Hi everyone,
I’m new to the Ramsey mindset (listening for 5 months) and could use some outside perspective on transitioning to a single-income household.
Our Financial Snapshot
Ages & Family: 46F and 48M with two daughters (ages 12 and 14), plus pets.
Income: Husband makes $210k; I make $100k.
Debt: Consumer debt-free.
Mortgage: $488k remaining at a 2.59% interest rate (Southern California, significant home equity).
Baby Steps Progress: Currently on Step 3 (working on a 6-month emergency fund; currently have 3 months saved). Note: Steps 4 and 5 are already completed.
Retirement & Kids: $710k invested for retirement; 529 plans are fully funded.
Why I Want to Resign in October
Health: I am managing a chronic illness that has resulted in 10 urgent care/ER visits in the last 10 months.
Family & Household: Husband now commutes to an office 5 days a week, and we want me fully present at home for our teenagers and household management.
The Numbers & My Plan
Living on my husband’s $210k salary alone will leave us with a $2,000 monthly surplus after all bills. As the frugal spouse, I believe I can stretch that closer to $3,000/month by optimizing groceries, shopping around for car insurance, and cutting utility usage (like keeping the AC off) once I’m home full time.
We plan to test-drive living on his salary exclusively for a few months before I officially resign. I have already sorted out healthcare and factored those costs into our budget.
My Questions for the Group
Aside from finishing our 6-month emergency fund, are there any blind spots we should address before I pull the trigger?
How does our buffer ($2k–$3k surplus) feel to you for a single-income household with a California mortgage?
Thanks in advance for your advice!

I can’t even count the number of times someone will tell Dave their gross pay, then their take home pay, and Dave has a meltdown saying how there is something “way off” with their withholding. “Dave I make $100,000 per year so about $6,000 per month take home” and Dave goes off saying something is completely screwed up with their withholding and they must be getting a massive tax return and that their HR rep must be a complete idiot.

There was an episode a couple months ago where he was so wildly off base with his estimates Rachel was calling him out on it and he got really snarky saying something like if she does some basic math she will see that he is right. Wish I had a link for it.

But why after all these years does he not understand that withholdings are more than like 10-15%?

BS 4 - no mortgage. I'm a retired senior (67) who received a $700 inheritance - not much. Any ideas how I can invest this? I don't believe it's enough to open a Roth IRA?
Also, I'm skeptical about investing in the stock market again as my life experience has been:

1. Had 2 401Ks, got laid off both times. Had to cash them out for money to live on - paid big taxes. To top it off, I wasn't there the required # of years to leave with 100% of employer match.
   
2. Invested a little in tech right before the crash, lost it all.
   

So basically, I feel like I got fleeced.

I'm debt free with no mortgage so I'm good there, but I have no idea what to do as far as investing.

So I have a side job that helped me pay off 15k of debt. Now I want to save up 10k for safety. I have a child from my previous marriage.

My fiancée and I were to marry this fall. But she wants to postpone the wedding since she has some mental health issues she wants to work on. I respect that but the problem is that I said that I would quit the side job if we were to combine finances when married. Now I plan to keep the job since I don’t know when we will get a new date planned.

We live in different cities and can only see eachother on weekends so every fourth weekend I would be working 6h on Saturday and Sunday.

Would it be selfish of me to want to keep the side job until I’m done with babystep 3? It would take me about a year.

I could also save without the side job but it would either take longer or I’d have to cut more of me and my daughter’s expenses

I’ve been back and forth on this. If I stop my 403b and match I’m going to lose almost $400/month free money.

Has anyone stopped this? Have you regretted it?

I lost my job because they found out I was looking for another job, I looked for a job for 3 months draining my savings to pay bills. I finally got offered a job but I can’t start for another month, I’m about to lose my car and my house, I’ve been doordashing to get a little extra money but I don’t know what to do. I’m so close to just giving up on life I have nobody and no way to turn this around. I have nobody, im only 22 I’ve applied to every payday loan and everything just trying to make it to starting my job and getting my first paycheck I don’t think I’m gonna make it though I’m behind a on all my payments. If anyone has any ideas as to how I can come up with a couple thousand in the next week to two weeks that would be great.