since it's a buyer's market - ie. tons of repos for sale, tons of houses underwater and short-selling, etc. - the buyer can easily negotiate to NOT pay his/her own closing costs on their mortgage. So, in order to dump the place, we ended up paying $2500.00 of their mortgage fees/points/whatever. That said, given how bad the market in Michigan is, we were ever so grateful to dump it. The house lost nearly $100,000.00 in value in 18 months.
The market will eventually right itself...it's going to take about another five or six years to sort itself out. However, when that happens, houses will be - except in crazy areas like California, D.C., Boston, etc. - more moderately priced, larger downpayments will be required to get mortgages, mortgage insurance premiums will probably have to be paid for longer periods of time, and qualifying for a home will be tighter. Probably reverting to more of a 1960's/70's scenario in which one was in your 30's before you had enough money saved to buy a modest home and then it was on a 20 year mortgage because you wanted it paid off before you faced retirement due to health issues that tend to start springing up in your 60's. Appreciation of prices will be slow and steady, so not great short-term investments as they were by the end of the 90's and into the early 2000's, but long term, a little better if the interest rate is reasonable.
Faith
I'm going to borrow this for another thread. :) It's stated quite well. :D
ETA: Nevermind... I did not borrow this for the other thread. :)
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If the economy is so bad where you are that 1/2 of the houses in your neighborhood are either bank owned or being rented out by the owners I would definitely not want to be one of them.
I don't want to be one of them! That's why we're moving! :p
Seriously, though, I did not read any malicious intent into anything you've said on this thread at all. In fact, I value your opinion and appreciate your honesty.
Grammar error? Or not?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Does anyone else see what I see in this little snippet?
When referring to objects, though, the rule for using “that†and “which†correctly is simple:
If that leaves you more confused than when you began this article, read on…
A restrictive clause is one which is essential to the meaning of a sentence – if it’s removed, the meaning of the sentence will change.