<prompt> Human: My wife and I are saving for a house, we are renting for dirt cheap right now 750mo but want a nicer home in a nicer neighborhood. We would like to become serious shoppers in the spring of 2016.We have about 3k in savings now, started at the beginning of this year.We want a house that is going to be around 200-250kSo down payment wise we are looking at least at 10k with an FHA loan. But that means PMI and so on and so forth, how do people have 30-50k laying around for home purchases? Our combined income is around 95-105k depending on bonuses each month, which is high for our area.Am I missing something? Should this be easier or is it supposed to be a huge up hill battle?Edit: Thank you all, I dont think I can reply to everyone, but I did need that swift kick in the ass some of you provided, I came her for that to be honest. I think my wife and I have an issue with stacking up small purchases here and there that arent needed, as well as enjoying the convenience of a 30 meal at a restaurant compared to a 6 meal from the grocery store. Thank you all for your help!Assistant: Its definitely difficult. But people who are serious about saving up for a house generally live in an inexpensive apartment and dont eat out too much. Every dollar saved on living expenses means one more dollar toward that house.Hows your budget looking?Human: I use YNAB, and it is easily responsible for the aforementioned 3k. Beyond that, our expenses are as follows:take home money 7500 a monthCar 1: 369Car 2: 265Rent:750Student Loans for wife: 360Utilities: 300Auto Ins: 205Health Ins: 94Phone: 315Random services like netflix: 30Daycare:400No CC debt, we use them like a debit card to maximize rewards and pay the balances off frequently to minimize utilization reporting to credit reports. All in all we arent in a bad situation by any means and I often feel bad for wanting more. Ill admit the occasional dinner out can be trimmed here and there, but it still leaves us a far cry from the 30k Id like to have for this. Assistant: Your budget doesnt make sense...given those numbers you should be saving 4k a month! Human: I agree, on paper, and those are the constants. But things come up like clothes shopping for the growing toddler, or everyone conveniently left their money at home during Moms birthday dinner sort of stuff.  <response>: 3500 a month is an awful lot of incidentals. The answer to your question is that people either control spending or find more income. 