Has anyone pulled a Mustashian 180 - Poll

[hunniebun]

I have added a poll just to see how most people arrived at their stash! 

I am relatively new to the Mustashian way and would love to hear from someone (anyone?) who had made the switch from the 'average' way of life to the mustashian way of life.  It seems to me that for the most part, people here either started young, before kid; have always had frugal tendencies, or set up the infrastructure of their lives to accommodate just one income (to have a stay at home parent).  I am just curious if anyone has had success revolutionizing their way of life after living the 'American dream' (more like nightmare) for the majority of their life. How do you move from a lifestyle that requires 2 incomes to maintain to one where it is possible to save 50% or more of our income?  Tips?

[firewalker]

There are more here who are early-on-the-path than you may think. One big step is having both parents working in harmony with your plans. Look for comments about getting one's other half on board. Raising kids requires unity. Planning financially does as well.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

thegoblinchief is the best example. I also already have kids, but wasn't as deep in pre-MMM, if you know what I mean. Check out his journal and blogs!

[hunniebun]

I've added a poll just to see how most people arrived at their stash!

[Zikoris]

I had a few things working in my favour in the pre-mustachian days:

- I never fell prey to the crazy high Vancouver housing costs, setting a hard line for what I was willing to pay from day one.
- I never bothered getting a licence or a car, so never had transportation expenses higher than a monthly bus pass.
- I never consumed alcohol or things like steak (vegan since pre-teens), so the restaurant meals I did have were not that expensive.
- I've never had any sort of appreciation for fancy designer anything - clothes, furniture, sunglasses, you name it. Always struck me as a huge rip off.

I chose Option 2 since there were definitely a few changes required when I saw the light, but it was more a matter of keeping better records and tightening things up here and there rather than a complete lifestyle overhaul.

[caliq]

I put "You stumbled a bit in your young and foolish years, but quickly saw the error of your ways" but I'm still young (early 20's) so I haven't really grown a stash yet -- so "You have lived the majority of your life in debt fueled abundance but have recently seen the light are are growing some stubble" also applies to me.  I think you meant for the second one to be for people further along in life or post-kids so that's why I chose option 2. 

I never drank much and never had a car loan (though DH does) and have always been pretty frugal (thrift store shopping, always buying sale stuff, cheaper grocery stores, etc) so I don't have a huge hole to dig out of, except for the student loans :/

[dunhamjr]

this probably fits me best right now
"You have lived the majority of your life in debt fueled abundance but have recently seen the light are are growing some stubble."

at 18-23 i spent money i never should have.  but was going to be working soon so didnt think anything of it.  now i never went super nutso... but it was definitely not the best $$ times for me.

23-28 a little more of the same, but working.  out of school.  being more responsible, paying down prior debts.

29-36.  more responsibility.  but spending LOTS more money owning to having more, buying 2 houses, feeling like i can afford 6 cars, etc... spending, but also saving what i thought at the time was a good amount.

36 to June/July 2014.  prepping for kids.  cutting car expenses.  saving a bit more even.  being responsible according to what "the world" says is normal.

June 14 to now... paid off about $65k (half from a work bonus windfall) in debts (mostly student loans, HELOC and mortgages) in 2014, most of that from June through December.  cutting into the budget to spend less, so we can save more.

[Two9A]

I picked "debt-fueled abundance".

What firewalker said about both parents needing to be on board for saving to work, that resounded with me. My mother has always been a spender, and family/cultural pressure means that any demands made by the mother must be met. This is why I'm $400k in the hole on underwater mortgages, and that figure isn't going down significantly.

But in the vein of growing a stubble, I'm working double full-time now, to get some cash to put against those debts. Give it... twenty years and I'll join you on the path to savings.

[GizmoTX]

My Other: I grew up with hair on fire parents, got married & moved away to start stashing.

We started married life with $300 & college student frugality. Student loans & credit cards didn't exist. After a year, we bought a Ford Maverick with a credit union loan & paid it off within the year. All subsequent vehicles have been purchased with cash. We rented for 7 years before buying our first house, then sold it 4 years later for twice the price. Paid cash for houses 3, 4, & 5. We slowly learned to live with abundance, but always below our means.

