My 180-degree turn into Mustachianism

[Xtal]

Brief summary:  I have been mired in anti-Mustachian ways almost my whole adult life (with a few exceptions).  Last year, I married a man who was born frugal.  Partly through his influence, and partly through reading MMM, I've made the following changes over the past few months:

• Buying restaurant lunches every day ->->->  Bringing lunch from home
• Buying whatever book I want to read from a bookstore or Amazon ->->-> Using the library
• "Budgeting" for debt repayment ->->->  Treating debt like my hair is on fire and paying $2000 a month toward wiping it out
• Buying "misc" items here and there (clothing, makeup, magazines, etc.) ->->-> Consulting my husband for any purchase over $10
• Paying $80 a pop getting my legs waxed ->->-> waxing my legs at home for practically free
• Commuting to work every day ->->-> working from home two days a week
• Not contributing anything to my 401(k) ->->-> Contributing 10%, reaping a 5% match from my employer (plus the 2% they were already throwing in)
• Separate Netflix accounts ->->-> cheapest plan on Netflix

We already have no cable and live in a smallish house.

There are still some changes I can make.  I'd like to sell my car once I get more badass at biking (although I may have to talk DH into this).  And I'm still carrying a smartphone plan that costs $70/month.  But I'm proud of the changes I've made so far.  :)

[velocistar237]

Great progress. How has it felt as you made the changes? Easy/difficult/depriving/empowering/etc.?

[mechanic baird]

Very nice moves!!! Very proud of you!!
So how much did you save by practicing these new habits? It would be nice to see the huge rewards once you see the number!
Keep it up, you are doing great!

[Xtal]

Great progress. How has it felt as you made the changes? Easy/difficult/depriving/empowering/etc.?

It takes a little more effort to plan ahead for bringing lunches every day.  Eating out normally costs me $8-$9, 4x/week, so right there I'm saving $1700 annually.

Waxing my own legs was DH's idea.  He actually helps me.  I may do another separate forum post on this.  The kit (with the little crockpot to heat the wax, plus the wax and applicators and various creams & potions) was about $40 on Amazon.  My DH made a joke about how long it would take us to amortize the savings.  :P     This is tedious to do, but it only happens about once a month.  Annual savings ~ $880

Random spending on this & that = a lot more than I thought.  Hard to quantify this, as I haven't studied my bank statements.  Let's say $300 or so a month, for $3600 annual savings.

Paying off the debt early is both exciting and not fun at all.  I just want them GONE so I can put more money into investments.

Taking advantage of the 401(k) is great, but I'm also slapping myself for not taking advantage of the employer match sooner, and also for missing out on buying the S&P 500 when it was "on sale."

The weirdest part of all this?  When I have a "bad" day (i.e., I spend $7-$8 unnecessarily) I feel AWFUL.  I want, more than anything, to get out of debt (should happen within 15 months) and then to put that money toward Early Retirement.

[Xtal]

I should add that the change in my attitude over the past couple months has been like flipping a light switch.  I'm an all-or-nothing kind of person in many ways, and it has been much easier for me to be like OMG HAIR ON FIRE THIS IS SERIOUS MUST NOT SPEND ANY MONIES then it ever was for me to try to use a budget or do things in moderation.

And honestly, I have noticed no decrease in the quality of my life or the amount of fun I'm having.  And I have a renewed sense of optimism and hope, greater than I've felt in years.

[arebelspy]

This thread is awesome. It inspires me.

Thank you for sharing.

I especially love this:

And honestly, I have noticed no decrease in the quality of my life or the amount of fun I'm having.  And I have a renewed sense of optimism and hope, greater than I've felt in years.

* yeah!

[James]

Excellent feedback from a really significant change in lifestyle, thanks much for sharing that!


I have to agree with the response to paying off debt early, "both exciting and not fun at all".  That pretty much sums it up.  I find after paying off a debt or making a change that saves money gives me a momentary lift, but it doesn't have that lasting lift that investments have.  I think you will enjoy the new lifestyle even more when you get that debt wiped out and are living the result of this lifestyle.


One thing to consider, you also missed out buying the S&P 500 when it was expensive...  :)  I agree it's fun to look back and realize that there are times investments make more sense and pay off better than others, but for the most part it becomes just a slow and steady build.


I've found that I stopped feeling so awful when I have a "bad" day now that my debts are paid off, but the down side is I don't have such a strong natural feedback helping me not do those things again.  I appreciate that awful feeling, it was a big part of changing my lifestyle and still comes into play quite often.  Like all pain, it's usually there for a reason.  :)


Let us know how it goes along the way, it's encouraging to others and we can learn from each other.

[Jamesqf]

Looks like you're getting off to a great start on a new lifestyle.  Only thing I might advise a bit of caution about is this:

Buying "misc" items here and there (clothing, makeup, magazines, etc.) ->->-> Consulting my husband for any purchase over $10

Of course you know your own personalities best, but to me it seems as though it'd be real easy to take that overboard, and wind up either dependent or nagging.

