There’s going to be sacrifice involved

Dear Dave,

I bring home about $2,800 a month, and our mortgage payment is $1,100. We have been forced to take money out of our savings account occasionally over the last year or so to help pay the bills. My wife loves being a stay-at-home mom with our two preschool kids, but even she is talking about finding a day care for the kids so she can go back to work and help out financially. How do you feel about this idea and our situation?

Cade

Dear Cade,

I can’t blame your wife for loving the idea of staying home with your kids when they’re so young. Being a stay-at-home mom is a great thing if you can make the numbers work. Still, I’m sure it’s no picnic trying to live on $1,700 a month with two little ones in the mix.

Let’s look at it like a math problem with three components — house payment, income and lifestyle. Forty percent of your pay is going toward your home. That’s way too much. Your mortgage payment or rent should never be more than 25% of your take-home pay. I suppose you could look into the possibility of refinancing your home, but that’s not going to solve all your problems.

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