ThrowawaySF__

ThrowawaySF__ OP t1_j6oz15v wrote

Reply to comment by rcc1201 in How much car can I afford? Typical rule of thumb doesn't work for me. by ThrowawaySF__

You nailed it. Those data points are very useful too. I think we would have to do financing. We have around 40k in a savings account that we could use but that's essentially our emergency fund.

Advice on the budget tracking is heard. I think that's a good idea. I'm not sure how much longer we can go without a second car but at least 2 more months of shared use isn't going to kill us. It's a huge pain to do 3 stops on certain days (daycare, parent 1, and then parent 2) but probably not as much of a pain as overspending on accident.

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ThrowawaySF__ OP t1_j6oa1ef wrote

Reply to comment by Liquidretro in How much car can I afford? Typical rule of thumb doesn't work for me. by ThrowawaySF__

Agreed (again).

My wife and I had a bunch of things happen all at once. We used to be renters in a much lower COL city with somewhat comparable income. Then, we had a layoff + a new job, so we moved, rented for a bit and then bought a house, and had kids basically all in the span of around 18 months. We used to live with essentially zero financial stress and while I'm fully aware that we still have it pretty good, we have never had to pay as much attention to personal finances as we do now.

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ThrowawaySF__ OP t1_j6o7eqj wrote

Reply to comment by leadfoot9 in How much car can I afford? Typical rule of thumb doesn't work for me. by ThrowawaySF__

Yes, I was talking about monthly payments, sorry. And perhaps it's not a rule, I just did a search in the reddit task bar and saw it repeated in all the "how much car can I afford" posts.

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I didn't think that was an applicable rule for me because 15% of 24k is 3k+. Don't think I can actually afford that.

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ThrowawaySF__ OP t1_j6o6wt2 wrote

Reply to comment by Liquidretro in How much car can I afford? Typical rule of thumb doesn't work for me. by ThrowawaySF__

Totally agree with you and sorry I wasn't clear.

The 8400 per month is after fixed expenses but doesn't include the unfixed expenses: groceries, kid stuff, restaurants, travel, vacations, gifts for family/friends, weddings, clothing, etc.

Re: one car vs 2, we used to be able to be on a WFH/hybrid work schedule but now I have to go back into the office.

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ThrowawaySF__ OP t1_j6o25d5 wrote

Reply to comment by Rave-Unicorn-Votive in How much car can I afford? Typical rule of thumb doesn't work for me. by ThrowawaySF__

Somewhere between the two options. I would never spend 175k but I guess I'm wondering exactly how nice of a car I can get without being irresponsible.

Our total monthly varies but I would say that we average about 1k per month leftover. We just purchased a house about year ago so a lot of our expenses (maybe 2k) are going to one-time costs though, things like furniture, home repairs, etc. I would estimate that by June this year, we'll probably be able to save around 3k per month.

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