<prompt> Human: Im sure some version of this has been posted before, but its been on my mind. Hoping this wont become a wall of text!So, 2 big things are coming up in our lives: we want to purchase a house hopefully by this fall, and my wife is doing a Masters program in which she will be going to London for a few weeks next summer. She wants me to visit when shes in London too. We have about 12k total in cash. I have maybe 3k in stockscash sitting in a Fidelity account, plus various retirement stuff that I do not want to touch. Total income is about 70k.Another factor: wifes mother just moved in with us. Not a big deal financially - the addition to the grocery bill will be offset by her paying us rent from her SSI.My wife tends to be big on plans and optimism, but less so with reality. So, she is very excited about the prospect of a new house, and buying furniture. She is also elated about her trip to London and wants to extend it into exploring more of Europe.Im very concerned about the house down payment in combination with her trip. Ive always had a good financial padding and I feel like a down payment of 10k or so would totally wipe out our emergency fund - and a few months later shes going to Europe. Were not great at reliably saving. Seems like something new comes up every month and eliminates the possibility of saving. Sometimes its something essential like a car repair. Other times its just a combination of impulsive purchases of things like video games, going to bars, etc. Whenever these things come up on her part its framed as an exception, such as: she took a friend out for her birthday. 100 in fooddrinks. Mother in law just moved in, had to buy a mattress: 300. A festival is coming up that she LOVES, but when we go it costs us something like 200, plus travel. Im not faultless with these things and dont mean to seem to be knocking my wife, ha haMy wife gets exasperated with me when I express concern about these big things coming up. We were in a furniture store and she was excited about picking out couches for a house, while I balked at the price tags. Shes especially stubborn about the London summer and insisting I need to visit her when shes there, but Im just thinking about her airfare room board 6 weeks of London prices! I feel a bit like a wet blanket when talking about this with her.We have started talking about setting specific goals as to how much money we will need for all this, and shes a little more open to the concerns Im expressing, so thats a plus.Anyway, advice would be good. TL;DR Big purchases coming up - house and trip. Wife is a bit dismissive about my concerns about affording all of this.  <response>: This is a problem easiest solved with math. Create a budget that is realistic and includes all these planned expenses. I think youll find that you cant afford a house any time soon unless you drop your living expense significantly or are in a really low COL area. 