No savings till now, found MMM last week, would like to alter my lifestyle

[prognastat]

Great work so far. It sounds like you'r getting some good advise and working on implementing it.

Something I can say having struggled with eating out. I don't know what kind of foods you like to eat when eating out and if it is mostly for lunches or dinners, but for dinners there are good ways in savings money and doing some of it yourself.

A good example of something I like is steak dinners. For the cost of 1 steak dinner eating out you can easily buy everything needed to make one yourself at restaurant quality and after that you will be paying 1/4th by doing it yourself and it is easy to make similar quality with a little bit of practice. For tea for example you can get a cast iron skillet for under $20 which does most of the work upgrading your steak to restaurant quality flavour. All you need for the steak is salt and pepper and it takes mere minutes to cook a steak once the cast iron skillet has been pre-heated in an oven. At this point you can have a $60 steak dinner for under $15. The same can be done for some of the other types of eating out.

Of course this should be done instead of eating out not on top of considering it still is well above what a regular meal should cost you.

[GoConfidently]

Just wanted to say thank you for being honest and posting here. I'm inspired by your story, and although I was never super spendy, I allowed myself to get into debt and not worry about it while it grew quietly. I too had to support a parent, and used that as an excuse to stay in debt. No more! I'm slowly working my way out and I love reading success stories! Keep up the good work and know that you're not alone!

[Reynolds531]

It's mentioned above, but a can of chunky soup in your desk will save you $10 on a day you don't pack a lunch.

[cheddarpie]

This is an awesome story! Congrats on all your progress and hard work -- please keep us posted on how it's going!

[hodor]

Nice work.

Soon your CC debt will be gone, what's the plan from here?

IMO paying off the debt yourself rather than borrowing from your wife was the right thing to do. It cost a little in interest, in return you proved to yourself and your wife that you can be responsible and stick to a reasonable budget.

[wrangler05]

Great work so far. It sounds like you'r getting some good advise and working on implementing it.

Something I can say having struggled with eating out. I don't know what kind of foods you like to eat when eating out and if it is mostly for lunches or dinners, but for dinners there are good ways in savings money and doing some of it yourself.

A good example of something I like is steak dinners. For the cost of 1 steak dinner eating out you can easily buy everything needed to make one yourself at restaurant quality and after that you will be paying 1/4th by doing it yourself and it is easy to make similar quality with a little bit of practice. For tea for example you can get a cast iron skillet for under $20 which does most of the work upgrading your steak to restaurant quality flavour. All you need for the steak is salt and pepper and it takes mere minutes to cook a steak once the cast iron skillet has been pre-heated in an oven. At this point you can have a $60 steak dinner for under $15. The same can be done for some of the other types of eating out.

Of course this should be done instead of eating out not on top of considering it still is well above what a regular meal should cost you.

Thank you for the great suggestion. I am trying to cook more at home and trying different varieties. I feel tired after coming home, working out and cook, so started exercising in the morning and cooking 3-4 dishes on Sunday and freezing them(another suggestion that I got from this forum) 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

[wrangler05]

Nice work.

Soon your CC debt will be gone, what's the plan from here?

IMO paying off the debt yourself rather than borrowing from your wife was the right thing to do. It cost a little in interest, in return you proved to yourself and your wife that you can be responsible and stick to a reasonable budget.

Here's the plan for this year:

1) open a savings account - done
2) save for a 6 months emergency fund. (Ally @1%, but found out in this forum posts that LMCU checking account offers 3%) - in progress
3) open traditional IRA and fund it fully.
4) show all this progress to wife and then We live on one salary, saving the other salary.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

[dess1313]

Great work so far. It sounds like you'r getting some good advise and working on implementing it.

Something I can say having struggled with eating out. I don't know what kind of foods you like to eat when eating out and if it is mostly for lunches or dinners, but for dinners there are good ways in savings money and doing some of it yourself.

A good example of something I like is steak dinners. For the cost of 1 steak dinner eating out you can easily buy everything needed to make one yourself at restaurant quality and after that you will be paying 1/4th by doing it yourself and it is easy to make similar quality with a little bit of practice. For tea for example you can get a cast iron skillet for under $20 which does most of the work upgrading your steak to restaurant quality flavour. All you need for the steak is salt and pepper and it takes mere minutes to cook a steak once the cast iron skillet has been pre-heated in an oven. At this point you can have a $60 steak dinner for under $15. The same can be done for some of the other types of eating out.

Of course this should be done instead of eating out not on top of considering it still is well above what a regular meal should cost you.

Thank you for the great suggestion. I am trying to cook more at home and trying different varieties. I feel tired after coming home, working out and cook, so started exercising in the morning and cooking 3-4 dishes on Sunday and freezing them(another suggestion that I got from this forum) 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

Awesome jobs on the changes so far!  amazing!

as for the food, I do this all the time.  i make a big batch of something like chilli and freeze it.  another hint?  double up your size of your supper, all the left overs automatically are ready for your next day or to freeze.  your dishes are already dirty, and peeling a few extra vegetables isn't that hard when you're already doing it

if you don't have a little chest freeze, hunt around your local buy and sell and find one.  i have mine packed full after some productive cooking days, and won't have to cook a work meal for probably 2 or 3 months now

[N]

You made incredible progress! Congratulations!

