With a wife and 2 kids, how much money do you need to make before you stop worrying about your budget?

What are your expenses like? Making $180k and struggling to make ends meet sounds like you have one hell of a mortgage.

Ask this guy

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4899960&page=0

We're not struggling to make ends meet. I just feel forced to remain acutely aware of how much I'm spending on minor expenses, like new running shoes, and that is frustrating sometimes.

Same Boat as you.

A little different - I'm 31 and support my wife and 16-month old (my wife doesn't work). Make $140k and definitely feel like we're paycheck to paycheck some months.

I think it all depends where you live, and we have a mortgage in the heart of Chicago.

I can't exactly make more money, so we're very tight with spending.

Crazy, I made like 35k living with friends in 2007 and never worried a bit about money, and still saved each month.

If you ever stop caring about your budget, you'll end up penniless.

Maybe if you had an obscene amount of wealth in the neighborhood of $500 million you could spend money like water. Maybe your money would outlive you.

Our household income is similar. We only have one child but he's expensive (eg. Private school, select baseball, etc.). Still, we're able to save 35% of our gross pay, afford to have a 15-year mortgage, and take at least one nice vacation a year. While we're not exactly living paycheck to paycheck, we still try to stick to a budget. Until my son is off to college and our mortgage is paid off, I'll always worry about money. So for me, it has more to do with financial obligations, not about how much money I make.

As mentioned above, you must have a huge mortgage, or live in a very expensive part of the country.

It's probably not the mortgage that's the problem, but the car loans

Random Observer wrote:

It's probably not the mortgage that's the problem, but the car loans

My first thought as well. $180K per year and you have car loans?

OP, it never stops. MY wife and I are both 32 with a combined income of $315K.

We're always on a tight budget between the mortgage, monthly expenses, three kids in private school, saving for retirement/college/weddings, etc.

It was the same when we were making only $200K and I'm sure it will be the same at $400K.

Stole from a baby wrote:

If you ever stop caring about your budget, you'll end up penniless.

^^^^This. I make 230K. My wife works part time. 2 kids, aged 13 and 15. Sure, we have enough to live on. But the FIRST things to consider with our money are impending college fees and retirement. Once we've socked away enough for those each month, and that is a boatload, BTW, plus making a reserve for being able to replace a car every few years and make repairs to the house, then there isn't a massive amount left.

A LOT of intelligent people I know don't make sufficient provision for the big stuff like college, and just spend their monthly pay check on frivolous crap. Then they wonder why they can't retire.

$600k.

Oh god, these threads make me laugh.

#1) Live small. You probably don't need a house as big as you think.

#2) Live closer to work and amenities, try to ride a bike to places as much as possible. I don't care if you are an adult and think it is childish. Don't make excuses, you wussy man.

#3) Food. Buy in bulk, don't eat out as much.

#4) Cell phones. Get off the major carriers, buy your phones outright, get on an MVNO, sell the phone when you are done with it and use that cash to buy a new one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile_virtual_network_operators

#5) Ditch a car and make it work. You are a problem solver, right?

#6) Get your kids applying to scholarships, or raise exceptional kids so the school is offering scholarships. Also, have them take some college courses at the local community college before leaving for college or for the first year. Intro college courses at the big universities are a ripoff.

#7) Dump your cable payment, if you have not already.

#8) Get last year's model of running shoes.

#9) Buy all your clothes on discount.

#10) Your kids will not hate you if you cannot provide every darn thing that they want.

I could keep going, but that should be a good starter for you.

Same here. Make way too much money but still juggle to figure out how to pay the bills.

Mind you our bills evolve. Like the mortgage. Any financial advisor would tell us to not pay the thing back at the low rate we have but we are paying it down on a 7 year basis so that when the two kids get to college it will be paid in full. And we live in a mega house in Chicago. So, we have taxes, we have two cars, etc.

I am a net saver and a net scrambler to make things work. If it is in your blood it will always be. I walk around the house turning off lights. I brown bag it for lunch. I run or bike to work and save the el. The second car? Sits on the street and is a hobby. The primary is used constantly. Both are paid for and both are fully insured.

It never ends. The bills stack up and zeroes are added. Just do your best, try to find a happy middle ground and be sure to tell your wife and kids that you love them. Nothing else matters. Jobs will be lost - been through that more than once - so, be sure to have access to short term money or credit to bridge that year.

Not sure this helps, but the older I get the more I think that you just take small steps and they will add up.

Good luck.

If you have a budget then you shouldn't be "worrying". It should just be part of your budget. You know you will need running shoes, put them in the budget.

And regarding the amount of money, it really doesn't matter how much you make if you spend it all. So that question doesn't really factor in unless we're talking big, inherited amounts of wealth.

If you're making $180k and you're not sure if you can drop $100 on shoes, you're doing something wrong. That's different than saying you shouldn't be living within a budget. Wife and I make just under $200k and I manage our life/money so little crap, I'm talking about stuff under $500 is of no concern. I want a new phone? Done. I want a new jacket? Done. I want a really nice vacation? Now let's decide if we can afford it. I just don't want the day to day stress of money. Bigger picture stuff like retirement, the college fund, that's just part of life. Calculators say we could afford a house 3 times what ours is worth, forget it. I'll stick with my 15 year mortgage and have it paid off by age 45. And I'll also continue to drive my 8 year old car with 167k miles on it because there's nothing wrong with it.

By the way, budgeting, saving, making ends meet is not a list that you can check off. It is a method, a way of living, a habit. You must evolved to spend and budget in certain ways to not worry so much about expenses. Your family has not done that at this point. It seems like you are trying to maintain a certain lifestyle that is not necessary to live a full and happy life.

Before you start re-examining your budget, I recommend reflecting on one single thing: what is it that makes for a good life? Does your lifestyle do it? Or can you maintain a good life while spending less?

Similar wrote:

Stole from a baby wrote:

If you ever stop caring about your budget, you'll end up penniless.

^^^^This. I make 230K. My wife works part time. 2 kids, aged 13 and 15. Sure, we have enough to live on. But the FIRST things to consider with our money are impending college fees and retirement. Once we've socked away enough for those each month, and that is a boatload, BTW, plus making a reserve for being able to replace a car every few years and make repairs to the house, then there isn't a massive amount left.

A LOT of intelligent people I know don't make sufficient provision for the big stuff like college, and just spend their monthly pay check on frivolous crap. Then they wonder why they can't retire.

Almost 50 years old, make just over 200, GF makes over 100...I stress about the future. I can't imagine what I'd be like if I had kids.

To all the posters with young kids: the best thing our financial advisor had us do was sock away every bonus and extra dollar into a college fund for our kids starting at birth. College for our two kids is paid for which is a huge relief to us. Also, although my husband makes quite a bit of money, we certainly live below our means- we drive a car with 250K on it, I shop at discount chains, we don't eat out much and we try not to overindulge our kids. It is painful at times but has paid off in the long run.

I have three kids and we don't worry much about our budget

We save $750 a month for each kid, a shade under 6k in retirement a month for my wife and I. We live way below our means house wise and car wise. No Debt except for a mortgage (15 year, half paid off)

We make a shade over a half million a year( I make the shade, my wife the half) before you all say it would be easy to have no budget making that much we have contemperaries with million dollar houses, six figure cars, country club dues, lavish clothes and vacations that are totally maxed out

Make sure your basic costs are low, then you can spend on impulse things all the time and not budget