HOLY ISH we canceled cable (And Intro)

[jscott2135]

Hi all.  After many years of the full body waxing...we decide to finally grow some mustache.  Long story short we spent our early career pissing away a 200k income on absolutely nothing tangible.  And thanks to the folks over on the Dave Ramsey forum we got headed in the right direction.  Frugality always seemed right to me but Dave Ramsey's advice just was never hard core enough.  Then I found MMM and its like finding the perfect pair of shoes after years of searching.  I am home.  And today wit the help of all MMM posts and reading this forum I finally cut the cable after years of toying with the idea and we are now looking into getting some bikes (DH is a former triathlete so this is fine for him but a little scary for me...but hey we live close to Portland so when in Rome...)

Here's the stats
Family members -   DH is 37 I'm 32 and we have an 18mo old, a 7mo old and 1 dog.
Debt (non mortgage) - $0
Mortgage -  We bought a house in Jan for 296k and now owe 250k.
Income - I stay at home and our annual salary is 118k (plus a 15% bonus that fluxes.)
Investments - 15% currently to 401k with a 6% employer match.  110k in an IRA and 5k in the 401k.  We put another $500/mo into an S&P Index fund.

Right now our budget busters are transportation (I budget $310/month in gas, and another $120 for maintenance and registration costs etc)

Looking forward o lots of future badassity with fellow Mustachians!  DH and I are till trying to wrap our minds around early retirement and this week w will be setting goals so that we can come up with a badass game plan.  Its good to be here

[meadpointofview]

Great work on cutting the cable.  We did that years ago and I have not missed it a single day.  Here is a little nugget --- how much are you spending on cell phones?  Maybe you could do like many of us and move to a much lower cost plan.

[jscott2135]

Ok I will def post a new budget tonight, wasn't sure if this forum was the place to do that!  Of quick notes, hubby has an Iphone 5 and plan all thanks to generous employer.  I have a  prepaid, unlimited plan with Canada included for $45/mo...I need the Canada calling for family,  but I shopped around and since this also serves as a home phone I'm pretty happy with the cost.   Should I not be?!  Or is that a decent mo/cost for total phone usage?

[icefr]

I have a  prepaid, unlimited plan with Canada included for $45/mo...I need the Canada calling for family,  but I shopped around and since this also serves as a home phone I'm pretty happy with the cost.   Should I not be?!  Or is that a decent mo/cost for total phone usage?

Do you have an Android phone? I direct all of my cell calls through Google Voice which currently gives me free calling to Canada. Or I have VOIPo at home which includes unlimited calls to US and Canada.

Which carrier are you with?

[MakingSenseofCents]

Hello! I'm new here also. We need to start canceling some things of ours too.

[little_owl]

Hi JScott - you sound a lot like me and my H!  Welcome to the forums, I'm pretty new to the forums as well.

I look forward to your budget post...this group will be great at helping you find ways to cut.

The cable thing is such a huge one, I can't believe that we used to pay over $100 for cable, and THEN on top of that, for a while we had a TiVo subscription - now we just use the interwebs and I will buy Mad Men on iTunes each year :)

[myDogIsFI]

Congrats on killing the cable.  I think we'll be doing that soon.

Biking can be intimidating at first, but it'll grow on you with time.  I think MMM has a post on this where he suggests that you just start out with things you're comfortable with, like riding somewhere on a nice day, or using your bike to get groceries.  You'll start to build up the routine, and eventually you'll be able to lock your bike on muscle memory.  I feels good.

[CanuckStache]

Ok I will def post a new budget tonight, wasn't sure if this forum was the place to do that!  Of quick notes, hubby has an Iphone 5 and plan all thanks to generous employer.  I have a  prepaid, unlimited plan with Canada included for $45/mo...I need the Canada calling for family,  but I shopped around and since this also serves as a home phone I'm pretty happy with the cost.   Should I not be?!  Or is that a decent mo/cost for total phone usage?

Google voice. Install it on your phone, and you'll be able to call to Canada for free...That's what I do! :)

edit - Just realized this was mentioned above. Whoops! :)