Mustachian Life Changes made in 2016

[MustachingInIreland]

I became an independent adult and started using MMM principles this year. I'm happy with my first steps and hope to do more in 2017!

1. Not inflating my lifestyle after graduating college and getting a job: I'm still living in a student apartment with the same roommates, and no new electronics or dinners out for me. Since I never experienced anything else I don't feel like I'm missing out, and I'm saving a ton of dough!

2. Finally got a bike! I realised I've spent thousands in bus passes over the years (yikes) and bought a used Dutch single-speed bike, it's quickly become my most beloved possession and paid for itself in more ways than one already! Plus my boyfriend thinks I'm cool now that I "exercise".

3. Opened my first retirement account: I'm not eligible for my company's pension due to young age so I opened a retirement savings account and am allowed to contribute 15% of my salary into it and get tax relief so that's what I'm doing. 20% free money for my retirement :-)

4. Tracking all my spending: As a student there wasn't any money to keep track of really lol, but now that I am in charge of big-to-me amounts of money I've developed a neat system to track every single expense involving post-its, my bank's app and a notebook to record weekly totals.

5. Finally started contributing to my savings account: I have never managed to keep my savings account balance over 100€ during college but since I started working in June I've been putting about half my pay check away, and by next month I will hit the 10,000€ mark! Now to research investment options here in Ireland before my cash stash becomes too big...

These are the biggest 5 changes I've consciously decided this year. Unfortunately my saving/frugal stride might not last many years as it turns out my job is super soul-sucking so I am thinking of doing a Masters in the area I'm actually interested in...:-)

[MonkeyJenga]

• Rent: I moved to a cheaper apartment (like $950/month cheaper)
• Minimalism: Donated a ton of stuff, enabling a move to said cheaper place
• Charity: Increased charitable giving after the election
• Food: Drastically cut down on restaurant spending
• Clothes: Didn't buy any clothes, participated in clothing swaps instead
• Investing: Almost done reallocating my portfolio to be simple, all-invested index funds instead of cash and individual stocks
• Cell Phone: Switched to a cheaper cell plan, and only paid $5 for the phone itself thanks to jordanread ($30-38/month savings)
• Credit Cards: Did a couple small credit card bonuses
• Biking: Experimented with biking to work
• Fucks: Stopped giving so many fucks about money

[mc6]

Paid off a car loan and now rent out that car on Turo.  Still not 100% cool with letting strangers drive my car but getting over it with each direct deposit. 

Used super glue to fix some stuff I probably would have thrown away previously.

Accepted some useful items from Freecycle vice only giving away. 

Signed up for a different, hopefully more generous, health insurance and an FSA for 2017.

[stashgrower]

Inspiring game :D

~ Read free resources about money.
~ Calculated FIRE scenarios and made spreadsheets.
~ Tracked spending.
~ Freecycled.
~ Tidied up.
~ Received clothes from friends.
~ Improved on side gig.
~ Gifted homemade or non-spendy presents.
~ Bartered with friends.
~ Biked more.
~ Improved on free exercise.
~ Enjoyed local walks.
~ Declined spendy outings.
~ Changed banks.
~ Accepted appropriate offerings.
~ Borrowed books from library and colleagues.
~ DIY'd more.
~ Changed telecommunications provider (same $, better value).
~ Shopped around and optimised sources of some basics.
~ Planned wardrobe changes.
~ Shared surplus with friends.

[mochila]

In 2016, I

• received a promotion at work that resulted in a 70% raise,
• started contributing to a 457, which I may regret,
• opened 9 credit cards to earn 435K points and miles + $250,
• had and continue to have such an inflexible schedule that I've spent only 16K of those miles on the flight I just took to visit my parents, so
• spent my miles and points to send said parents to visit Baby Brother in New Zealand.

Totally un-mustachian: I am also finally shopping for a house (after renting for 10 years), even while applying selectively for jobs in other states.

