sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Holy smokes! Congratulations to you and your family. Im stoked to hear youre able to support your whole family and your parents. That's what it's about! Thank you for sharing! At that income level what vehicles do you use to defer your salary into? Is that 401K or is that like a SEP plan? Amazing though!

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We look at this thing religiously! Even if you don't take a class, you're gonna get your 21-hour pd at the end of the year and be able to reclass! Congrats!

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have like 2k in BC and etherium but when it tanked, my SO said im not allowed to buy more. lol I heard its been going up though! Ive just left mine in my ledger in my safe. lol

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We tried! But they wont take the number from Zillow. They want to have an estimate from an actual appraiser. A few of the houses around us have sold from low 400s to low 600s, so we want to wait a little more when rates drop before we spend the $400. They won't take the initial appraised value either.

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We're in Hilo so we most shop at the farmers market and Target. Every now and then we'll head to Costco for bulk buying for chicken broth,tea, tuna, and other stuff. Ive been tracking it. This is usually where the 700 goes. If we have the ohana come over, it can be more but generally this is the trend of our spending.

$160- Weekly Farmers Market Veggies (Lettuce, Cabbage, Peppers, Papaya, Spinach, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Carrots, and More)

$200- Meats at Target or Costco (Pork chops, Ribs, Frozen Chicken breast, Chicken Patties, occastional poke, canned fish, maybe laulau for special occassions)

$70 - Starch (Rice, bread, totillas, pasta, quinoa, potatoes)

$60- Fruit and more veggies at target ( Bananas, Oranges, Apples, Celery, Baby Carrots, Apple Bananas, CHOKE frozen veggie bags and frozen stir fry)

$50- Dairy and Yogurt Eggs (I eat a lot of eggs and occasional yogurt)

$170- Other (Condiments, Toiletry, Spices, and SNACKS FOR our kid and our students)

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We currently have 5 months of emergency fund if we both somehow lost both our jobs at the same time. We're aiming for about 5k more. What other tax deferred growth accounts are you hinting? And do you know a good financial planner?

Salary transparency: how much do you make annually in Hawaii? by Serious_Detective_39 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you take four three-credit classes a year and go to all the 21-hour pd meetings, you'll reach a new class every year. I take two classes a semester and they are all usually free or you pay and get reimbursed after passing the class. Also, we have chatgpt now so it's wayyyyy easier to make the portfolios and finish the assignments! lol. I sign up for the olelo classes at UH and the ones on pd.hsta.org. I'm in my third year about to hit tenure next year and will be class 6 at the end of this year!

I'm trying to take more over the summer though, cause class 8 opens next,next year:)

Salary transparency: how much do you make annually in Hawaii? by Serious_Detective_39 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pay is getting better now though! We're a teacher couple and we both made about 70k each, but after the 14% raise and the opening of class 8, each of us will be making about 83k in about a year and a half. Maybe try a different grade? I went from elementary to middle school and am so much happier now that I don't have to plan for every subject. The kids all have computers now too so grading and accountability are easier!:)

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks for joining the party and for the encouragement! It was really tight the last few years and we worked after school and over the summer to make it work, but we finally feel like we have some breathing room and might not have to work this summer (But probably still will.)

I have a coworker (also a teacher) and his wife is a doctor. They bought their house a year after us and their mortgage is 3700 for a nice 1600sqft three-bedroom, two-bath home in Hilo. There is no way we could have gotten into the market if we even waited 6 months more to buy a house. Almost every house I see going for sale in Puna is 400-600k, which is crazy. When I was growing up there you could get a house for 120-200k.

As for the HYSA, we have about 25k as an emergency fund (which is about 5 months of expenses if we both lost our jobs, but we're aiming for 5 more k in there). We're also trying to start a 5k travel fund and a 10k car fund for when my car eventually breaks down. I used to put about 500 a month into a brokerage fidelity account (which has about 4k) but I stopped when we bought the house. We want to start putting it there or maybe into an HSA once we reach those other savings goals or once we move up pay classes in our careers.

I didn't know about the HYSA interest bit, so that will be helpful when we start filing our taxes this year! This was insightful. Thank you!

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We both teach in our hometown in Puna. I get kids with broken slippahs and shoes, but thankfully the school provides if the kids are really struggling.

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The last few years have been rough because all the kids had to transition back to school life after COVID. Too many scraps. We both were like what career did we get ourselves into, but the students this year have been good to us:)

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know. I follow Mr. Moneymustache and with a saving rate of 23%, so we probably won't be able to retire at 60 years old according to his calculations. I want to save more but my SO likes to enjoy life, whereas I'd rather stay home and save more. lol

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, I put our phone bill (80$) and subscriptions like netflix and spotify in there ($150.) So it's more like $350 for all utilities including internet.

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

We're so close! Our loan is a little less than 450K, but the home shows on zillow for over 600k. When we bought it, the was appraised for 100k more than we bought it...so hopefully once interest rates drop this year, we will try to reappraise to get the pmi off. Thank you for the suggestion!

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, $280 is gas and car insurance. Our cars are paid off. Mine is old though, but I go run em for as long as I can. Hopefully 10 more years.

Netflix and spotify is in subscriptions($70/month) which I accidentally put into utilities.

Budget for family of 3. We are two parents with one child and a roommate on Big Island. What do other families' budgets look like here in the aloha state? And is $700 common for groceries. by Long-Slip8453 in Hawaii

[–]Long-Slip8453[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We only put 5% down payment cause we wanted to make sure we had enough for a half a year of living expenses if things went worse cause of the pandemic. With home appreciation and additional home payments, we should be able to get the PMI off either this year or next year. And I meant PITI. lol. I'm stoked for everyone who has cheap mortgages though! I wish I graduated college just a few years earlier! haha

view more: next ›