All Forum Posts by: James Wagner

@Ryan Jopson it's in both of our names.

@Thomas S. thanks for your well thought out comment. I completely understand your comment: "Your plan to work harder so you wife can stay home is a waste of your time and effort. If you going to work to get ahead only to give it up so she can stay home is illogical." I would love to find her a higher paying job. She is a intercultural studies/religion major; so, the fact that she's making $50k three years out of college is pretty good, I think. Maybe I am wrong, though. On top of this full-time job, she also works 10-20 hrs online as a graphic designer and she runs her own eBay business reselling clothes. She has finally made her initial investment back, so that her future sales will be profit until she stocks up on more inventory. She's also a mother to two children under 2 years old. I'm very proud of her, and one of my goals is to make her life at least a little bit easier. I understand that I may be going about this the wrong way, though...and I think that's what you're saying. I guess I'm here because I am trying to figure out a better way.

Either way @Thomas S. @Derrick E., we are committed to giving at least $500/month. We won't be dropping that number down...crazy or not. We give about $300 of that to the church, $100 to sponsor two children through Food for the Hungry, and $100 to sponsor our friends who are Christian missionaries in Europe.

@Derrick E., I have seen some of these houses online, but I've only lived in Cincy a few years and am still trying to understand if they are so cheap because they are in very bad areas or not. But your comment is definitely more where I have been thinking on this. I need to look into it more. Thanks!

@Caleb Heimsoth agreed...that's where i'm at

@Caleb Heimsoth when I checked over a year ago, sofi would not have lowered our rates. 18 months ago when we bought our house, my credit score was in the "good" range. not sure now.

@Caleb Heimsoth since our student loan interest rates average 5.5%, at a quick glance i couldn't find any better than that. maybe i just don't know where to look though.

thanks for the advice on the order. that helps me with an attack plan.

@Caleb Heimsoth good advice. too bad that we are not near there yet. only a little over $10k equity. Bought the house about 18 months ago.

@Jason Rikard thanks for the reply! sounds like you did a great job following Dave's plan! Thanks for the advice...focusing on our foundation first is where I think I'll start.

@Caleb Heimsoth thanks for your comment! yes, we did FHA. looking back, maybe that wasn't the best choice. I'm not sure. the sale price was $174k.

@John Gillick, thank you for the encouragement! I had never heard of MMM until this thread, so I will spend some time there.

@Ryan Evans, I can't believe I have a minivan either! Ha...I'm definitely willing to go the slow and steady route, if that's what it will take. 

@Russ Draper Thanks, Russ! A spent much of 2016 working extra hours at Lowe's after work (my current salary position doesn't have an option for overtime pay). I did this for a while to make extra money, and it was helpful, but I decided to start the online thing from home because I could spend time with my family until my daughter went to bed at 8pm. Then I'd build my online business from 8pm to 2am. I think your advice is where I'm at right now, though. I did really well on the ACT in high school, especially the Math section where I scored a 35. So, I'm looking at offering tutoring part time to help build up some savings.

@Account Closed, thanks! I will check it out now.

@Joshua D.

Thanks for the comment, Josh. I will check out #1 and #2! We have spent a lot of time looking at our budget and going through Dave Ramsey's material (we use EveryDollar). We give $500/month, mortgage $1200, minimum student loans $711, van loan $171, daycare currently around $600/month (will go up now that we have 2nd child), phones, energy, internet, water, trash combine for $360, auto insurance $143/mo...etc.

We got rid of directv 18 months ago, do 80% of our grocery shopping at aldi, we don't use credit cards (except when i was running my online store), we rarely eat out. We try to put $400 aside each month for potential auto, gifts, house, travel expenses. After all this plus hospital bills from the new baby, I've really had trouble figuring out anywhere else we could cut..