How much is to much $$$$?

I think debt is the biggest thing.

Once mine is eliminated, should be another 2-3 years for everything buy the house to be paid off, I'll feel better. I could pay it off sooner, but what good is trying to pay everything off in 8 months, if I die in a car wreck in 4?

As has been said, the happy medium between having fun/planning for the future is the key.

Hopefully the wife and I will be opening up our own business in ~5 years.

Anything more then right now would be a godsend. Currently living on under 40k from the my wife's income with a 3yr old and shacked up with the MIL in her house.

As several have mentioned, the cost of living plays a huge factor in what would be a comfortable living. If you can pay all your bills at the end of the month, putting some money aside for savings, and have some extra left over, you're doing pretty well. Making conscious decisions is really important, because the average American income can't afford the average American lifestyle. It's too easy to be jealous of the Jones', expect the Jones' typically can't afford their own lifestyle.

This guy does a great job outlining the impact of debt:

http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/2011/12/existing_debt_the_biggest_hurd.html

No kids, tiny house. I'm unemployed since I haven't found a job since the move, but here are my specs:

Wife: typically around $15/hr at 40 hours, so she brings home in the neighborhood of $20k/yr.

Me: typically around 800-1000/wk commission, so I bring home around $35k/yr.

Tiny house, tiny mortgage (around $300/mo). One of the plans with this move is the small living cost so we can get better jobs and stop living paycheck to paycheck. We got by just fine and we were happy, but having a little extra cash flow would be nice for when I want that extra car or six.

Once we get jobs, the plan is also to build a nice big garage for all my junk, and I can use that to supplement income. Heck, a few timing belt jobs a month in that garage will pay for the mortgage AND the garage loan. Eventually in 10 or so years the plan is for me to "retire" and do some custom work in that garage and make a go at a small business.

I'm also going back to school in the fall for my master's in counseling. Once I'm licensed I can have a private practice at home, or hook up with an existing firm.

curtis73 wrote: Eventually in 10 or so years the plan is for me to "retire" and do some custom work in that garage and make a go at a small business.

That's sorta my plan as well. Have the "hard items" bought and paid for within a few years and set up a small wood working business in a back yard shop.

That said, as I get older, medical insurance is becoming a greater concern when it comes to this plan.

lemme throw an interesting curve in this topic. my father-in law. or as i usually refer to him, my wifes father. him and my mother in law divorced. they made about 175k a yr combined. had a dirt cheap mortgage. they did the whole divide stuff up when they divorced he bought her out and kept the house. fast forward 6months later. he has a new harley. new toyota truck. new rv. new trailer to haul the new harley. well come to find out he re financed himself into a hell of a whole. he went from a payment of around 3 or 4 hundred a month to over 2 a month. he makes good money. but he likes his toys... can ya see were this is going? he met his new wife who is as retarded as he is and she just kept fanning the flames of this fire.... 2yrs into there marriage they lose the house.. and now live in a really crappy townhouse that i wont let my son in... its jsut so sad that some cant see what they have and say thats good enuff. then boo hoo anyone who will listen when it comes around.. my wife and i were lucky that we got a good size settlement and we were able to pay cash for our manufactured home and bought my wife her first new car and bought a place near disney. not only for us but as an investment for our son. you would think that her dad would be happy for her and us.. but ohh hellllll no.. all he kept asking was how we bought the home. how we bought the car.. and had the balls to ask her to GIVE him money.... when he wouldnt do squat for her... so thats my rant just wanted to throw out my thoughts on money.. ya its cool and all.. but it isnt everything.

Yup, you hit it on the head. Money ain't everything, and if you are a bone head, it's a curse.

and also as a footnote. the bank took the bike, trailer, rv, and truck....

In reply to BARNCA:

Damn, that sounds like my wife's family. I'm just glad they live in Louisiana. To far for them to beg. The sad part is she's glad they're that far away too.

Since we had our son how I look at money has changed drastically. Money used to not matter to me at all. Enjoying my job was the biggest criteria I looked for. Now I feel like I will never make enough to feel comfortable.

Even with that feeling seven months ago I left a very well paying job for a similar job with a competitor but had to take a 20k per year pay cut. And it was worth every penny lost.

I used to work on production. Basically I would get 5% of every dollar made. The whole atmosphere there was produce, produce, produce. They scheduled jobs seven days a week. I averaged 75 hours a week but hours didn't mean anything. I could bring home 1800 per week or 300 just as easily for the same amount of hours. I was never home, my wife and son missed me. I was always exhausted, never got a day off. I worked 32 days straight had a Tuesday off then worked 14 more days before getting another day off. After three years of that I was over it. My mind and body is still recovering from it.

