Just wanted to share some of my small steps on the way to Badassity

[gluskap]

I've been reading the MMM blog/forum like crazy for the last two weeks and have made some small steps in the right direction so far and just wanted to share.  I know I still have a long way to go but hoping these accomplishments will motivate me to continue and save even more.

1.  Finally maxed out my 401k for this year (yay to the increase to $18000 max)
2.  Contributed the max $5500 to Roth IRA for 2014 (first time I've done this in years)
3.  Just submitted an application to refinance my mortgage and reduce the rate from 4.375% on a 30 year term to 2.875% on a 15 year term (My new retirement goal is to retire when the house is paid off...with biweekly payments, this should be done in 13 years and 7 months plus I'm saving over $200,000 in interest with the refinance!)
4.  Cut the cable (saving $66/month).  Now if I can only figure out how to reduce the internet/phone (still paying $72/month for this as hubby insists on the higher speeds of 60 Mbps so we can stream stuff since we don't have cable now
5.  Cooked every day this last week and brought my lunch every day to work (hopefully I can keep this up as our food bill is ridiculously high)
6.  Canceled my cell phone saving $50/month (I just use my work phone now)

Next steps:  Looking to shop around to see if we can save on our auto/home/life insurance

[auntie_betty]

Great progress and maybe the internet is a price worth paying - literally. 13 years 7 months is a long time to have an unhappy partner! Maybe wait for now and see how much streaming is done and revisit in 6 months?

[Janie]

Nice work!

[OddOne]

Excellent actions gluskap!

[Kansas Beachbum]

We'll done, especially on the mortgage refi.  I'm guessing with the rate reduction the two biweekly payments aren't much/any more than the old monthly one.  I'd also keep the internet service...gotta have some source of entertainment ;-)

[gluskap]

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone! Reading some of your stories have really inspired me. Retiring early for me used to mean at 55. But with some of these steps I should be on track to retiring before 50 now. Will probably keep the Internet as I think we will probably stream a lot with Netflix and Hulu and Amazon prime. The refi was a little scary because we have a baby and thinking about having another maybe in another year or two so committing to a higher payment made me nervous. But with the lower rate our payment and interest is only a little more than what we pay now for PITI. We decided not to do an escrow account this time around to keep our cash flow the same and hoping we can pay off the property taxes/insurance with our tax refund which should be higher now that we have a dependent.

[MakingSenseofCents]

Wow great job! :)

[KD]

Awesome job!!  Have you considered redoing your W-2 (I think that's what it's called) at work so as to not have a tax refund going forward?  You are loaning the gooberment money w/o interest.  Perhaps those extra dollars could be deployed toward mortgage paydown or 'new child expenses pre-savings'!

[tracylayton]

Great job! I called AT&T and complained about my internet price, since my contract was up. They ended up giving me a faster speed for half price...$36 with tax. It might be worth a try. My mother did the same thing, because her price jumped after the first year. I called several insurance companies and switching to GEICO ended up cutting my car insurance about 40%. I also shopped for different electricity providers...once you start saving money, it's hard to stop!

[MrSal]

Which refinance did you do for your mortgage?

We're currently on 3.75% fixed for a 30 year one.

If we can make it lower that would be great!

[SunshineGirl]

Great job!

[SMCx3]

I took many of the same steps you have highlighted in 2014.  2015 will hopefully be the first year I have ever maxed out my 401k.  Very nice work!

Off to a good start in 2015.

[feelingroovy]

Great job!

On the internet speeds:

Last year we lowered our cable internet speed and found that the high speed isn't necessary for streaming.  We stream netflix and I run webinars now on the lowest speed that Time Warner has available.  No problems at all.

Our internet went from $65/mo to $15.

You might as well try it.  You can always call back--they'll be happy to raise your service back up if it doesn't work.

[fartface]

Great job - I can actually feel your enthusiasm.

We converted all our old light bulbs to CFLs, got an insulated blanket for our water heater, switched shower heads to low flow valves (can't even feel a difference in pressure)! These things significantly reduced energy and water usage.

[Mrs. Frugalwoods]

Nicely done! This is awesome! Way to go on cooking your own meals--that's a key to long-term financial success (I'm serious! People waste so much money feeding themselves!). Congrats and frugal on!

[anon-e-mouse]

4.  Cut the cable (saving $66/month).  Now if I can only figure out how to reduce the internet/phone (still paying $72/month for this as hubby insists on the higher speeds of 60 Mbps so we can stream stuff since we don't have cable now

Just as a reference - The typical internet speed for an ENTIRE COMPANY (30-50 employees) is 25 Mbps.
The employees stream music all day, watch video streams once in awhile and never come close to maxing out the bandwidth.

Streaming Netflix will not be any different from a 5Mbps connection and a 500Mbps connection.  The server will only allow you so much of a connection on their end.  Latency is an entirely different matter.

As a matter of fact, Netflix even has a page on this.  https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

[Dexterous]

Good job!

I'd probably consider a 10 to 25mbps internet connection + republic wireless to replace the home phone service.  Also, someone mentioned CFLs but you can get LED bulbs for only slightly more now at some places (including amazon prime).

Last, I've been trying to get better at bringing food to work each day also.  I'm more consistent doing that if it's prepared earlier in the week or weekend prior, and placed in ready to go containers.