Author Topic: Celebrations Thread  (Read 1648272 times)

NinetyFour

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #800 on: November 19, 2014, 02:27:18 PM »
Congrats on killing those student loans!!  Awesome!

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #801 on: November 22, 2014, 06:17:06 AM »
Got the job!!!

*Happy dance*

Dee18

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #802 on: November 22, 2014, 07:55:25 PM »
My daughter received her first college acceptance letter yesterday, with a $110,000 scholarship offer, bringing the annual tuition down to $ 5,000....well within our 529 budget!

BZB

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #803 on: November 23, 2014, 05:56:36 AM »
I am celebrating a change in mindset. I went to Cost Plus World Market the other day to buy an advent calendar for little BZB, the kind with chocolates.
This store is filled with tempting items, especially around Christmas. I normally would have bought many things, as "stocking stuffers" but instead I left the store with only the one thing I wanted. Just looking at all the stuff was enough for me.
Another example is I can go to Target and just buy the one thing I came there for.
This change means more to me than reaching a savings goal.

pachnik

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #804 on: November 23, 2014, 08:58:06 AM »
I am celebrating a change in mindset. I went to Cost Plus World Market the other day to buy an advent calendar for little BZB, the kind with chocolates.
This store is filled with tempting items, especially around Christmas. I normally would have bought many things, as "stocking stuffers" but instead I left the store with only the one thing I wanted. Just looking at all the stuff was enough for me.
Another example is I can go to Target and just buy the one thing I came there for.
This change means more to me than reaching a savings goal.
+1 to this, BZB.  This is excellent -especially at this time of year when the stores are jammed with things.  And besides, keep this up and you will reach savings goals.  :)

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #805 on: November 25, 2014, 08:44:31 AM »
I have hit my (fairly lofty) savings goal for 2014, a full month early. Plus, I found out that I will get a bonus in December ($7K). The company usually gives out our bonuses in March, so this is about 3 months early - 3 months in extra earnings in my Vanguard fund!

Credaholic

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #806 on: November 25, 2014, 12:58:55 PM »
My daughter received her first college acceptance letter yesterday, with a $110,000 scholarship offer, bringing the annual tuition down to $ 5,000....well within our 529 budget!

Congrats to you and your daughter!! She's clearly on the road to great things, would love to hear your secret :)

G-dog

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Re: Celebrations Thread - hitting one million!
« Reply #807 on: November 25, 2014, 06:38:55 PM »
Barring a downward shift in the market, I will hit $1M investment/cash/401k by Nov. 30, 2014.
Boy, am I happy and thankful:
That I started saving/investing like my parents taught me as soon as possible (even though I had no idea what I was doing!)
That when I finally started my 401k at my current employer, I went all in for max contribution (even though I didn't know anything about allocating, fees, etc.)
That my current employer had Vanguard managing the 401k (see gpfees comment above)
That I found MMM about one year ago (better late than never)  - which was the wake up call and kick in the pants I needed to learn more, start my personal investment account and stop holding so much cash
Thanks to everyone that posts great tips, offered suggestions or answered questions, and challenged my assumptions.


NinetyFour

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #808 on: November 25, 2014, 06:43:23 PM »
Congrats!!  That's awesome!!

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #809 on: November 25, 2014, 06:59:30 PM »
Congrats!!  That's awesome!!

Thanks! I get kind of giddy thinking about it! And can't share this with anyone at work ( my sharing will be in the form of a resignation notice).  After the giddy, I want a face punch for being a sukka for too long and for not educating myself or taking more control earlier. 

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #810 on: November 30, 2014, 07:20:22 AM »
As of December I will be able to switch to a HDHP with HSA account vs the PPO I have had for the past 5 years.

Small victory =)

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #811 on: December 01, 2014, 08:05:56 AM »
As of December I will be able to switch to a HDHP with HSA account vs the PPO I have had for the past 5 years.

Small victory =)

Me too! I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to but I found out a couple weeks ago that my preferred birth control will still be covered at zero cost so I went for it. Should be a good financial move for me, and I'll take all the tax-sheltered savings I can get!

Ferrisbueller

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #812 on: December 01, 2014, 08:21:39 AM »
Hi all
Great to hear all the success stories on here.
With my Nov pension contribution family net worth passed $750,000 for the first time. Bout half is home equity but still I feel like a quiet celebration. I've ignored wife's fantastic defined benefit pension.
I estimate $1M net worth in 3 years , just before I reach my 47th birthday, according to my spreadsheet and conservative assumptions.
Happy Christmas to One and All !

