When you calculate your cost of living in Assignment #5, how does it compare to your monthly net take-home pay? The key to your financial success is adding more room to save. Just because you have it, doesn't mean you should spend it. I discuss this in my blog entry "Financial Tipping Points" and want to emphasize the importance of having "extra" at the end of the month. Use it to pay off debt, save it for a rainy day, contribute to your retirement account, or put it towards something you may want in the future. It's the only way you can break the paycheck to paycheck cycle and truly be financially free.

Thoughts? How much wiggle room do you have?

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We are to a point now of having a good bit of wiggle room. I'm not going to lie. It feels pretty good and scary at the same time. I major break and it could all be gone. I like knowing it's there!

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Its a reason we plan to go with a larger home loan we will be able to put the profit into A. paying off all Credit cards, B, Paying off all medical bills, C An emergency cushion.

Honestly our COL is high enough for us that we don't have money left over. Except retirment savings That gets saved automaticaly, I don't see that money so to me it isn't there except on the 401K and net worth statements. As always the annual COL raise in October will help out. We also make sure to have a good tax return every year its always needed. This year though the plan is to put that in savings.
The big goal is to at least have 3 months put away. Then start working at saving for other things.

For us COL is very much realted to home prices. The average home in my area is around 300K and that goes up the further north you go. I have a friend whose starter home (small and modest) cost 400K just an hour north of us.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006 &

Organizer of the Coupon Clippers of Tacoma

With the cost of living I estimated, we have $106 per month left over. It's actually more than I thought, but we are already trying to reduce the money we spend and everything extra is going to our consumer debt. We are going to get it paid off in two years, beginning this month.

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Monica ~ Mommy to Matheu, 7 and Liliana, 2