Author Topic: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!  (Read 6766 times)

geohbs

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5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« on: June 05, 2014, 09:41:24 AM »
We discovered MMM in January '14 and we've been working hard to reign in our old habits.  And today I realized that we are finally living off of one salary! Which means we are investing the entire take home pay of the biggest paycheck.  And that doesnt even include the 529s we are funding. 

We even compared our average spending from these first 5 months to the last two years and were shocked (our credit card bills are half what they were last year), and after brainstorming we realized we don't even know what we were wasting all our money on before - and whatever it was - we don't miss it!

Thanks to all you out there who helped inspire us!

boarder42

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2014, 09:55:30 AM »
congrats!!!

Piper

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2014, 12:38:17 PM »
Well done! Funny how the money can disappear when you're not tracking it. All those little things really add up!

Mrs3F

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2014, 07:36:38 AM »
Amazing!  Congrats!

dude

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2014, 08:45:47 AM »
yeah, that's badassity for sure.  congrats.

Retireme32

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2014, 08:49:53 AM »
congrats!!!

You are re-inspiring me to ramp up and attach this budget harder as we look into the 2nd half of 2014!  sometimes you get slack on those goals -must re-energize. Thanks for the motivation.  You are awesome!

MidwestGal

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #6 on: June 06, 2014, 09:02:58 AM »
geohbs- We are currently working on getting to where you are today.  Good job!  It's been eye-opening to us as well, realizing just how much money was leaking out of our pockets during periods when we were too lax on finances.

Frugal Father

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #7 on: June 06, 2014, 01:31:47 PM »
Nice work! My wife and I just and started full-time work last September with the same goal of living off of one salary (although for us it was so that she could have the flexibility of staying at home if she chooses after we start having kids). It has been the best choice we could've made. We were able to pay off about $20k in debt (net worth of -$15k at the time) and will have a net worth of around $20k by the time we hit our year anniversary of starting work. It sounds like the road ahead for you is looking good, too. :)

Mrs.FamilyFinances

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #8 on: June 06, 2014, 01:46:26 PM »
We discovered MMM in January '14 and we've been working hard to reign in our old habits.  And today I realized that we are finally living off of one salary! Which means we are investing the entire take home pay of the biggest paycheck.  And that doesnt even include the 529s we are funding. 

We even compared our average spending from these first 5 months to the last two years and were shocked (our credit card bills are half what they were last year), and after brainstorming we realized we don't even know what we were wasting all our money on before - and whatever it was - we don't miss it!

Thanks to all you out there who helped inspire us!

Isn't that something! We had the same feeling after finding MMM. What on God's green earth were we wasting money on? I haven't the slightest idea!

ohyonghao

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #9 on: June 06, 2014, 02:49:21 PM »
It really is amazing, we've been living off one salary our entire married life, and my sweetheart hasn't held a job since we moved to the states.  It's amazing what happens once you start budgeting.  I've always budgeted my entire life and I just cannot understand how people can just spend money without thinking.  I budget so I CAN spend money and not have to think about it because I have a budget for it.

The rule we've gone by is we both have our allowance, and bigger purchases we talk about, plan for, save up, research, then see if we even still want it.

arebelspy

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #10 on: June 07, 2014, 02:12:48 AM »
Which means we are investing the entire take home pay of the biggest paycheck.

Awesome that you're not only living off one salary, but it's the smaller one that you're living on.  Well done!
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fishingman88

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #11 on: June 07, 2014, 03:59:56 AM »
We discovered MMM in January '14 and we've been working hard to reign in our old habits.  And today I realized that we are finally living off of one salary! Which means we are investing the entire take home pay of the biggest paycheck.  And that doesnt even include the 529s we are funding. 

We even compared our average spending from these first 5 months to the last two years and were shocked (our credit card bills are half what they were last year), and after brainstorming we realized we don't even know what we were wasting all our money on before - and whatever it was - we don't miss it!

Thanks to all you out there who helped inspire us!

Congratulations!!!  Keep up the great work.  With just a little bit of extra work the savings keep getting greater :D

clarkfan1979

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #12 on: June 07, 2014, 07:22:54 AM »
Congratulations! My wife and I started doing the same thing last month. So far so good.

Hedge_87

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #13 on: June 07, 2014, 07:41:53 AM »
Awesome job you two.this is our goal to meet by the end of the year.

geohbs

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #14 on: June 16, 2014, 11:54:31 AM »
Yep - we are even living on the smaller salary.  And our biggest expense is daycare - $475 total a week for both kids.  But that is only for a few more years... 

Looking back, I think last year (pre-Mustachian) our grocery bills and buying endless crap for our kids were the main culprits.  Dinners out used to be a big drain, but now we never go out.... eating out with 2 toddlers = not fun.  And, I've gotten so frugal I hate the idea of shelling out big $$$ for a baby sitter, when we can easily just have a nice dinner and wine on the porch after hte kids have fallen asleep. 

Gin1984

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #15 on: June 16, 2014, 02:55:15 PM »
Yep - we are even living on the smaller salary.  And our biggest expense is daycare - $475 total a week for both kids.  But that is only for a few more years... 

Looking back, I think last year (pre-Mustachian) our grocery bills and buying endless crap for our kids were the main culprits.  Dinners out used to be a big drain, but now we never go out.... eating out with 2 toddlers = not fun.  And, I've gotten so frugal I hate the idea of shelling out big $$$ for a baby sitter, when we can easily just have a nice dinner and wine on the porch after hte kids have fallen asleep.
Wow, I honestly am even more impressed now.  How much do you spend annually? 

Rpesek6904

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Re: 5 months into Mustachism and living off of one salary!
« Reply #16 on: June 21, 2014, 05:34:18 PM »
Dinner with toddlers is not fun. It helped to reduce our eating out budget as well (we have two) :) Congratulations.