Author Topic: Celebrations Thread  (Read 1648271 times)

Ethernet

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #850 on: January 06, 2015, 08:53:15 PM »
I finally traded in my 12MPG truck for an around-32MPG Sedan.

Bardo

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #851 on: January 12, 2015, 12:46:41 PM »
Toted up the numbers for 2014.  Savings exceeded spending by more than $20k, and better yet spending was less than a 4% SWR from investable assets.  Still trying to digest the concept of FI!


Moonwaves

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #852 on: January 13, 2015, 06:31:45 AM »
I passed the exam to become a recognised translator on Saturday. Translating is actually totally unregulated here but it's great to know I'll have an official piece of paper to any Germans who might like to see it. Also gives me something current to add to my CV. And it's nice to think that officially I have now reached C2/native speaker level (even if in actuality I still make plenty of mistakes). Still no official approval from work for a side-job but I'm going to ignore them and reach out to a couple of friends with agencies to start getting a bit of work on the side. Even a couple of hours a week would make a big difference to me.

MsPeacock

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #853 on: January 14, 2015, 05:56:08 PM »
I just started here recently - so I am working on my spreadsheets and setting up various automatic payments and getting my budget in order. The big news today - I got a raise! I have been asking for a raise for 3 years, with lots of excellent reasons why I deserve one - but an organization w/o money to give me one. So, I learned today that I have been approved for a  10% retention bonus! This is huge - and will really help me pay off some painful debt that much faster!

ontheroaderic

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #854 on: January 24, 2015, 01:55:19 PM »
Paid off a car today - the last we will ever finance! A 2010 Prius with a $14,500 loan from our credit union, paid off in exactly 12 months. Feels good!

Now in to "Phase Two - In Which we Destroy the Student Loans."

trailrated

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #855 on: January 28, 2015, 01:17:22 PM »
WITH THIS POST I JUST EVOLVED INTO A SENIOR MUSTACHIAN!

Adventine

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #856 on: January 28, 2015, 08:46:25 PM »
WITH THIS POST I JUST EVOLVED INTO A SENIOR MUSTACHIAN!
CONGRATS! I just evolved too! I feel so ~accomplished~

trailrated

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #857 on: January 29, 2015, 09:18:32 AM »
WITH THIS POST I JUST EVOLVED INTO A SENIOR MUSTACHIAN!
CONGRATS! I just evolved too! I feel so ~accomplished~

Cheers! I'm going to find some lumpia to celebrate :)

chicagomeg

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #858 on: January 29, 2015, 09:24:16 AM »
Just got a job offer for a year long, paid internship, in my field, with one of the premiere companies I want to work for upon graduation! Did I mention paid!!

Of course, I've already done the math and calculated that with my pay from this internship, we should have just enough to make our 2015 Roth contributions. (My husband's paycheck is being eaten up by my tuition payments.) So, the stash wins too! Hurray!

Adventine

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #859 on: January 29, 2015, 12:08:02 PM »


WITH THIS POST I JUST EVOLVED INTO A SENIOR MUSTACHIAN!
CONGRATS! I just evolved too! I feel so ~accomplished~

Cheers! I'm going to find some lumpia to celebrate :)

Fresh lumpia is the best, man. The best.

trailrated

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #860 on: January 29, 2015, 12:22:35 PM »


WITH THIS POST I JUST EVOLVED INTO A SENIOR MUSTACHIAN!
CONGRATS! I just evolved too! I feel so ~accomplished~

Cheers! I'm going to find some lumpia to celebrate :)

Fresh lumpia is the best, man. The best.

Could not agree more, my step-mother is filipino and when her mother would make them for me and my brother we would go crazy! What part of the philippines are you from?

Pooperman

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #861 on: January 29, 2015, 12:44:32 PM »
WITH THIS POST I JUST EVOLVED INTO A SENIOR MUSTACHIAN!

Jumpin in on this with my own senority!

trailrated

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #862 on: January 29, 2015, 02:21:03 PM »
WITH THIS POST I JUST EVOLVED INTO A SENIOR MUSTACHIAN!

Jumpin in on this with my own senority!

KICK ASS!

