I was watching Oprah the other day...could have been yesterday and she had a financial advisor that spoke about affording a home payment.

Her advice was pretty simple. Take the PITI payment quoted by the lender and add 40% to it. This would cover electric, cable, garbage pick up etc. She had been through the process and had nearly lost her home and was able to get it together and stay on track.

I will have to look up her name, but I thought it was an interesting piece of advice.