[Elliot]

I grew up in a terrible household, 2 bankruptcies, on public assistance, and we were briefly homeless when I was very young. I grew up thinking that being well off meant no creditors calling the house and that you usually weren't in the red for your bank account. Net worth was never on my radar.

In my college years I spent every dollar that came through my hands and was very proud that my bills were paid early, in full. I was 24 when I realized there was more, and have a very modest income and so very modest savings.

[iwasjustwondering]

I was always very mustachian on the big things.  I bought my first car at age 26, just after buying my first condo.  It was the little things (takeout, great sale at Lord & Taylor) that got me. 

[MsPeacock]

Maybe not enough choices to cover all the bases. Grew up poor. mom was basically financially illiterate and didn't pass on any useful information. However, always lived below my means, saved money, and started working when I was 12,  and absolutely determined to get an education (worked full time all the way through my PhD). Doing well and no CC debit until a divorce and 210k in legal bills in the past 3 years. Now on a major revision to try to recoop. I would have been fine otherwise, aside from unexpected costs. I think this is probably true of others - sometimes financial disaster strikes even when you behave well (e.g. medical problems, a house fire. divorce, etc.).

What I haven't been doing - was really super tracking every penny and being super frugal - which I am now determined to do because I have to recoop.

[Travis]

Middle class upbringing.
Stable career with steady income increases right out of college.
Always been allergic to paying interest.
Always saved at least 10% of income, but almost entirely in cash.
Bought a couple new vehicles, but in cash.

At age 30 I blew a major windfall on a house I barely got to live in before I had to sell it at a loss.  At the time I had a newborn and absolutely no budget.  Except for the house I've never had debt, but I was bleeding cash on housing expenses and eating out.  After selling the house I found YNAB, MMM, and Bogleheads in short order.  I'm 34 now, investing 50% of my income, and watching every penny.

[gimp]

Grew up poor but my parents knew how to save. Paid my way through school, and while doing so, found this site. Never had the money to blow it wastefully, and now that I do, I don't. Et voila. What does that go under?

[Zikoris]

Strangely for me, growing up neither of my parents saved anything, and both were also big spenders (and still are). Somehow I had this whole thing down as an instinct. Fortunately, they have pensions to take care of them when they retire.

[eyePod]

Hm, I was stupid with my money in high school. My paychecks were a target # for spending not to be saved.

My parents paid for 4 out of 5 years of my college. It was a 5 year BS/MS program in chemical engineering with 3 paid 6 month internships (all of that money went back to my parents). I also worked ~3 part time jobs throughout school.

One thing, which was frustrating at the time, was that I wasn't allowed to have a credit card if my parents paid for my school. It was probably a good decision based on my previous spending habits. Due to this, I've only had 25k debt (student loan from my last year), and paid it off in under 3 years. Now we have a mortgage but that was well thought out and we are planning on paying it off early and probably renting it out at some point.

So, long story short, we weren't crazy, but we did some things right and definitely had some help/luck. There was a lot of hard work too though.

[I'm a red panda]

I voted other.  I wasn't born rich, have no family money or trust fund- but I've never been in debt.
I was lucky enough that I got scholarships for most of my college tuition and my family had saved a "college fund" that paid my expenses while I was in college and I only had to work a part time job for fun money (and only after my freshman year when I wasn't allowed to work by my parents "school is your job").

I've just never wasted money.  Even when I was a kid and my parents paid for things I never got into fancy clothes or purses.

My parents are good with money though, so I've had good examples. I grew up hearing my Dad talk about stocks, so while he didn't  teach me how to invest, I always thought of it as something "normal".  As kids we opened savings account very young, and started responsibly using credit as soon as we got cars.

My husband has similar values to me. While we aren't truly Mustachian in everything, being good environmental stewards, not falling into consumeristic traps, and saving for our future are really important to us.
 