[HenryDavid]

Not so much changes as continuing and solidifying existing habits:
-enjoyed 2nd year of partial work, gliding toward retirement
-enjoyed tons of cultural and recreational travel while spending way less than the average Canadian, as usual. Huh.
-lived once again on future safe withdrawal amount, according to plan to retire in 2018: saved all the rest
-home mortgage ended, now truly debt-free; in-sourced plumbing repairs and renos etc.
-kept old vehicle going one more year using secret technique called "maintenance"!
-invested newly free time in creative pursuits with rewarding results
-put more time into gardening, ate more food from garden, learned stuff
-biked a record number of km. (Canada eh): just over 4900 k, cut short when winter came a bit early
-one new thing: stuck to daily minimalist bodyweight workout plan, sort of 5BX-ish: rare are the days without at least that much of a workout, though all day every day is naturally a source of exercise opportunities. Lost 5 pounds, 5 more to go to get to weight of 25 years ago (age 30). 'Cause cycling alone isn't enough.

All this stuff is routine, common sense, normal stuff! And yet . . . we know so many folks who don't do any of it but feel powerless to improve their situations. 

[moof]

In 2016 I:
- Got the mortgage from 4.5% down to 3%, did not take out any equity or roll in the fees.
- Found the MMM blog, changing my mindset from "retirement someday" to concrete plans with numbers.
- Went from ~50% bike commuting to ~90% (something seems to come up every couple weeks...)
- Opened and maxed out an IRA for the wife.
- More than doubled my Roth contributions to max it out for the year.
- Finally opened and after tax account to shovel money into that used to burn a hole in my pocket, put 10k into it.
- Took a hard look at my menagerie of investments and mostly cleaned it up to be more coherent, and got rid of my few remaining higher cost funds.
- Bought a used bike trailer, though I have used less than I would like.  Stay-at-home wife does most of the shopping and is nowhere near ready to switch to mostly bike commuting.  Had some epic fun sessions hauling the kid around on the weekends.
- Got the wife onto my even cheaper pay-as-you go Ting plan (~$50/mo down to ~$36/mo for 2 phones).
- Recruited a friend to clean up his act for retirement, still far from Mustachian, but he has come a long way thanks to our 2 person support group.

[Cannot Wait!]

Just curious, which magazine did you miss?
My library has a free on-line magazine service where you can download pretty much anything, and, of course, they have print magazines to lend out.

[DirtDiva]

Great job everyone,  thanks for the inspiration!

1.  $226,552 in debt off the books this year.  Sold a house, 2 cars, and paid off a student loan that originated in 1986.

2.  Made it through a cancer diagnosis and treatment plan which caused 3.5 months of decreased income without touching       savings, except for paying 4k in medical bills from HSA.

3.  Opened an 11-month CD at Ally Bank (1.25%) with our excess "emergency fund" money, which was languishing at 0.01% in our checking account.

4.  Tracked an entire year's spending on YNAB.  Eye-opening!! Reduced our food spending by $700 a month just by noticing how much money we were wasting.

5.  Accumulated 300,000 UR points in preparation for a trip to Europe next summer.

6.  ETA:  lost more weight (total 35#) between biking or walking to work and eating less junk.  It's been a gradual loss since moving and starting to bike-commute. 

[Toffeemama]

This year:
*We moved into a foreclosure house, in a much less expensive area(okay, so technically it was one year ago today, but we didn't start doing anything to the house until 2016), and spent the year making it look and behave a hundred times better than it did before!
*Are almost done fixing up the apartment that came with the house, so we can rent it out.
*Opened our first 401k and HSA (I know, but better late than never!)
*Opened a cash-back rewards credit card(and are paying it off completely each month, of course).
*Led several paint parties in our new area, earning a few hundred bucks a month extra.
*Made a spreadsheet to document spending for the year

I know most of this is "baby steps" kind of stuff, but neither my husband or I were ever taught any of the advanced money kind of stuff, so it's all new to us.  The thing I'm most proud of is our house; we recognized the potential of this ugly little house that had been sitting empty for 5 years, and have completely restored it to something nice to live in.

[gb8895]

Great thread, I notice a lot of similarities with what we have in the past as well.  In 2016 focused a lot on our home and energy efficiency.