Now I am salary, don't work weekends and feel like I have a normal life/work balance again. Sure I would like that extra 20k but even without it knowing exactly what I'm going to bring home is a huge plus and we can actually have a budget. There is so much less stress in the house now.

Going foward I know what I would like to be able to do and we can't do that on what I'm currently making. But if I have to work like that to get it then I guess I'l just have to settle for less. As long as I can take care of my family I'm happy. Even though I know I will never have a race car.

Nicksta, I hear ya. I left a job about 7 or 8 years ago, I was making almost 70K with overtime. The problem was, base pay was in the mid to high 40's, so that shows just how much overtime I was working. I left for a job making something like 38, with no overtime possible. I was happy. I did it because I missed my first son sitting up for the first time. I told myself that was the first, and last "first" I'd miss.

How much is enough?

TRoglodyte wrote: How much is enough?

Too much.

Agreed, Quit while your ahead.

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to BARNCA: Damn, that sounds like my wife's family. I'm just glad they live in Louisiana. To far for them to beg. The sad part is she's glad they're that far away too.

...and unfortunately, sounds similar to my father... who has the financially responsibility of a 12 year old... which would be an insult to some 12 y.o.s...

Fortunately, my mother has the opposite problem... getting her to spend money can be an issue sometimes... it took her almost 5 years to buy a new car and her kitchen is a wreck.

When we got married in 1968 neither of us made much money even with me working a second job so we saved every way we could. Buy groceries in bulk, look for sale on everthing, eat out once every two weeks, no vacations, etc. Only thing we splurged on was buying our cars new. But we kept them till we saved up the cash to buy a new one and I did all the service on them. As soon as we could we started putting money in savings.

Bought a house in 1976 for $42K (now appraised at $350K) and we still live in it. Being a shop teacher I did most of the renovations,etc around the place and we paid off the mortgage in 1987.

Fast forward to the present and our current dilemma. We have now been retired for 5 years and can't break our old habits. We have no debt and haven't had for years. Between our retirements and SS we bring home $6500 a month and end up putting $3k in savings! We need a new dining room table but the wife doesn't want to spend the money and wants me to fix up the one we have. We put new windows in the house to get the tax credit but I installed the to save money!

Marty! wrote: Meh. I've been miserable when I had money to burn and I've been happy as a clam when I've been dirt poor. Money never equates to happiness, motorsports does.

Well, the way I see it, anyway...

Funny how the correlations work: happiness is directly proportional to motorsports, while money is inversely proportional to motorsports.

NB: I don't borrow to finance motorsports. That way lies madness. I think the real equation uses absolute values, so negative money is just as bad as positive money.

Hal wrote: When we got married in 1968 neither of us made much money even with me working a second job so we saved every way we could. Buy groceries in bulk, look for sale on everthing, eat out once every two weeks, no vacations, etc. Only thing we splurged on was buying our cars new. But we kept them till we saved up the cash to buy a new one and I did all the service on them. As soon as we could we started putting money in savings. Bought a house in 1976 for $42K (now appraised at $350K) and we still live in it. Being a shop teacher I did most of the renovations,etc around the place and we paid off the mortgage in 1987. Fast forward to the present and our current dilemma. We have now been retired for 5 years and can't break our old habits. We have no debt and haven't had for years. Between our retirements and SS we bring home $6500 a month and end up putting $3k in savings! We need a new dining room table but the wife doesn't want to spend the money and wants me to fix up the one we have. We put new windows in the house to get the tax credit but I installed the to save money!

Hal is my new hero.

We're DINKs in DC.

I've got a renewing contract doing laboratory automation for an arm of NIH and my wife is a director at the TV channel of that magazine w/ the yellow border around the cover. I also have a very small company which pays for my machine shop some.

We bought a falling-down house in a fantastic neighborhood (median house price in the zip code close to a million $) for a quarter of that in 2000 and I worked like an Egyptian slave for years renovating. Last year we sold it for $625k and bought a big mid-century rambler w/ room for a real machine shop plus a 26x32 garage. It's in a wonderful area and while it wasn't a sh1tty as house #1, its a 2 year renovation. Since we banked close to 400k on the sale of #1, we splurged and paid someone to refinish the hardwood floors+lay new wood in the extension, and installed awesome modern silver anodized aluminum Windows. But everything else is 100% me. I've skimmed every square foot of wall and ceiling and retrimmed every foot of base and casing in the house. My wife drives a 10 year old Audi A4, I have a 10 year old Tacoma that's also my race hauler. I make enough to club race a D Sports racer w/ SCCA but right now am so overextended on time building a new master bathroom that having the car ready for April 21 is looking dicy. So, we've got an awesome house and great toys, and have terrific jobs, but between working on my job, my clients, our house and vehicles, a company and finally a shop and race effort... It's routinely a 14+ hour day. I love it, but sometimes I wonder where the simple went.