FB

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #813 on: December 02, 2014, 11:17:33 AM »
Hi all
Great to hear all the success stories on here.
With my Nov pension contribution family net worth passed $750,000 for the first time. Bout half is home equity but still I feel like a quiet celebration. I've ignored wife's fantastic defined benefit pension.
I estimate $1M net worth in 3 years , just before I reach my 47th birthday, according to my spreadsheet and conservative assumptions.
Happy Christmas to One and All !

FB
Congrats!

wberkgal

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #814 on: December 02, 2014, 12:19:17 PM »
I finally completely retired yesterday. Turned in laptop and badge! Whoo-hoo! Thank you MMM and forum for giving me confidence that this is the right path. I'm so excited about our future path.

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #815 on: December 02, 2014, 07:54:25 PM »
-PAID OFF OUR CAR LOAN!!! (used our managed fund money to do this..and a few days later the share market lost $30 billion..we are in Australia)

-finally after never having one, we have a budget..it has taken 2 months to get it right...very happy

-now that we have a budget, we have big financial goals to work towards.  We are on track to pay off our mortgage in 6 years.  Our interest rate is 5.2% (this is a good rate for Australia and very low for us!) and our balance is $292,000 (average house price in my city is around $480,000)

feeling refreshed and happy. Thanks MMM for your advice, you have really inspired me and put us on the right track.

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #816 on: December 03, 2014, 06:32:03 AM »
I finally completely retired yesterday. Turned in laptop and badge! Whoo-hoo! Thank you MMM and forum for giving me confidence that this is the right path. I'm so excited about our future path.

OUTSTANDING!! Congratulations. You should definitely start a journal in that section so we can see how it goes.

RMD

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #817 on: December 03, 2014, 02:05:58 PM »
FINALLY crossed the $300,000 barrier!  Not NW- investments (401ks, IRAs) only!  And when I look we went up $25K from early June to now.  Not bad!  We're actually almost to $310,000.  I thought we'd never cross $300,000...it felt like forever!

1967mama

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #818 on: December 03, 2014, 02:32:17 PM »
Cancelled our Amazon Prime membership today, just 3 days before the auto-renewal date. This was the first year at the $99 rate and there were very few times where I couldn't have waited until I'd collected $35 in my cart to get the free shipping. Feels really good to find another way to cut a little more of our expenses down!

Edited for typo

SporeSpawn

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #819 on: December 04, 2014, 11:12:43 AM »
I made the top five on the eligibility list for my Alameda job!

This one's still quite tentative, but Alameda goes by a "top five" selection process, meaning they choose from among the top five candidates (not necessarily in any order). I made number 4.

What happens now is entirely up to the department itself. Likely, a new string of interviews will take place (which is going to be rough since it'd mean having to travel the full length of the country to attend... with no guarantee for hiring, but, hey, them's the breaks). The department may go ahead and choose from among the list anyway without further interviews.

It goes without saying, I am on pins and needles. These next few weeks will be hard. But however things go, it's a sign that my resume and interviewing experience are doing their job.

Gin1984

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #820 on: December 04, 2014, 01:00:43 PM »
So the raise I did not think my union got for me, they did.  They wrote it in such away not to just benefit the lowest income among the grad students but everyone.  Sadly most of this will be eaten up by the health care increase, but $100 is still a raise!

Ferrisbueller

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #821 on: December 07, 2014, 10:44:54 AM »
Thanks Gin1984

I hope it's Bombay Sapphire

YTProphet

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #822 on: December 08, 2014, 11:37:17 AM »
I got offered a new job that comes with a $25,000 raise! Woot woot! And it will allow me to change my commute from 30 miles to 3 miles!

arebelspy

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #823 on: December 08, 2014, 12:03:40 PM »
I got offered a new job that comes with a $25,000 raise! Woot woot! And it will allow me to change my commute from 30 miles to 3 miles!

Nice!  Double win!
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
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rocksinmyhead

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #824 on: December 09, 2014, 06:46:49 AM »
It's been 2 weeks since I started reading the forum and a little bit over one since I registered, in this two weeks I've done the following:

1) Raise my 401k contribution from 5% to 10% - will like to get up to 25% by the end of 2015.  also started a ROTH at 2% to see how it goes and then add to it.