- maxed our 403b's, and wife's additional 457 (almost fully funded as well)
- increased deductible on car insurance
- installed my own floor insulation
- got an efficient gas furnace for central heating (replacing 2 unsafe and inefficient floor furnaces from the 20's)
- self installed own new hot water heater (replacing 20 year old one)
- LED upgrades t/o house
- replaced old car to get a used hybrid/Prius for the longer work commute
- some new energy efficient windows in house
- really trying to drive food costs down to $600/mo for family of 3, but hover more around $800 if you include eating out as well (tough task in Bay Area!)
- made a new hobby of beer and cider making (may have paid for itself), great to give as gifts
- making good use of public library especially for kids books
- replaced my own iphone 5s battery - extending it's working life another year

[Vanguards and Lentils]

My biggest improvements this year:

Churning: I really buckled down and did it this year. Netted $2050 from opening credit cards, and $2850 after tax from opening checking accounts.
Biking: This year I stopped buying my monthly bus pass, and now bike exclusively. Learned how to do some maintenance and replacements by watching videos.
Charity: Increased donations from 5.5%, to 6.8% of my monthly stipend. Not a lot in actual dollars, but I live on very little and can definitely afford it.

[Nickels Dimes Quarters]

It's been an interesting year...

>Purchased a four-plex, moved into one unit.
>Reached 100% occupancy and have excellent tenants.
>Started a Roth IRA.
>Maxed HSA contribution.
>Had a good year at day job where I have an excellent retirement plan.
>Started deferred comp contributions.
>Opened new Citi Hilton card with all the bonus points as my entry into churning.
>Lots of chaos (see first item), which led to lots of eating out. Finally feeling more settled and cooking more at home.
>High spending on medical/health, but at least I've had the funds to cover the costs.
>Starting fitness routine.

I'm sure there's more, but these are the highlights.
NDQ

[MrThatsDifferent]

MMM has changed my life in so many ways. Have been reading as much as I can in the last 3 months and here are the changes so far:

--consolidating retirement accounts
--opened high interest savings
--educating self, wife and close friends about FI
--lost 50lbs
--opened up Acorns account
--increased contributions to retirement account
--shopping for new retirement account company
--structuring bank accounts for simple money management
--developed an investment strategy for Vanguard products to launch in Jan
--developed 20 yr plan for achieving FIRE and then post-FIRE life
--wife and I agreed to downsize and rent cheaper, saving around $10k/yr
--convinced wife to save, add high interest savings account, reduce insurance payments, change retirement funds, increase retirement payments and pay off all debts
--helped wife to pay off a debt
--focused on de-cluttering and reducing stuff
--decreased tv watching
--decreased Facebook time
--researched buying a home vs investing, chose investing
--started working on a side business which will be my post-FIRE career
-- read the Barefoot Investors book
--started tracking DW & my net worth
--set up monthly FI meetings with DW
--created budget for monthly personal and family spending
--reevaluated future expenses to determine their necessity, eliminated most from planning
--changed mobile phone plan and reduced by $40/month
--committed to eating out less, bringing lunch to work and cooking cost-efficient meals for family
--committed to reducing housekeeper to once a month (best compromise I could reach with DW)
--bike everywhere and on-board with not getting a second car for myself
--started donating to Kiva.org
--asked DW to not buy me anymore material things (I have too much) and focus on us having more experiences
--realized how lucky and privileged we are and get my shit together to take advantage of the good things, set ourselves up and stop complaining about anything
--making plans to get rid of 90% of my possessions and simplify my life as much as possible

[TravelJunkyQC]

I love this thread!

For me/us:

- Changed jobs in February, came with a 20% salary increase. (+10k for the year)
- Started carpooling to work with my boyfriend in the winter, and both of us bike in the Spring/Summer/Fall. (approx. +100$ per month of gas no longer being spent, and any extra maintenance now that we drive less)
- Got rid of our second car. (+200$, it went to the junkyard since it was no longer drivable at that point)
- Switched over to his car insurance company for both of us. (+400$ per year)
- Got a company cell-phone with my new job and raise (+60$ a month I'm no longer paying)
- Maxed out my TFSA as well as my RRSP for me, his TFSA for him (he gets paid in scholarships as a PhD student, so no use in RRSPs at the moment). (18k put aside for me, 5.5k for him)
- He invested in a start-up he believes in (his investment already doubled in value, so initial 13k + another 13k)
- Opened my first taxable account with the extra money with Questrade. Index funds all the way. (+2.5k)
- Put my rental condo on the market for sale, currently being rented while I wait for the right buyer. (Rent - mortgage - costs = netting approx. 4k in principal for the year being paid off by renter).

For 2017, keep on keeping on. Hopefully sell condo, take proceeds to buy land with mini-4-season hunting shack on it. Play outside more. Be happy.

