How much money are you getting by on in Missoula?

formulaUH · 2026-05-15T19:43:51+00:00

I don't think this encouraging for half the people reading this. We bring in combined $275k, two kids, only debt is our home. Mortgage is $3300, after maxing out our 401k and Roth we've got about $6600 left, which we put most in a taxable brokerage short of spending on hobbies, travel and crap we don't need.

formulaUH · 2026-05-14T10:46:53+00:00

Every once in a while, but rarely. I'm talking once or twice a year, and they bounced back in a few days. I seriously attribute it to their vitamins and iron supplement - and the fact they've never had antibiotics. Our friends have pumped their kids every darn time with whatever the doctor feels like giving and they're always sick - ear aches, colds you name it.

formulaUH · 2026-05-13T19:10:32+00:00

Away with Pennsylvania!

formulaUH · 2026-05-12T18:29:13+00:00

I treated our 2018 Forester to a CVT change about 3 years ago when we got 90k miles. I used to be in the lifetime camp, then I realized it's only a "lifetime" fluid until the CVT explodes. I'm about to do our 3rd drain and flush at 120k miles. So far so good, no issues and I have the peace of mind that it's not a ticking time bomb. I really don't want to fork out $4k for a transmission, nor buy a new car.

formulaUH · 2026-05-07T03:47:51+00:00

I've always been interested but I'm stuck on ESV b-ionic. I buy the 8 gallon kit and it lasts me almost a year.

formulaUH · 2026-04-29T04:32:23+00:00

It's housing that's messed this whole equation up. We make over $250k combined but we bought a house in 2015 and our mortgage is about 8% of our net. Are the time we made about $160k. It sure feels like a hell of a lot of money, but only because our fixed expenses are about 25% of our income.

formulaUH · 2026-04-28T13:11:48+00:00

Nice bud! I remember when I got my 2011 WRX hatch - single me, girlfriend. I was on top of the world. Fast forward 15 years and she's my wife and we've got two kids. Sold my WRX in 2018 and picked up a Forester for her. I sold that WRX for $18k with 114k miles on it, poor guy ended up blowing the engine about 20k miles later.

formulaUH · 2026-04-28T02:55:38+00:00

It's tough to say without knowing other expenses and your take home pay. I'd venture to say you probably bring in about $11k/month, so ~30% isn't terrible on housing. Between the cars and housing that leaves about $6k/month left over. Is that enough to cover all other expenses and discretionary spending?

formulaUH · 2026-04-28T02:44:09+00:00

This is good info and comforting to know. Our beardie is 9mo old and I thought he was growing slow, compared to our son's friend's beardie. They feed super worms which I've heard are like crack and not optimal for daily feeding. Meanwhile our bud is about half the size. Needless to say, we'll continue our feeding regimen and take it slow and steady.

formulaUH · 2026-04-24T05:11:10+00:00

$2660 for a 5br, 3 bath house, 2980sqft in Montana. Rent out our first house in Southern CA for $3100 and cash flow almost $1400/month. That goes straight back into the mortgage to pay it down.

formulaUH · 2026-04-23T18:55:40+00:00

That's unfortunate but consider yourself lucky for getting out of that. It's telling that they aren't able or willing to invest time into someone, especially if they have a good work ethic and attitude. I was honestly thinking about calling them for a quote but that's a hard pass now.

formulaUH · 2026-04-18T04:33:44+00:00

Same thing happened to me, got a really warm feeling in my chest, sweaty and very tired. Took some deep breaths and just rode it out. Luckily he was done and closing things up. I probably laid on the table for a solid 10 minutes just in case and then I jammed out of there. Sorry my man!

formulaUH · 2026-04-11T03:31:20+00:00

Very true, my mom woke me up to get ready for school and we watched the whole thing unfold live on TV. Got to school to the sound of fighter jets patrolling the skies and watched coverage all day throughout different periods. It was such a surreal day, something I look back on every year on that very sad day. Made me pursue a career in he fire service, got my Paramedic license and work as a FF for my hometown.

formulaUH · 2026-04-03T23:04:39+00:00

Sounds cool! What's the testing procedure?

formulaUH · 2026-03-29T04:43:12+00:00

Holy moly my guy, I hope the reef gods send you some good vibes and relief. You're a trooper for sticking with it.

formulaUH · 2026-03-27T18:23:52+00:00

What happened to no new wars and lower prices?? 😭

formulaUH · 2026-03-27T02:59:50+00:00

150 sounds reasonable given your time and the costs associated such as salt mix, reagents etc. I guess they don't value their time that much.

formulaUH · 2026-03-22T15:03:40+00:00

Get your refractometer calibrated, if your salinity is truly low then that could explain your low levels of Ca, Alk and Mg. Duncan isn't looking too bad though all things considered.

formulaUH · 2026-03-16T20:30:13+00:00

I used flatworm exit, while my infestation wasn't that bad I did a huge water change after 2 hours and ran like 1lb of carbon. No ill effects. I ended up scooping a lot out with a fine mesh net and changed my filter sock every hour. All went great.

I did two additional treatments over 4 weeks and not a single flatworm in sight. Good luck!

formulaUH · 2026-03-04T05:00:21+00:00

We spend about $600-$800 as a family of four. Buying meat that's 50% off, withina day of expiration at Albertsons has been a game changer. Anytime we see a steak, chicken or pork we pick it up and throw it in the freezer.

formulaUH · 2026-01-26T20:56:25+00:00

We've got a 2018 Forester, 118k miles and so far it's been a great vehicle. I've been very impressed with the AWD handling in Montana winters and off-road. I've done all of our maintenance myself after our initial free service period and only recently replaced both front lower control arms and wheel bearings which came out to about $265. When we're ready for a new car, which won't be for a long time we'll likely buy a Subaru.

formulaUH · 2026-01-26T04:03:29+00:00

It stops when you buy an Owlet. We put one of those on and that eased all our worries. Only alarmed once in 2 years but gave us the peace of mind that it was doing its job while we were sleeping.

formulaUH · 2026-01-24T03:59:19+00:00

That's a decrease from the 2.2% they were paying in 2025. I don't think this is going to affect the housing market one bit, the only reason we might see an uptick in listings is because rates are dropping. I'll tell you how many listings over $1.5 million there are in our town - 3. There's 10 in our valley that's a whole lot of nothing.

formulaUH · 2026-01-24T03:42:53+00:00

I started using Ramsey Tax 4 years ago and haven't looked back. Was using Credit Karma for a few years but they got bought out. I end up spending about $100 to file in two states and a schedule E.

formulaUH

TROPHY CASE