2) Canceled my cable service and built a $6.49 antenna that gets about 13 channels. Savings of $118mo.

3) Googled, Bing'd and called around for the best available car/home insurance. I was paying a total of $2719(Safeco Ins.) yearly for this and it's now down to $1227(Grange Ins) - so savings of over $1.5k yearly. (2 cars and a home)

4) Haven't eaten out for lunch last week, nor yesterday and today. I was usually spending over $8 per lunch, so that's another $60+ saved.

5) Only ordered chinese takeout once last week for dinner, as opposed to grabing food on the go or delivery, like we usually did 3-4 times a week. All other meals were done with food which we already had, just took the initiative to use.  Savings of $65 or so.

6) Decided I'm switching from my current wireless carrier(ATT) to Cricket Wireless come late January for a savings of $38mo. From a $73mo 2yr contract to $35mo no contract package. Trying to get my DW to switch from iPhones to Android, so she can also switch over and take advantage of the FREE HTC Desire 510 phone currently advertise - via a VISA mir card.

It seems like I've done a lot but I feel like I'm still behind the 8 ball.  My DW and I have 4 debts at the moment, her 2 student loans, her car and our home. I'm thinking I'll have one the student loans payed off by March, the second one by July and her car by this time next year. I also want to start putting more money into the home principal in order to bring down the debt.

2015 seems like will be a great year for us as we chop down our debt to only our home and continue building our financial nestegg.

THANKS MMM!!!!!!!

Amazing progress!!! Even if it feels like you're behind now, getting down to only mortgage debt in a year's time will be absolutely amazing!

Wile E. Coyote

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #825 on: December 09, 2014, 08:15:35 PM »
Just completed my annual benefits enrollment and decided to ditch the standard health plan and go with a high deductible and max out an HSA for the first time.  Wish me luck!:)

Knapptyme

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #826 on: December 14, 2014, 10:03:00 PM »
Recently purchased our first rental property and am going through fixing stuff that I haven't done before. It's exciting and empowering.

Installed fridge, stove, microwave, dishwasher, garbage disposal, toilet, rewired switches, patched holes, fixed flooring, fixed leaky faucets, fixed closets, and more. Everything except the garbage disposal and the toilet came from Craigslist or I already had it. I'm tired, but it's a good feeling.

FiveSigmas

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #827 on: December 15, 2014, 12:59:28 AM »
Recently purchased our first rental property and am going through fixing stuff that I haven't done before. It's exciting and empowering.

Installed fridge, stove, microwave, dishwasher, garbage disposal, toilet, rewired switches, patched holes, fixed flooring, fixed leaky faucets, fixed closets, and more. Everything except the garbage disposal and the toilet came from Craigslist or I already had it. I'm tired, but it's a good feeling.

That's fantastic! Congrats and good luck with the rental.

Rosewhipped

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #828 on: December 16, 2014, 07:31:48 PM »
This year (in August really) I paid off $12,836.67 which was all of my student loans!

Also tonight I made dinner. Tacos!  Which were delicious.  That's a baby step for me, but I minced the garlic AND the onions.  Also made some guacamole with 2 avocados we had.


rocksinmyhead

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #829 on: December 19, 2014, 08:17:28 AM »
Last paycheck of the year today, which means I maxed out my 401K for the year for the first time ever!!! The additional $8,000 contributed by my employer's generous matching policy is just the icing on the cake :)

lostamonkey

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #830 on: December 20, 2014, 07:10:42 PM »
-I went to the library to take out books for my upcoming vacation. I used to just buy books at the airport and read them once.

-I replaced my first headlight myself. Before I would just go to a garage and pay to have it replaced.

-My internet provider jacked up their prices so I canceled my service. I will be getting a cheaper provider in a little while.
« Last Edit: December 20, 2014, 07:23:49 PM by lostamonkey »

halftimer

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #831 on: December 21, 2014, 05:40:42 PM »
Recent celebrations and accomplishments:
-sold vehicle with high gas and maintenance costs and picked up reliable little hatchback. We plan to use it less and less in the months to come
-returned from an overseas trip with zero debt hangover and even some extra foreign currency in our pocket which I exchanged at the bank
-changed banking and internet plans to free up $300 in annual cash flow

veloman

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #832 on: December 21, 2014, 07:49:23 PM »
I was offered a job and I asked for 7% more and got it. Can't hurt to ask!