[Melanie A]

I'm definitely not naturally frugal. Only until recently I felt motivated to get my finances in order. I started reading this blog a year ago but I didn't feel like I had the right support. Now that I am with someone who is naturally frugal, it's easier for me to stop eating out, spending on house items, etc.

I've always had debt since college: student loans, car loans, consumer debt. I was somewhat good at having my fixed expenses lower/minimal (other than a car) but I never controlled my variable expenses and quite often lived above my means. I tried budgeting a few times and failed every time. Before reading this blog, it's like I never 'got it'. Now I decide not to spend money on anything useless and actually feel good about it and not feel deprived.

[Mesmoiselle]

I'm not sure how to answer. I blew through all of my husband's income on dining out and groceries for 3 oit of 4 relationship years; till he lost his job.I was 26,he 27. I soon realized that I'd been wasting at least 10k a year for three years, and while he struggled to replace his job, I just kept cutting and cutting spending. Since my good income earning began at 17 (30k gross), that was 9 years of my 10 year career (now 50k gross) and a third of my entire life of frivolous stupid spending. But I have no kids and only certain areas of my life have been frugal (hate clothes shopping, so that saved some serious bucks).

Since finding MMM, I can't return to previous spending ways.

Now he's underemployed, we're making good headway, but we'll be flying through financial goals the minute he gets an actuarial job. Kind of makes use somewhere between option two option 4?

[AllieVaulter]

I had a hard time picking a category, too.  I've managed to avoid debt for the most part (scholarships paid for college, and I've never bought a car, but I did buy a house).  So while I didn't go crazy with money, I also didn't make amazing decisions either.  I lived super frugally and saved up money and then would go on a trip to Europe and spend most of what I saved.  I've never been a high earner, so it takes a while to save up a chunk of money.  But all the while I did know that eventually I'd want to be a stay-at-home-mom.  So that helped inform my decision to not take on debt. 

[EllieStan]

 I voted ''You have lived the majority of your life in debt fueled abundance but have recently seen the light are are growing some stubble''. The reason is, from the moment I reached my majority, I have been financing my education (all the way to the doctorate) and I have supported myself. At some point in my early 20s, it meant student loans because I didn't earn enough. I've never really been foolish about money, and although I have always been frugal, I lacked basic financial education. For example, I didn't understand how to budget and how to use credit, so I paid everything with my LOC and when I had a paycheck, I would deposit it in my LOC so there was never any money left. Ironically, this is why I never missed a single payment and now have an excellent credit score. Also, I kept telling myself that I suck with maths, so I never really made the effort to understand how interest rates worked or how one can use credit to their advantage or disadvantage. At some point, I was just used to having my LOC and credit card full and I had no idea how much it actually cost me. I also had no idea how much I owed, I was too scared to look at the numbers and I would think ''I'll pay that in 10 years once I'm done with university, like everybody does''.

The realization came quickly after I moved out from my ex's apartment and had to find a place of my own. I had no choice but to learn to budget now that I had nobody to split costs with. I went to my bank to seek help and I met a lady who helped me get my finances in order. I changed a lot of things in my lifestyle to pay off my debts faster, and over time I developed a better understanding of strategic ways to use money, and even credit. I no longer feel trapped and my skills have definitely improved. I have also worked very hard to build a decent emergency fund and to get rid of my student loans. One thing is certain, now that I've educated myself about money (and I still am) and experienced what a good discipline can do, I'll never go back to where I was in my early 20s. I do not feel attracted to the ''way of life'' that consists on being in debts up to your eyeballs. I'm attracted to minimalism (quality over abundance), I value balance in every aspect of my life, as well as happiness, health and simplicity.

Edit : I didn't understand ''You have lived the majority of your life in debt fueled abundance'' as something related to my parents. We definitely didn't live in debt fueled abundance. My parents are quite frugal themselves. I thought it implied in my late teens or adult life. As an adult, I've never known what it is to be debt-free (yet). I turned 18, went to college and boom, debts.