Adventine

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #863 on: January 29, 2015, 10:28:08 PM »


WITH THIS POST I JUST EVOLVED INTO A SENIOR MUSTACHIAN!
CONGRATS! I just evolved too! I feel so ~accomplished~

Cheers! I'm going to find some lumpia to celebrate :)

Fresh lumpia is the best, man. The best.

Could not agree more, my step-mother is filipino and when her mother would make them for me and my brother we would go crazy! What part of the philippines are you from?
I'm from Manila! I think I'll make homemade lumpia as my next Mustachian project :p

Also, congrats, Pooperman!

okonumiyaki

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #864 on: February 02, 2015, 01:26:07 AM »


Could not agree more, my step-mother is filipino and when her mother would make them for me and my brother we would go crazy! What part of the philippines are you from?

Heh - they are called lumpia in Indonesia as well, guess it is a common austronesian word (i.e dog in javanese is asu, vs aso in tagalog)

1967mama

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #865 on: February 02, 2015, 01:44:54 AM »
Watched the Superbowl on our own TV set without cable. Got a new antenna from local electronics store that gives us 5 really clear channels in HD. So excited! One time expense of $129 (plus tax) and we will never have to pay for television viewing again, except for the electricity to run the set. I know you can build your own antenna but husband wasn't into it and isn't very handy, so this was a huge win for us! I've been reading up online on what we need, etc for our location and the little $19.99 antenna just wasn't cutting it -- lots of pixelation and "no signal" messages were super frustrating. Just wanted to share this small victory .. and cable free for over a year now, too!

plainjane

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #866 on: February 02, 2015, 06:27:40 AM »
Ran January's numbers, and at a 4% withdrawal  on our investments we'd be able to cover our 12 month rolling ongoing variable living expenses (not including mortgage/property tax/travel/house maintenance).  Thanks to the recent market run up, I'm 11 months ahead of the "schedule" I made up for our investable assets when I first found MMM.

SCUBAstache

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #867 on: February 02, 2015, 09:12:11 AM »
I spent <$400 on groceries/restaurants in January.  For just one person I know this is still A LOT, but it's huge progress.  My goal for February is <$300, since $400 was very doable when I started paying attention!  It feels great to take control.

DagobertDuck

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #868 on: February 02, 2015, 09:59:59 AM »
Sold my car 2 weeks ago!

Got € 80 for it (just scrap value, it was an oldie)
Already saved plm € 350 (maybe a bit less, maybe more) because it was due for maintenance, roadworthiness check, oil change etc.
Monthly savings for just insurance and taxes: € 54

It feels good to be carfree so far!
Though I must admit it can be convenient sometimes, I never really *loved* owning a car. I hated spending money on gas and I couldn't stand not having the space, tools and skills to wrench on my own car and thus having to pay someone to do it for me. (I do wrench on my own bicycles)

I already used to commute by bike and we have pretty good public transport, so I haven't missed my car yet.
« Last Edit: February 02, 2015, 10:04:45 AM by DagobertDuck »

Pooperman

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #869 on: February 02, 2015, 10:16:11 AM »
Am now engaged.

NinetyFour

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #870 on: February 02, 2015, 10:36:06 AM »
Congrats!!  Very happy for you!

Happyback

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #871 on: February 02, 2015, 08:35:18 PM »
Just made a lump sum, end of the year, payment towards the mortgage.
I gathered all the "left over" amounts in various spending categories (where I had been frugal all year, and stayed under budget), and tossed $17K towards the mortgage on a rental!

Felt like A BOSS.
C-

Neustache

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #872 on: February 03, 2015, 06:25:52 AM »
Very nice, HappyBack! 

MrScottStache

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #873 on: February 08, 2015, 08:50:54 AM »
This past week i figured out that my savings rate for 2014 was 60%.  Not bad for a single guy with a too big condo.

I also got the thrill of seeing my total net worth cross the 1M mark for the first time. 

horsepoor

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #874 on: February 09, 2015, 02:25:10 PM »
I just sent the last payment on my car.  Can't wait to see the loan balance zero out and receive the title in the mail!

