I think you might be underestimating some spending in there. It’s great that you’ve listed out the basics AND some wiggle room, but that consumer debt (credit cards and such) is a bit revealing.

You can likely afford the house just fine, but you should do some “soul searching” in regards to finances to ensure things are as they seem.

You have gross income listed, but I don’t see a line item for retirement. What are you putting away for retirement? If that is gross, what is it after tax?

You have $10k in debt. What was that from? You should clear that debt before buying a house. If you can’t clear the debt, you can’t afford a house.

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I believe it is just formatted weird honestly

Is a bit weird. Still not unattainable. Seems to be a $300k ish mortgage with a gross income of $108kish + child support. It’s doable. Prioritization will need to happen, though.

Me and my husband have separate finances, I’m the breadwinner and I luckily don’t have much debt. I’m not sure what all his bills are honestly so I am estimating totals. I know my share of bills are around $4,100 a month. I pay most of the mortgage, I don’t have a car payment and my only debt is $600 and as I’m writing this I just remembered I also have 2k debt in a consolidation loan but payment is at $89 monthly. We are in AL so low cost living. He gets paid $3200 gross and now $4000 gross and tells me he “struggles”. I make $4000 from a steady salaried job and $800-$1000 monthly as a contracted teacher. He works less hours and is essentially a “stay at home dad”. Maybe I’m just stressed because while we split rent now, I will be taking on more bills, which I don’t mind, but I feel somewhat of imposter syndrome and scared of that mortgage.

We have no retirement fund. We have a 529 for my son, and will open one for our daughter once she’s born.

I have no knowledge of where to start with retirement, or investing. I am at a complete loss.

After Tax, I take home $681 plus $316 cash. I am contracted as well and paycheck is $800-$900 monthly depending on hours and I obviously have to take taxes from that.

10k was from moving to where we are now two years ago. We could pay it off but we would not have the money to do the things we want to do to our house once we close, it’s 22 year old house and needs repainting & some fixing up work nothing too major, mostly cosmetic.

We may just have to bite the bullet and pay the 10k off and wait on house repairs.

Your monthly spending the way you list them up adds up to a total of about 7400.

With 9200 gross and 700 coming in from child support, that means you're living very close to your limit or above your means. It's hard to tell without knowing how much you end up paying in taxes.

Then there's the 10000 CC debt, which suggests there's some spending going on which isn't listed here.

And I don't see any savings.

It's safe to say your economy is not in a healthy state, at best you're barely getting by, at worst you're below water.

They're not looking at retirement. They're looking at if their current lifestyle costs are sustainable.

What the debt is from isn't applicable.

You can have debt and take on a mortgage.

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For sure. 1k on food is a lot. And then imo when you are in cc debt you have no wants till that is paid off

Net Pay Monthly: $7,870 roughly. So even closer to that above our means line, not including CS.

We have 5k in savings, but it’s about to go for appliances and cosmetic repairs for the house we are buying or we should just bite the bullet and pay off half the CC.

We’ve had the 10k debt for two years. It was moving expenses after we cut contact with family and had to move out unexpectedly, we haven’t been on our feet long enough with our new salaries to start really making a significant change, it also hits my husband for a $115 interest cost every month.

Well it’s not sustainable if they also don’t have a plan for retirement. Current lifestyle costs for everyone need to include the retirement plan. If the debt is for everyday expenses they are already above their means. If they can’t pay off $10k in debt when they have less expenses, how would they pay for any home maintenance or emergencies once their bills rise?

> We have no retirement fund. We have a 529 for my son, and will open one for our daughter once she’s born.

You can't afford to pay for anyone's college. Sorry. You have no retirement funds, 10k in high interest debt, and a 40k car loan along with other items in your budget that seem way way too expensive. So I think the answer to your title is yes, very

My first suggestion which is advice you are not even asking for but I personally think you need is to get on the same page as your husband. How can you buy a house and not know what his bills amount to each month. In the very least you need to create a joint account for bills and probably have a rough budget especially with having credit card debt. I think you can manage buying the house but should really have a discussion with your husband on your finances and have a plan moving forward.

They should be looking at retirement. OP isn't in good shape at all

That’s good news, I don’t feel so crazy now for accepting the 6.6%.

Our commute to work is 45 minutes one way trip. Both have SUV’s. My second job is 20 minutes one way. Daycare is also 30 minutes away one trip. Unfortunately where we live, it’s hard to find good work, school, daycare in a close vicinity to each other. We are in southern AL.

No I completely agree they should be looking at it. Everyone should be and have retirement in the back of their minds.

But their question wasn't retirement focused. OP is currently concerned about meeting their immediate lifestyle costs.

We have a budget lined up, it just seems too good to be true. His expenses are listed; I just don’t know them off the top of my head.

We definitely need a joint account for bills. It’s ridiculous how we are doing it now, I basically Venmo him my part of the bills. Young & dumb. We will learn, hence why I came to the sub. I appreciate your feedback.

I’m 23, while I definitely think retirement is an important aspect of my life. I really do believe I have plenty of time to really decide what to do on that end.

I wish I could attach an excel sheet, expenses would be easier to list out.

Give me 15 minutes, I am going to check our excel sheet and get exact numbers, hopefully that will help. I am ball-parking a lot from memory and I shouldn’t have done that. I apologize!

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Oh whew. Yes at 23 you can safely start now. You don’t have plenty of time. The younger you start the less you have to put in per month due to compounding interest on retirement. So if you can start now, you won’t be playing catch up when your kids are in highschool and ready to go off to college. You can start lower. 10-15% in your 20’s.

Do either of your employers offer a 401k

If they don’t you can open an IRA with vanguard or fidelity pretty easily.

Play with some retirement calculators and see what the difference will be if you wait.

Very fair point. Fully agree, personally. Some people just aren’t as hyper about it, so I try to temper my commentary.