You may want to learn about Netspend accounts.
First, you apply for a Netspend prepaid debit card, once you have it set up, you transfer your money in, and move it over to a savings account that is connected to the debit account. The savings account earns 5% every 3 months on up to 5K.
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/netspend-5-interest-up-to-$5000-who-has-one/
I think its a good place to park some emergency funds.
You can get up to 3 cards per person, so you can earn 5% on up to 15K. or 30K if you wife wants to do it as well.

awesome on the IRA. that will really help you at tax time!

if you have a journal, you could post the link here so readers can find it easily.

keep up the good work!

[Nickels Dimes Quarters]

Welcome to MMM!

You're already getting a lot of advice, so I won't pile on. But congratulations on being willing to make changes. You don't regret this.

NDQ

[wrangler05]

You made incredible progress! Congratulations!

You may want to learn about Netspend accounts.
First, you apply for a Netspend prepaid debit card, once you have it set up, you transfer your money in, and move it over to a savings account that is connected to the debit account. The savings account earns 5% every 3 months on up to 5K.
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/netspend-5-interest-up-to-$5000-who-has-one/
I think its a good place to park some emergency funds.
You can get up to 3 cards per person, so you can earn 5% on up to 15K. or 30K if you wife wants to do it as well.

awesome on the IRA. that will really help you at tax time!

if you have a journal, you could post the link here so readers can find it easily.

keep up the good work!

Great!!! I will look in to the netspend cards. Thanks!

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

[N]

I have a referral link http://www.mynetspendcard.com?uref=2707820297
or pick one from the netpsend thread for an extra 20$ for each of us :)

[wrangler05]

I have a referral link http://www.mynetspendcard.com?uref=2707820297
or pick one from the netpsend thread for an extra 20$ for each of us :)

just ordered a netspend card with your referral!

[N]

thanks!
:)

[HairyUpperLip]

Hey, just wanted to say good job. I'm happy to see the progress. :)

[Mother Fussbudget]

Here's the plan for this year:

1) open a savings account - done
2) save for a 6 months emergency fund. (Ally @1%, but found out in this forum posts that LMCU checking account offers 3%) - in progress
3) open traditional IRA and fund it fully.
4) show all this progress to wife and then We live on one salary, saving the other salary.

Add a goal:
5) open Roth IRA, and immediately convert the max annual contribution just added to the t-IRA into the Roth IRA.

[mikefixac]

I want to send my hearty congratulations to OP. It's impressive when someone sees "the light" and takes concrete steps to change their life. It's you who welds the power to change your life, and you're taking the responsibility to do so.

I would imagine in one short year, you'll look back at this and marvel how much you've accomplished. As an aside, you'll see benefits way beyond what you've never thought about.

To the commenters, what a joy seeing the encouragement. Even one commenter realizing OP's mom is Indian and backtracking about OP's support. Way to go. Makes me proud to be part of this community.

OK, so here's my little idea on saving money. I forgot how far you said to get to work, but might a scooter be practical? Mine gets 85mpg, and costs less than $100/yr for insurance and registration. I do the maintenance including changing tires and oil.

Again, many thanks. Wishing you well on your path to FI.

[Xlar]

Super impressed with your progress. It's really motivating to see how well it has gone for you and is encouraging me to do more!

Thank you for updating us and I look forward to reading more about your journey :)

[dougules]

I wanted to add that really the hardest part of getting on track financially is fixing the space between your ears.  Don't forget that the psychology and motivation is the most important part.  It sounds like your well on your way with that though. 

And about your mother, I think that is awesome that you are making sure to pay back your raising and take care of her.  Could you not talk with her, though, and ask her if there is anything she could cut back for a little while (the rupee being down might help).  Let her know what kind of a bind you're are in because your debt is an emergency.  Maybe you could tell her you will be able to send even more than the $350 once you get your finances back on track, because you will. 

Also, could you ask your mom to teach you how to cook?  I think that would help you on your quest to cut out the restaurants, and would help her to see that you're cutting back too.  If your mother is anything like the average Indian woman, she can probably cook better than just about any restaurant in CT.  The best things I've ever eaten were homecooked meals on a trip to India.   That's hard to admit being of Italian descent.   

[dougules]

Ok, didn't notice that the original post was 2015 not 2016.

[prognastat]

Something helpful if time is an issue might be freezer slow cooker meals. I can bulk buy ingredients for just over $200 and spend 1 day off packing them up in freezer bags for about 6 hours and then I have dinners for 2 months, without kids that is. Then all i have to do is take a meal out of the freezer in to the fridge the night before, pop it in the slow cooker before leaving for work and I have a meal ready and waiting when I come home for about 0 effort except for that one day of 6 hours of packing. Only thing that you might need to do is make some rice for some of the meals and that is also barely any effort.

It costs me a bit under 2 dollars for all the ingredients per person a meal and comes out to about 3-6 minutes of time spent per meal.

[dank]

You (and the other poster who is in a similar situation) are awesome for making supporting your parents non-negotiable, knowing full well that it will take you guys longer to reach your financial goals.

IMO, being financially-free allows us to spend our time and money on those we love, and it would be incongruous to be withholding that on the journey there, especially given wrangler05 has made such a tremendous turn-around in such a short time! Comparatively, it took one of my sisters YEARS to convince me to save for the future, and after that a few more years for me to get a handle on my finances, so good on ya!