HairyUpperLip

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #875 on: February 09, 2015, 03:05:55 PM »
This past week i figured out that my savings rate for 2014 was 60%.  Not bad for a single guy with a too big condo.

I also got the thrill of seeing my total net worth cross the 1M mark for the first time.

Congrats for both! Nice man!

daymare

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #876 on: February 12, 2015, 08:43:11 PM »
So my husband & I are 25.  We started the year with investments totaling $104K.  So that took about 3 years and 4 months - but neither of us were employed the whole time (he started working several months after me ... then moved in March of this year to my grad school city and got a job after 4 months of unemployment.  And I took 3 months off between work and starting grad school 1.5 years ago... where my stipend is literally 1/3 of what I made when I worked.)  Anyway, it felt awesome to reach the 100K mark.

But the best feeling is that when I think about this year ... we're at 118K already (having put in 12K) and have lofty plans to put in a bunch more.  So I think we're really, really likely to get past 150K.  Most optimistically, we want to invest another 18 (max his 401k) +10 (max out our Roths) +10 (taxable)=38K.  So holy shit we could increase our NW by 50K, or 50%.  It feels like things are really coming together!  We never had money problems, but I finally feel like I have this Mustachianism thing mastered, and it feels sooo good. :)

Our income is so low right now and it's going to go up a crazy amount, I know we are totally on track to be FI by 40 :)

couponvan

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #877 on: February 13, 2015, 10:49:56 AM »
Yesterday my 401(k) balance hit $100K!!!

Today is the 4 year anniversary of my return to work PT.  When my youngest went to full-day Kindergarten I decided to do something with the time the kids were in school. It feels so good to see my efforts paying off!!

(DH is maxing out his 401(k) too, which I don't think he'd have been able to do with me staying home.)

powskier

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #878 on: February 17, 2015, 11:40:54 AM »
Knocked 10 years and 100k in interest off of home loan buy refinancing down to a 15 y @ 3%. ( 7K in fees for those wondering)
Increased monthly principal payment by almost $700, this is just standard payment.....
Eliminated $120/month in PMI.
« Last Edit: February 17, 2015, 01:18:40 PM by powskier »

couponvan

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #879 on: February 18, 2015, 09:38:56 AM »
Knocked 10 years and 100k in interest off of home loan buy refinancing down to a 15 y @ 3%. ( 7K in fees for those wondering)
Increased monthly principal payment by almost $700, this is just standard payment.....
Eliminated $120/month in PMI.

Congrats!  I'm kicking myself for not doing this 15 years ago when we bought our first home!  You will not regret it!

Rural

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #880 on: February 21, 2015, 06:12:17 AM »
Got a call from the county assessor's office yesterday. Someone came out to look at our old mobile home (at my request) and the county has declared it uninhabitable. This takes it off the property tax rolls and also means that we don't have to buy a registration sticker for this year. Hopefully, this summer, it comes down.

Moonwaves

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #881 on: February 23, 2015, 03:52:01 AM »
Just got my first employer match for starting a particular type of pension last June. I get a cash payout of 30% of what I've contributed in the previous calendar year. It is taxed so I don't get the full €499 but I won't say no to €255 free money either, especially since I had gotten mixed up with my calculations and thought it was 3%!

ADKMike

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #882 on: February 23, 2015, 11:43:12 AM »
I just increased my contributions to my Thrift Savings Plan from 6% to 50%.

cashstasherat23

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #883 on: February 27, 2015, 10:17:36 AM »
Got my bonus today, and will be calling up Navient Student Loans tonight to completely knock out one of my 6 loans today! $9,000 down, $21,000 to go!

hernandz

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #884 on: February 28, 2015, 11:11:00 AM »
I just increased my contributions to my Thrift Savings Plan from 6% to 50%.
That is frelling awesome and very bad-ass.

Mine are baby steps in comparison, but I have just increased my 401k contribution to 17% from 16% last year and 15% the year before, so I'm really happy that streak is continuing. Really hope I can finish my degree this year -- So far, $0 in student loans.

Travis

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #885 on: March 03, 2015, 11:20:29 AM »
This weekend we donated an entire car trunk-full of books and clothes to the library and Goodwill.  A few hours later I made $85 on Craigslist sales.