[FireHiker]

I have more 2016 progress that I didn't realize until I looked back at my spreadsheets for 2015 and 2016. We spend an absolutely obscene amount of money on food and I feel like we're never improving. We still have a LOT of room for improvement, but when I compared 2015 vs. 2016 I saw we have actually reduced our food spending by 16.5%. My goal for 2017 is to reduce our 2016 number by 32% (which is still probably double what it SHOULD ultimately be, but ugh, my oldest turned 16 today and he and his football friends consume copious amounts of food at our house...which is fine, because I'd rather know where they are) in 2017. Still, I was shocked when I looked at the numbers and saw that we really ARE improving.

[flamingo25]

Nothing huge, but some small victories.

-Had our first child in late 2015, so a lot less eating out and more time at home.
-Made about $500 credit card churning
-I'm a SAHM, but I picked up some part-time work subbing at a daycare every now and then
-Decided in November to stop buying clothes until the end of 2017
-Sold some lightly used baby clothes and gear (mostly gifts) at a consignment store

[chaseboy2010]

• 5.25% raise at work
• Switched from T-Mobile ($50 + taxes/month to $35 (taxes included)/month)
• Fully maxed out 401(k) employee + employer contributions (thanks profit sharing!)
• Biked to work the entire year
• Refinanced wife's $248K in student loans (grad school + med school) from between 5.41% and 6.8% down to 1.9%. Only downside is I have to start paying that massive monthly bill now and she won't earn a residency income until July.
• Paid her final semester (~$25K) with 529 and cash
• Paid extra $22,346.56 toward mortgage
• Started a garden since we bought a house in late 2015.
• Ate the most volume of grown + foraged food I've ever done in a year. My (unmeasured) goal is to increase this each year.
• Insulated and sealed crawl-space with concrete & spray foam, creating an air buffer under the house + extra storage that stays about 60F.
• Opened Citi Double Cash card and switched majority of spending here.
• Installed triple insulating blinds on all the windows
• Started finding discount codes, discount gift cards, and cash back for all online purchases (see how)
• Used YNAB for a full year
• Sold 2003 Mazda Tribute for $3750 and bought a 2002 Subaru Outback for $2300 + $300 in parts. Installed the new bumper and headlamp myself to save on labor. Outback is safer, more fuel efficient, and fits more stuff.
• Got a table & chairs + a child's single bed from the trash. Same wasteful neighbor at 2 different times.
• Made $735 from Craigslist, $272 from Nextdoor, $26.45 from Half.com, $3 from SecondSpin, and $878.35 from eBay selling old things.
• Made $23.06 from eBates and $107.52 from TopCashBack (again, see how)
• Started consulting at the end of the year, invoiced ~$3000 (to be paid in 2017)
• Wrote an investment strategy plan to keep myself on track (I was a sucker for all the interesting investments like Lending Club, Prosper, SolarCity solar bonds, & real-estate crowd-funding. Now have money locked up in those for 5-7 years that should have been in Vanguard index funds.
• Repaired my first electronic device - Replaced capacitors on an Apple Time Capsule. Going to sell it after wiping it.
• Increased deductibles to lower home insurance (can self-insure the higher deductibles)
• Cancelled escrow. By using YNAB, I can do the escrow's job by setting aside money for home insurance & property tax and earn the interest instead of them.
• Spent only $240.78 on work lunches all year. Otherwise packed lunch or scavenged for catered leftovers at work.

My big goal for 2017 is to install solar. I've joined a solar bulk purchase group for discounts on installation & panels that should bring the payback time to ~10 years. Another big shared goal for my wife and I is to cook more and eat out less since we spent ~$4500 in 2016 on restaurants.

[CloserToFree]