[Xtal]

Looks like you're getting off to a great start on a new lifestyle.  Only thing I might advise a bit of caution about is this:

Buying "misc" items here and there (clothing, makeup, magazines, etc.) ->->-> Consulting my husband for any purchase over $10

Of course you know your own personalities best, but to me it seems as though it'd be real easy to take that overboard, and wind up either dependent or nagging.

Aha!  But the magic of this is that 99% of the time, I just don't ask.  In other words, I consider the item, visualize asking for the OK, and in the end just decide it's not worth the justification or potential embarrassment.  And it cuts down on impulse buys, because I'm certainly not going to call him at work because I'm on my lunchbreak and I saw a book I want.  I just... don't purchase it.

In a couple cases, my DH and I have been able to come up with a more creative solution that saved us money.  Thinking through a problem together is much more productive than just throwing money at it!

This simple rule has saved me hundreds of dollars already.  And, he's not once told me "no."

Also see this post:  http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/06/how-much-is-that-bitch-costin-ya/

[arebelspy]

Aha!  But the magic of this is that 99% of the time, I just don't ask.  In other words, I consider the item, visualize asking for the OK, and in the end just decide it's not worth the justification or potential embarrassment.  And it cuts down on impulse buys, because I'm certainly not going to call him at work because I'm on my lunchbreak and I saw a book I want.  I just... don't purchase it.

That's a neat mind hack.

[nolajo]

Looks like you're getting off to a great start on a new lifestyle.  Only thing I might advise a bit of caution about is this:

Buying "misc" items here and there (clothing, makeup, magazines, etc.) ->->-> Consulting my husband for any purchase over $10

Of course you know your own personalities best, but to me it seems as though it'd be real easy to take that overboard, and wind up either dependent or nagging.

Aha!  But the magic of this is that 99% of the time, I just don't ask.  In other words, I consider the item, visualize asking for the OK, and in the end just decide it's not worth the justification or potential embarrassment.  And it cuts down on impulse buys, because I'm certainly not going to call him at work because I'm on my lunchbreak and I saw a book I want.  I just... don't purchase it.

In a couple cases, my DH and I have been able to come up with a more creative solution that saved us money.  Thinking through a problem together is much more productive than just throwing money at it!

This simple rule has saved me hundreds of dollars already.  And, he's not once told me "no."

Also see this post:  http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/06/how-much-is-that-bitch-costin-ya/

Haha, I love seeing these sorts of things. I think many of us here are so into the pure numbers that we forget that some carefully applied psychology/mind hacks can go a really long way. I may just have to modify that one to my own life, since I do go through occasional periods of making too many stupid small purchases (somehow they never seem like budget-busters! Except for how they totally are. I wish I had the total aversion to spending that MMM and others have).

[Kriegsspiel]

What is a DH?

[grantmeaname]

Dear husband.

[Kriegsspiel]

Oh.  Thanks.

[kdms]

• "Budgeting" for debt repayment ->->->  Treating debt like my hair is on fire

Thank you for writing this down.  I've been struggling to figure out what isn't working in our plan, and this is exactly what we've been doing wrong.

[mm1970]

Very encouraging!

But ow.  Leg waxing. 

[travelbug]

Wow, good for you!
Keep up the lifestyle streamlining, it's amazing at how quickly debt can be diminished and wealth accumulated when you really focus.
C

[rosarugosa]

My DH hates to shop, but occasionally if we're in a shopping situation together, I'll say something like "remind me again about how much I don't need another cute shirt.  He will oblige with enthusiasm, and the the shirt will not get purchased.  Which is a good thing, because I have a LOT of cute shirts.

[galaxie]

Your DH coming up with cheaper workarounds reminded me of an awesome thing that just happened to me:

My man gave me the best birthday present the other day.  I had a smart phone, but the GPS didn't work.  I didn't want to spring for a new phone, but not having working GPS was pretty annoying. 
He had an old phone that he'd dropped long ago and broken the screen.  At the time, he'd decided that trying to replace the broken screen was not a reliable solution, and he got a new phone.
But he secretly got a replacement screen for the formerly-broken phone and fixed it up, and gave it to me as a present.  Now I have a phone with working GPS and I didn't have to buy a new one.

An unexpectedly badass side effect of this is that now I'm using endomondo (it's an app) to track my bike rides with my newly-working GPS, which makes biking to work way more fun.  :D :D :D

I have a similar idea for his birthday present: I'm going to repair something he's forgotten about and stopped using, which will also be very helpful to him.

[arebelspy]

Awesome story galaxie.  Thanks for sharing, and welcome to the forum!

[R62]

I have a similar idea for his birthday present: I'm going to repair something he's forgotten about and stopped using, which will also be very helpful to him.

My BIL did this once.  One year at T'giving I blew out my stove element cooking a turkey dinner for the family.  I ended up finishing the turkey (under foil) using the broiler in on-again/off-again mode.   Needless to say we ate VERY late that night.    Sometime between T'giving and Xmas my BIL snuck into my house and replaced the broken element.   On Xmas Day I opened a big box containing the blown out element.

Once of the best presents I ever received.