I track my net worth and sorta calculate my savings to be the actual increase in my net worth.
I have a set amount that I want to save each month ($1,000) out of my net pay along with ($500) I like to set aside for vacation/misc. expenses. I also save 15% of my income automatically (401k) which amounts to about $200/check. Everything else I like to include too to get a real feel for the efficiency of my spending...
What I would suggest you do is get a spreadsheet going that shows how close you are to FI. A simple way to do that is to have a spreadsheet with two tabs - one showing "assets, liabilities, and net worth". The second tab shows "Monthly recurring expenses, current and projected." Both of these tabs shows these figures in the current month, and projects them out for the next 12 months.
At the bottom of my "monthly expenses" tab, I total all my expenses up. I then compare this to what I'd probably be able to withdraw from my current 'stash (networth), assuming a 4% withdrawal rate, taken out monthly. So I take my networth (which luckily, is all in investable assets - no home or anything weird and illiquid), and multiply it by 4%. I then divide that by 12 to get a monthly "safe withdrawal number" if I started living off the stash RIGHT NOW. It's not at all perfect (taxes and retirement account types could really change this), but it's close enough that I can see how my additions to assets (or reductions in liabilities) change my monthly income from the 'stash.
I then compare my monthly expenses to my "monthly passive income" from my 'stash. How close are they? Personally, in August of 2013, mine shows that my fiancee and I would have passive monthly income that covers 7.44% of our "total recurring expenses". THAT is the metric I want to move the needle on - how close are we to FI, and what kind of progress are we making?
The nicest thing about my spreadsheet: The numbers change as I tweak expenses, assets, or liabilities. So, for example, as our student loan balance decreases monthly, the "student loan interest" expense in the spreadsheet falls. As that falls, our "monthly recurring expenses" also fall. Meanwhile, our "monthly passive income" from our ever-increasing 'stash keeps going up as the 'stash grows.
This lets me see the progress towards FI is very, very real as my "percentage of expenses covered by stash" goes up.You mentioned that you're saving $2,000 per month - that's awesome, especially for your age. You could model it in a spreadsheet and I bet you would show significant improvement every month. If you're putting away $2,000, that can safely probably generate $80 per year of passive income,
right now. Through compounding of your current stash, monthly additions, and any reductions you can find in your recurring expenses,
you can watch how close you are to the FI finish line go up every month. This will be a slow advance, but that is the
best indicator of just how close you are to the goal.
EDIT: If people want, I can put up a screenshot of how my spreadsheet looks, if anyone else would like to try this. I am a huge excel nerd, so it's PRETTY SWEET.