Mustachian:
-got back into biking to work and loved it; also got several friends and family members into bike commuting, and they now love it
-did a full review of all our spending and finally arrived at realistic understanding of where the money goes (and how to stop so much of it from going there...)
-got serious about reducing our grocery/alcohol expenses (starting to implement changes this month)
-implemented a clothing spending moratorium in November and haven't spent anything on clothes since then
-got a bike trailer for our toddler and started using it to take family outings
-discovered GoCurryCracker (love them) and the Mad Fientist podcast (listened to all of them within about a month); also discovered the Frugalwoods blog and started avidly following; their homestead dream (now a reality) has inspired me to double down our frugality efforts to chase our own dream(s)
-thanks to the above blogs, learned about various tax savings strategies and ways to access retirement accounts before retirement age -- total eye openers for us
-started having serious discussions with DH about potential FIRE dates in the next couple years and doing preliminary planning for different early retirement scenarios
-maxed out our retirement accounts for 2016 and invested entirety of our year-end bonuses (over 80k after taxes)
-did NOT buy a new car even though our 2002 car broke down and needed an expensive repair; we forked over the money (about $1k) and now the car runs beautifully and does what we need it to do (our friends and family are confounded that we're still driving it and didn't get a new car)
-DH got a modest raise
-got much more active on this forum, which is helping me get and stay motivated to be more frugal and save more

Un-mustachian:
-spent nearly 30k on home renovations, thereby un-doing a lot of our regular monthly saving (we write Vanguard checks for big ticket items like renos).  The renos definitely added value to our house and make it much more functional for us so I don't really regret this but do wish we had planned a bit better for it.
-spent an ungodly amount of money on groceries and alcohol (over $1k a month)
-lent money to a family member (regret doing this but expect it to be paid back in 2017 at least)
-spent about $1k on a designer suit (really regret this one but too late now)

[JimLahey]

-My fiancee has been cutting my hair. I have gone to the barber a couple of times but getting it cut at home is more convenient. We use a set of Wahl clippers that I got from Amazon.
-I have trimmed down my monthly subscriptions. I had a Google Play Music subscription on top of Netflix and HBO Now. I resubscribed to Amazon Prime and have been using their music and video service. So now I just have Netflix and Amazon Prime.
-I have spent next to nothing on clothing.
-My fiancee and I got library cards and have been utilizing them lately.
-I maxed out my Roth IRA for the first time this year.
-I have been saving around 40% of my income.

[tortoiseshell]

In 2016, I:

-Found MMM and read through the archives
-Started tracking my spending and net worth
-Stopped getting takeout
-Learned to do some of the cooking myself (DH did the bulk of the cooking before, now it's split more evenly)
-Tried to teach some of my spendthrifty friends that it can be fun to meet up at our respective houses rather than a restaurant or bar, with some success
-Paid off all of my and DH's student loans (nearly 40K!)
-Cut our grocery spending in half
-Started cutting my own hair (DH has been cutting his own hair for over 10 years, so no changes there)
-Started reading other personal finance blogs and listening to podcasts
-Stopped taking the bus home from work and walking instead

[EricNYC]

2016:

• Cut Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. It's impacted my quality of life none and my wallet plenty.
• Dropped iPhone and Verizon plan for Republic, and convinced dad to do the same ($70/month savings for each of us).
• Bought router rather than renting it from Verizon (~$110 savings, IIRC).
• Moved and changed jobs, dropping my commuting spending from ~$396/month ($6.50 express bus + $2.50 PATH * 22 working days in a month * 2 for morning and evening trips) to $0!
• Began biking to tech meetups and other social events ($5.50 per outing).
• Increased 401(k) contributions from 8% to 16% (10% fom me + 6% company match).

2017 goals:

• Reducing take out lunch expenses to $0. Current office stocks free fruit so even though it's not the most interesting meal, I can eat like 3 bananas and an orange and it'll be easier on my wallet and my body.
• Bike MORE!
• Up my 401(k) contribution to max.
• Rolling over old 401(k) to new job.
• Start cutting my own hair. My face hates electric razors but I'm down with trying to cut my head hair.

[nara]

Our goal was to increase our income rather than decrease our spending. We took a risk in 2016 of leasing clinic space for our business (therapy for children with autism). A few months later we extended our lease and expanded our clinic space, which allowed for us to take on more clients. After just a few months, we are now generating 100% positive cash flow and have increased our income substantially.

Working so much also has the unintentional benefit of forcing us to spend less... since there is little time now for vacations, etc.

We have fully funded our roth IRAs, HSA, and as much as I could toward my SIMPLE IRA.

We paid off lingering credit card debt and cut up all cards. In the past we were always too afraid to do this.. but our increased income has allowed us to feel better about it.

We're not misers and we have some expensive hobbies (like bodybuilding competitions, snowboarding trips, and animal rescue) that are non-negotiables for us as a child-free couple--but I would love to see our income increase further in 2017 and to look into solar panels and other ways to reduce some of those bigger expenses!