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tactical808 t1_j29vfci wrote

Number one, a reminder that there will never be enough money, period. Even when you are making more money, you’ll always want more on top of that.

Everyone’s situation is different, but you have to balance your current flexibility with your current pay. You’ve pointed that out clearly and that flexibility at your children’s ages are priceless. But again, it comes back to, there is never enough money.

I think we all benefit when there is an end game in sight. For example, you want to retire at age 60 with ~$100k a year, you’ll need ~$2.5m. What do you need between now and then to get there? You want to remodel your home in 3-5 years, how much is that, and what do you need to do to get there? You want to have a college fund, how much and how?

Once you have these buckets, you can assign your income these tasks and, based on your budget, you can see whether you are on track or come up short. That will determine how much more income you’ll need and thus look for a higher paying job, etc.

But until there is a vision, you’ll never land on “when is enough?”.

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pookiewook OP t1_j29xoxq wrote

This was very helpful, thank you! I think you are right, it never feels like enough. We took our first family vacation this year a 1.5 hour drive away for 3 days, we budgeted for it but it was still more than I planned on! We have savings goals in Mint to get to a 6mo emergency fund, retirement, house renovations and saving for college for all 3 kids. It just never feels like enough. And our food budget has increased with inflation this year.

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SignorJC t1_j2azmde wrote

Your job offers you an absolutely incredible amount of flexibility and PTO (compared to average Americans). If you like the work, you could use some of that free time and flexibility to find other ways to save/"make" money. Couponing, budgeting, deal hunting. Things like travel deals, maximizing your credit card points or loyalty points, etc. You could essentially be getting 5-10% return on every purchase you make in a year or buying the things you would be buying anyway but always at a discount.

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pookiewook OP t1_j2b1mdw wrote

Great idea! We do shop at the cheaper grocery store and I take all the hand me down toys & clothes/shoes/outerwear items for my kids

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