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Get 100% nylon carpet. It will last MUCH longer than any other material and it will be easier to clean too. Nylon carpets are tiny bit pricier than other materials, but only marginally so, while benefits are VERY significant. Stay away from polypropylene and fancy blends, etc despite claims of supe...

DH and I got married eight years ago. I gave him a nice dress watch (it is a Citizen, I think. Couple hundred dollars, tops). He gave me the faintly pink pearl necklace and earrings I wore with my dress. Granted, these are both items we likely would have purchased anyway to prepare for the day. DH s...

September 2005. I was 26.

Frengo wrote:

Default User BR wrote:

bungalow10 wrote: However, with current rates, were I buying a vehicle I would finance it at the <2% rates available.

That forces you to take on full insurance...

That is true, however it wasn't me that said that. I don't do car loans.

... and paid for. No debt. Again, this is variable due to circumstances. Definitely no one should use financing to get themselves into an untenable situation. However, with current rates, were I buying a vehicle I would finance it at the <2% rates available. Brian I was expanding on someone else's ...

Go Blue 99 wrote:
I know Ramsay's rule is that the total value of your cars should be less than 50% of your annual gross.

... and paid for. No debt.

FYI John Bogle has stated, clearly, that payments from the social security trust fund and pensions count in retirement income and should be regarded as long term bond returns. Further it should be considered to increase equity holdings in the event either provides substantial income. He wrote this ...

Bungalow - I haven't seen you mention this, but is there any part of you that wants to stay home and raise the kids? I understand that the numbers indicate you should keep your job. I ask only because my sister is in a similar position. She makes very good money and my brother in law was making sig...

I agree with what Victoria said. After retiring from 27 yrs of working at age of 55 last year, I assume the role of househusband. We have two kids, one still in college. My wife is still working and plans to for another 8 yrs. I can tell you that the quality of our life has increased exponentially ...

I think it's a terminology issue. "Stay at home dad" has the same condescending connotation as "stay at home mom." If you call your husband "leadership development expert," it all will fall in place. Victoria When he was unemployed after our first was born, he called h...

We also do not currently get any child tax credits. That doesn't seem right. With three kids your phaseout should be $110,000 - $170,000 AGI, which equates to something like $134,000 - $194,000 gross. Sorry, our youngest was born on January 1, so last year we only had two kids that would have quali...

Your husband is a mans man, a construction worker, not an East/West Coast, in touch with his feelings, green peace, organic, gender-neutralist hippy. LOL! He is a construction worker, but he's more in touch with his feelings that I am. Yes, he's organic and hippy and has an NPR sticker on his car. ...

Send him to a cooking class. I assume he's competent, so he could learn to organize, schedule, and clean. Show him what you do, like husbands show wives how to deal with finances. I doubt anyone likes to clean. I know he's 100% capable of being a successful house husband. A good friend of ours who ...

my income puts us in a high tax bracket Since this is a finance forum, let's talk finance. Gross income of $155k should put you well down in the 25% bracket: $155,000 gross - $2,500 health FSA - $5,000 daycare FSA (I didn't bother to look up the maximum; adjust as necessary) - $4,000 pre-tax health...

Why would you pay for daycare if your husband stayed home? I probably missed that. Not much point in anyone staying home if the kids are being taken care of somewhere else. If my husband stopped working and was home full time we wouldn't pay for daycare. As daycare works right now, if he's laid off...

We talked more last night and he's decided to keep working. If he has an extended layoff this winter we are going to consider again at that time making the switch (we pay for daycare whether he's working or not, so layoffs are budget busters when daycare is over $2k/month). Does anyone's answer cha...

We talked more last night and he's decided to keep working. If he has an extended layoff this winter we are going to consider again at that time making the switch (we pay for daycare whether he's working or not, so layoffs are budget busters when daycare is over $2k/month). Does anyone's answer chan...

If he's interested, why not try it? He can always go back to work. He can become a better cook and learn all that other stuff - nobody said it was going to be easy. If his current job can't be done in inclement weather, I'm guessing he paints outdoors or does landscaping. If it's something like tha...

OP- It doesn't seem like your husband is really into the idea of being a SAHD and really given the sacrifices involved in staying home I strongly believe the person who is staying home should want to do so. You say his job is relatively easy to re-enter; one would think then that his job should be ...

RadAudit wrote:How much of his image of his own self worth and identity are wrapped up in his job?

Not much, I don't think. But you made me realize something... he's a construction worker and I bet he's getting a lot of flack from the guys at work on this.

My wife stayed home many, but not all years. She's great with the kids, but she isn't so great at cooking, cleaning, scheduling, organizing. I do all that, and the groceries. I don't understand your question. LOL! Would your wife agree that you did all the cooking, cleaning, organizing, scheduling ...

Here's what I would like to add though. Do you know any families with a stay at home dad? How will your husband feel not contributing financially? How will he feel about taking on a unique role that has always been associated with the mother of the family? Perhaps he won't say anything about it but...

Financially I think we'll be fine. I make 3x what my husband makes and have decent benefits. Don't live someone else's stereotype. If you're good with it, and he's good with it, it's good for the kids. As long as your income is stable, why not? He's not totally ready to do it. He's almost there, bu...

Sounds like a no brainer from what you describe..... why the hesitation? It's no different from a stay at home mum that many families have.... Most dual working spouses with 3 kids are there for career purposes or money purposes and you don't sound like either of those are issues...... In our case ...

And because one of you mentioned it - yes, we are planning on children, but I 100% plan on continuing to work, as I am not cut out to be a SAHM and our incomes are enough to cover high-quality child care after maternity leave. Just a small dose of reality here... if you are only able to pay $1k on ...

