$402/month between gas, electric and oil -- admittedly, I don't know about gas and oil, but I'm thinking that you must have a BIG HOUSE to need this much energy. I'd consider downsizing . . . or, if the problem is that you lack insulation, address that issue.
Almost 3K/month in mortgage costs! I don't earn much more than that! Again, I vote downsize the house.
Over $1000/month on cars -- PLUS another $1000 for taxes -- and you didn't mention car payments, so I assume they're paid off. Wow, you can do better than this. Do you really need two cars?
If you JUST fix the above items, you'll have put yourself far, far, far down the road towards FIRE.
kkbmustang .. you're too funny ... hold on to your hat .. although he's currently only contributing 9% to his 401K they will provide 100% match up to 20% contribution .. I made him bring home something in writing because I didn't believe that one myself.
You have some excellent benefits, and there's no excuse not to max out "matched money". I just read your other post in which you talked about how much you've accumulated in your 401Ks; honestly, though it looks like a good chunk, now I'm wondering why it isn't much, much more. You've been working probably 20 years, and this match is really extraordinary.
Everyone always says get rid of the cable but if you only have basic it can be a great source of entertainment for a small cost. I did not have it when raising the kids-wanted them to do other things but really in an adult only house I think you should be open to the cost-benefit.
We have cable. Yeah, we could save $100/month on it, but we're ahead of the curve, even for this board, and it's a luxury we've chosen to keep.
For the OP: Since you have so much debt to dump, perhaps you could consider getting rid of cable UNTIL the debt is gone. It'll be a reminder of what you're working towards.
I think it was in Dave Ramsey's book that talked about it .. so much of this is common sense but we are all never really taught how to manage money or finances.
People are always whining, "No one ever taught me!" Yet I remember very specifically my algebra teacher having us repeat over and over, "I want a simple interest loan with no pre-payment penalty". And I've seen my students toting around worksheets concerning credit card usage, checking accounts, and budgets -- and my own girls brought home such work in elementary school, AND in middle school, AND in high school Civics/Economics.
I personally grew up with poor examples of money management in my household, and in high school /college I realized I wanted to do better: So I hit the library, I read, and I learned -- I reinforced what had been taught in school, and I read about investing, living in a frugal way, and anything else I could find to help myself. Today it's considerably easier since the information is available on the internet.
The information's being taught -- but I think the real issue is that kids don't recognize it as important, perhaps because it "feels" too far in the future, but kids just don't internalize the lessons.
