Question about buying a home

DH and I are looking to buy a house, we are a nervous about the additional payment each month. What are somethings that you had to cut out, or did you not cut out anything in order to make your mortgage, also did you decide on a mortgage based on what you could afford now or a little more based on in the future you make more money, etc.

Message edited 6/23/2006 5:06:02 PM.

Re: Question about buying a home

I am in the same boat as you.

I am buying something that we can afford now. We may not be able to go on vacation as much, or eat out as much, but i dont want to completely struggle to make the mortgage payment.

and figure that expenses and taxes are going to increase every year, I want my yearly raise to cover that PLUS more goods for me!

There was a good board a few days ago that everyone was talking about their home expenses. Try doing a search.

Re: Question about buying a home

We based it on what we can afford now with plenty of wiggle room. We used to go out a lot on weekends to the city, movies, plays, etc.
Now we are home with our DD or fixing the house on weekends. For us it is not cheaper considering that every trip to home depot results in us spending $300-$500.

Re: Question about buying a home

Message edited 6/23/2006 5:46:26 PM.

Re: Question about buying a home

about one year before we found our house we started using our awesome coffee pot & nice travel cups to make & take every morning. It saves us a few bucks everyday. We both bring breakfast & lunch 99% of the time as well. That is a big savings. We maintain our cars well & keep them well after they are paid off. My car is very good on gas.
I'm a huge coupon food shopper, I make a weekly menu & use the store circular & my coupon organizer to plan for the week.
We get take out once a week, DH & I go out to eat (without the kids) about once a month. I'm getting really good at cooking & DH is very good too, so we really would rather eat home anyway. We are pretty careful with our electric & heat usage.
We really don't buy a lot of extra stuff, we already have tons of crap. I try to shop for clothes & shoes for us when the sales are good or no tax week.
I'm sure there's more but that's all I can think of now.

Re: Question about buying a home

We bought what we could easily afford at the time.

Re: Question about buying a home

We cut out travel. We used to take a trip to Europe every year, now we stay in the backyard. And we used to go out a lot with friends and not think about what we were spending, which in the city esp can get very $$$. Now most of our friends are in the same boat, so we're all cheap dates.

Re: Question about buying a home

cut back on eating out and buying lunch is a biggie. We saved so much $ by eating at home and it was a nice thing to cook for each oither and prepare our lunches the night before.

I aslo stopped getting pedis and manis and do it myself....though I do treat myself every once in a while.

Michael saved $ on gas by trading in his truck and getting a 4 cylinder car. He drives to NYC every day so this was a biggie also.

Just a few options that have worked for us.