We both work but I would consider having a regular maid service and maybe even grocery delivery. We pay for a cleaning person every two weeks and it would be something I would be hard put to give up an we only have one kid! You might try the dc urban moms forum to see if there are some helpful thre...

My husband and I are considering the option of having him stay home with the kids. We have three kids (five years old, three years old, six months old), and our lives are crazy. Financially I think we'll be fine. I make 3x what my husband makes and have decent benefits. Since my income puts us in a ...

I have a 100 year old house, no options for wired connections. We have a Wireless N router in an upstairs (second floor) closet. That reaches everything in the house (including downstairs TV) with plenty of bandwidth for streaming movies. We also have an unattached garage with bonus room above it. W...

The responses so far are FAR out of line with most people. The median household income in the country is about $53,000. The average new car price, according to NADA, is now $31,300, or 59 percent of MHI. I think it makes more sense to compare the car price to average income for one worker, as most ...

Is this a two-car household on that income? If so, then I think 30% is reasonable for TWO cars (each 15%, or one 20% and one 10%, etc).

I would not have 50k in cars when my income is only 85k/year. We make about double that and have never bought a car that was over $20k.

What kind of niche items? If they are vintage or handmade, then Etsy is probably what you are looking for. I've sold a few things on Amazon and it's been good. Fees are high, but it's just list it and forget it until it sells. No pictures necessary. Of course, your item needs to already be for sale ...

Yes but then you'd buy a minivan ;-). But instead we buy expensive SUVs. Minivans are OK for soccer moms, but for us guys? ;-). Have you seen how much minivans cost? DH and I WANT a minivan, but are settling for a full-size SUV (Highlander) for the time being because minivans are much more expensive.

I agree that Dave came across as being arrogant and defensive. The author wrote a specific article about the 12% rate of return Ramsey always references, and Dave was asking questions if the author attended any of his Financial Peace courses, seminars, read his books, listened to his Podcasts, etc....

Yesterday I did take the time to listen to the entire segment with Dave and Brian (it would have come up in my podcast queue eventually, but I'm months behind).... and WOW! Dave is a giant jerk.

I don't think he could have come across as more arrogant or defensive if he tried.

No. A house is basically foundation, roof and walls. In my world, a good deal on a house is something that is less than $100 dollars a square foot. Of course if you're in some area that's ridiculously priced like the bay area, that could be different, but in order to put in the 'work' required on t...

1) You don't want the grill to be too far out of the way of normal traffic because you'll be constantly running in and out of the house for the food and condiments (think burgers...then cheese, buns, corn, etc.). We don't keep any condiments by the grill. We usually keep them on the table so people...

As far as the grill goes, I like the idea of having it out of the way. I admittedly haven't put much thought into figuring out a way to fit additional space off the deck for a grill, but I can imagine a perfect spot on the deck in a spot adjacent to the garage that will be out of the way of all foo...

I love, love the idea of built-in seating or small drink tables. I have a relative with a deck that has a built in bench that doubles as the railing (it's where the railing would traditionally go, the deck is low to the ground) and I love it. If we ever rebuild our deck we are doing something simila...

IMHO one of the most dangerous pieces of advice Dave gives is to stop investing until all debt is paid off. I think that is really bad advice because as we all know the sooner you start investing the better off you will be. Many of his fans may take years to pay off their debt and miss the valuable...

John, They claim that by law, the meter needs to be replaced every 10 years. ask to see the law they are referring to. I would also tell them to go scratch - the time to state that the meter was too confined or too low was at the initial install - when 'they' first installed the meter - not years l...

Have you gotten an estimate on what it will cost? Call a company that does plumbing and excavation (pretty common), I doubt it will cost as much as you think it will.

Also, your utility company will likely start charging you a fee for the manual reading if you don't comply.

No longer free. $9.99.

If an item does not perform as it is supposed to or is less than satisfactory for one reason or another, then it is reasonable to avail oneself of the return policy. Using an otherwise satisfactory product for one's own purposes and then returning it for a refund (because one can) is dishonest and ...

I answered Yes, even if they don't. I just yesterday mailed a return back to Amazon. The item wasn't broken, but it didn't work as advertised. I used it, it was defective as far as I was concerned. Nothing broken about it, but it was something I've purchased before (and was happy with), but their qu...

I once bought something at Walmart and returned it in its original UNOPENED box and the Walmart clerk still opened it. Said it was their policy. Goes to show, that if Walmart is doing it, there must be a lot of abuse. Walmart does that to make sure it's not full of rocks, a brick, styrofoam, dead m...

Podrunner Intervals http://www.djsteveboy.com/intervals.html They are music podcasts where the DJ uses the BPM and some tones to indicate when you walk and when you run. They are very effective (and free). There is First Day to 5K series, Gateway to 8K (which it sounds like would benefit the OP), Fr...

I almost hate sharing my secret, but I find the best time to shop at Costco are when the favorite local sports teams are playing. I'm in Wisconsin and I can always cruise unhindered through aisles of my local Costco and take my pick of open checkout lines during Packer, Badger, and Brewer games.

I don't like TJ's produce. It always seems like it's moldy or dead the next day. Aldi is the same way, I wonder if it's a problem with their suppliers or distribution network. Both have the worst produce ever... but to their credit the normal TJ or Aldi customer isn't big on produce but rather shop...

A significant part of the sticker price subsidizes financial aid for low-income students. At most schools, a majority of students receive aid and do not actually pay the sticker price. Endowments pay for some of that aid, but so do the families paying full price. If cars were sold this way, dealers...

Costco makes most of their profit from the annual membership. Which only means that they have little markup on everything else. Not true for Costco. Costco has a healthy markup. Their profit margins are much higher than other Warehouse Clubs like Sam's or BJ's and also WalMart because they sell mer...