Spending, Canceling and Learning with Today’s Blog Highlight

I am so glad it’s Friday. It has been a super rough week and I hope that my son sleeps in a little bit tomorrow morning and my other kids (the animals) behave. Anyways, here’s some Friday reading and some freebies.

JLP found an interesting slideshow about Living on $46,000 a Year – Where it Goes

Henry gives some solid advice about Not Canceling Credit Cards Before You Apply for Any Loan

Flexo asks, Should High Schools Require Money Management Classes

FREE STUFF

Ban Invisible Solid Deodorant

Dial Antibacterial Deodorant Soap

Crest Nature’s Expressions Toothpaste

Enjoy!

Posted by Tricia on April 20, 2007 at 11:20 AM in Blogging Buddies, Free Stuff | 5 Comments »
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danielle responded:
Posted: April 20th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
That was interesting. If that woman’s income was 46K, and she was spending 47% on housing, then her monthly payment would be $1800 a month. The others responding said that this didn’t make sense, because she claimed her payments to be $675???
If she is renting, then no, this doesn’t make sense. However, if she is owning, well, a lot of people don’t take into consideration that there are property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, association fees, and so on. Where I live, these can really jack up your payments. Around here, those that are homeowners have the same monthly expenses as someone with two apartments. They pay off their mortgage, and these payments still have to be paid. This is why we rent…
Still, it doesn’t really add up, even if she did live where I do. Also, despite high property taxes if you own your home, we do live in a low cost of living area. (As many who comment here do, also, including you Tricia). 46K is a very comfortable salary, as long as you are a renter.
Chris responded:
Posted: April 20th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
$675 for the mortgage P&I, + insurance, taxes (likely escrowed), mortgage insurance is common add another $50-100 there, and if they include regular maintenance costs or they have a home equity loan, etc…a $675 mortgage could easily cost $1800 a month. If they are calculating their spending after taxes (which I assume since taxes are not a category in the charts – that would account for a huge percent) and let’s say she pays 20% in taxes after deductions, etc…her payment would be $1,300/mo.

Sounds right to me. The article doesn’t give enough information.
danielle responded:
Posted: April 20th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
“a $675 mortgage could easily cost $1800 a month”

Ugh, that’s just scary.
Renee responded:
Posted: April 21st, 2007 at 1:23 am
More free stuff: kashi.com is giving away samples of Kashi Go Lean Crunch
JDR responded:
Posted: April 23rd, 2007 at 12:10 pm
What is the “correct” or recommended percentage of distribution of take-home funds if one is trying to pay down cc debt?