Knapptyme

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #833 on: December 21, 2014, 09:55:55 PM »
-I went to the library to take out books for my upcoming vacation. I used to just buy books at the airport and read them once.

-I replaced my first headlight myself. Before I would just go to a garage and pay to have it replaced.

-My internet provider jacked up their prices so I canceled my service. I will be getting a cheaper provider in a little while.

These are great little steps. I especially like the audacity to up and cancel internet service.

lostamonkey

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #834 on: December 22, 2014, 09:11:52 AM »
-I went to the library to take out books for my upcoming vacation. I used to just buy books at the airport and read them once.

-I replaced my first headlight myself. Before I would just go to a garage and pay to have it replaced.

-My internet provider jacked up their prices so I canceled my service. I will be getting a cheaper provider in a little while.

These are great little steps. I especially like the audacity to up and cancel internet service.
I am no longer in university but I live across the street across from a university building so I have access to their free wifi if I cross the street. There are nice private closed off cubicles with a window and power outlets in the university building so I can just use the internet there for a while.

Quetzal

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #835 on: December 23, 2014, 10:22:40 PM »
I just wrote checks to charity totaling 3x our previous annual donations. Thanks to MMM, I know we can afford it.

arebelspy

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #836 on: December 24, 2014, 11:43:26 AM »
I just wrote checks to charity totaling 3x our previous annual donations. Thanks to MMM, I know we can afford it.

Inspiring!  Thank you.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

PDX2Retire

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #837 on: December 26, 2014, 04:01:29 PM »
Turned in my resignation on 12/1.   My last day is 12/31.   I start the new year with a new life plan.   

It is surreal to realize I can do almost anything I want to do now.  I want to learn electronics and my sweetie got me an Arduino and RaspberryPi for Christmas.  I want to learn to repair our bikes so I'm signing up to work at the community cycling center where they train you to be a bench mechanic.  I'm going to volunteer at the elementary school six blocks away as a reading coach. 

I asked friends via Facebook what ideas they had for me and have been flooded with ideas ranging from practical to whimsical. 

My partner won't be able to retire for probably another 10 years.  She totally thinks I've joined a cult (yup!) and is supportive but also a bit fearful.  She's worried that by quitting work I won't have options if something in my life or the world goes terribly wrong.  Sure.  I've thought of that.  I'm a six on the Enneagram - of course I've thought about all that could go wrong!   But my financial advisor and FIREcalc confirm I have the funds so here I go!

I can hardly wipe the smile from my face.  I am off work today.  It's a Friday.  But because I was off yesterday I keep thinking that was Saturday and today is Sunday and I have to go to work tomorrow.  And that brings me down a bit.  THEN I realize it's only Friday.  And in just a few more days every tomorrow will feel like a Saturday.   Wow. 

Good luck to everyone here who is looking at their life and making changes to make it a better life.  You are inspirational.   

frugalfighterpilot

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #838 on: January 01, 2015, 02:13:05 AM »
Received a call from the power company yesterday, "Sir, we get a report every month on unusually high or low usage and we noticed that your bill was extremely low this month compared to your previous months. Is everything ok?"  My response was, "Why thank you for your concern, but we have taken steps to improve our energy efficiency and reduce our power consumption.  It sounds like it has worked!"

The lady on the other end of the phone was literally speechless .

G-dog

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #839 on: January 01, 2015, 07:27:41 AM »
I just wrote checks to charity totaling 3x our previous annual donations. Thanks to MMM, I know we can afford it.

Excellent!  Feels great to help the groups you care about.

G-dog

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #840 on: January 01, 2015, 07:31:39 AM »
Turned in my resignation on 12/1.   My last day is 12/31.   I start the new year with a new life plan.   

It is surreal to realize I can do almost anything I want to do now.  I want to learn electronics and my sweetie got me an Arduino and RaspberryPi for Christmas.  I want to learn to repair our bikes so I'm signing up to work at the community cycling center where they train you to be a bench mechanic.  I'm going to volunteer at the elementary school six blocks away as a reading coach. 

I asked friends via Facebook what ideas they had for me and have been flooded with ideas ranging from practical to whimsical. 

My partner won't be able to retire for probably another 10 years.  She totally thinks I've joined a cult (yup!) and is supportive but also a bit fearful.  She's worried that by quitting work I won't have options if something in my life or the world goes terribly wrong.  Sure.  I've thought of that.  I'm a six on the Enneagram - of course I've thought about all that could go wrong!   But my financial advisor and FIREcalc confirm I have the funds so here I go!

I can hardly wipe the smile from my face.  I am off work today.  It's a Friday.  But because I was off yesterday I keep thinking that was Saturday and today is Sunday and I have to go to work tomorrow.  And that brings me down a bit.  THEN I realize it's only Friday.  And in just a few more days every tomorrow will feel like a Saturday.   Wow. 

Good luck to everyone here who is looking at their life and making changes to make it a better life.  You are inspirational.

Congratulations!  You've got some great activities planned. I'd love to hear some updates as you tackle these and more (I may steal an idea or two!).

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #841 on: January 02, 2015, 10:00:06 AM »
These are all so inspiring! I'm really excited to post mine because I feel like I've been waiting and waiting for it... finally crossed the $100K mark in net worth!! A bit over half of that is in my 401K, the rest is in cash as emergency fund/wedding fund/down payment fund, and my only debt is $1400 on a 0% car loan that will be paid off in June. Yeah!!!!

NinetyFour

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #842 on: January 02, 2015, 10:10:13 AM »
Woo hoo!!  Nice job, Rocks!  Congrats!!

jomsviking

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #843 on: January 02, 2015, 12:44:02 PM »
Paid off my house! Woohoo! More money to invest each month — I'm hoping to not need it for anything else.

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #844 on: January 02, 2015, 01:00:12 PM »
Congratulations! It's such a good feeling.

Prairie Gal

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #845 on: January 04, 2015, 09:22:04 AM »
Paid off my house! Woohoo! More money to invest each month — I'm hoping to not need it for anything else.

Congrats! More money for the stash. I remember that awesome feeling.

Jon_Snow

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #846 on: January 04, 2015, 12:16:24 PM »
Turned in my resignation on 12/1.   My last day is 12/31.   I start the new year with a new life plan.   

It is surreal to realize I can do almost anything I want to do now.  I want to learn electronics and my sweetie got me an Arduino and RaspberryPi for Christmas.  I want to learn to repair our bikes so I'm signing up to work at the community cycling center where they train you to be a bench mechanic.  I'm going to volunteer at the elementary school six blocks away as a reading coach. 

I asked friends via Facebook what ideas they had for me and have been flooded with ideas ranging from practical to whimsical. 

My partner won't be able to retire for probably another 10 years.  She totally thinks I've joined a cult (yup!) and is supportive but also a bit fearful.  She's worried that by quitting work I won't have options if something in my life or the world goes terribly wrong.  Sure.  I've thought of that.  I'm a six on the Enneagram - of course I've thought about all that could go wrong!   But my financial advisor and FIREcalc confirm I have the funds so here I go!

I can hardly wipe the smile from my face.  I am off work today.  It's a Friday.  But because I was off yesterday I keep thinking that was Saturday and today is Sunday and I have to go to work tomorrow.  And that brings me down a bit.  THEN I realize it's only Friday.  And in just a few more days every tomorrow will feel like a Saturday.   Wow. 

Good luck to everyone here who is looking at their life and making changes to make it a better life.  You are inspirational.

Wow! A lot of similarities to my own ER (4 months ago) in your post. It is incredible to have your own life open up in front of you... the possibilities to do ANYTHING. I frequently find myself with a grin on my face for no reason at all other than I am FREE. Congrats... and I hope you hang around encourage those that are following us... it's what I try to do around here.

Adventine

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #847 on: January 06, 2015, 12:34:43 AM »
My investments hit a magic number today! I am so happy, especially as I only started investing in 2012. For perspective, when I started working in 2009, I had a net worth of exactly zero, and that magic number was only a nebulous, "if only" kind of dream in my head.

cashstasherat23

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #848 on: January 06, 2015, 12:32:29 PM »
Had my first success at credit card churning-although is that what it's called when it's for a checking account?

Anyway, I got an offer in the mail for $300 for opening a checking account at Chase when you connect direct deposit-I did just that, had my first direct deposit on 12/31, and the $300 posted to my account today. Huzzah! That free $300 will pay for my vacation to Quebec with my boyfriend next week!

brooklynmoney

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  • Location: Crooklyn
Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #849 on: January 06, 2015, 08:19:41 PM »
I successfully quit my job and found a great new one that I'm starting later this month. Woohoo.