10dollarsatatime

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #886 on: March 03, 2015, 05:44:45 PM »
Paid off my auto loan!  The lady on the phone sounded shocked that I wanted to make a $2800 payment (on a vehicle I financed for $5000 in the first place), but now it's done!  3 more student loans and some PMI to get rid of...

NinetyFour

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #887 on: March 03, 2015, 06:46:18 PM »
As of yesterday, my Net Worth exceeded $500,000 for the first time.  It came out to $501,477.73.
 
Then today, while walking home from work, I found a quarter on the street.  So now my Net Worth is $501,477.98.  Woo hoo!!

misschedda

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #888 on: March 04, 2015, 07:59:02 AM »
I got engaged!!!

aetherie

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #889 on: March 04, 2015, 08:39:34 AM »
Congratulations misschedda! :D

Pooperman

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #890 on: March 04, 2015, 08:57:34 AM »
I got engaged!!!

Congrats! Any idea when you'll be getting married? SO and I got engaged in January with the wedding in October. Nice to see another Mustachian couple tying the knot!

ReadyAimFired

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #891 on: March 04, 2015, 01:56:48 PM »
I have started out with a great 2015!

-A few days after Christmas, asked my girlfriend to marry me! She said yes...woo hoo! She is very mustachian
-Got a raise at work
-Put said raise toward deferred compensation (457 roth) which went from 25% to 28%
-Joined a Bible study at work

This makes my total saving rate in investment accounts ---- 41%
This does not include my monthly savings for dream retirement home which would make my total savings rate----56%  woo hoo!!!!!!!



misschedda

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #892 on: March 05, 2015, 05:51:42 AM »
I got engaged!!!

Congrats! Any idea when you'll be getting married? SO and I got engaged in January with the wedding in October. Nice to see another Mustachian couple tying the knot!

Thanks Pooperman and aetherie! We're thinking Fall 2016, so we've got a whole year more of planning than you do Pooperman.

lovesasa

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #893 on: March 07, 2015, 11:34:17 PM »
This month I calculated my net worth to be positive for the first time in my adult life!!!

 I was 17 when I started college with student loans. It was a bumpy ride, I dropped out for a bit, and ended up graduating late in December 2012. Today I am 25 and have ~$8.5K left in loans (out of an original ~$32K). I plan on paying off my last 'high interest' loan as soon as my most recent deposit clears the bank ($3,199 @5.8%). Then I will be left with only $5,276 in loans at ~4.25%, which I could pay off now if I liquidated my emergency fund. (Instead, I'm thinking of moving that $5K to a Mango account @ ~5% effective interest, and just using future savings to pay down the last two loans). It feels great to know I have the option of being 100% debt free!

I know I have a long ways to go, but I'm feeling really proud of myself. Only 3 years ago I was a college dropout working 60 hours a week at minimum wage. Back then I never would have believed that I would make it this far, let alone be considering future FI.
« Last Edit: March 07, 2015, 11:36:14 PM by lovesasa »

G-dog

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #894 on: March 08, 2015, 07:25:10 AM »
Congratulations, keep on climbing!

Mistah Cash Lion

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #895 on: March 15, 2015, 12:34:29 AM »
This month I calculated my net worth to be positive for the first time in my adult life!!!

 I was 17 when I started college with student loans. It was a bumpy ride, I dropped out for a bit, and ended up graduating late in December 2012. Today I am 25 and have ~$8.5K left in loans (out of an original ~$32K). I plan on paying off my last 'high interest' loan as soon as my most recent deposit clears the bank ($3,199 @5.8%). Then I will be left with only $5,276 in loans at ~4.25%, which I could pay off now if I liquidated my emergency fund. (Instead, I'm thinking of moving that $5K to a Mango account @ ~5% effective interest, and just using future savings to pay down the last two loans). It feels great to know I have the option of being 100% debt free!

I know I have a long ways to go, but I'm feeling really proud of myself. Only 3 years ago I was a college dropout working 60 hours a week at minimum wage. Back then I never would have believed that I would make it this far, let alone be considering future FI.

Way to go!! Keep up the good work. You're killing it.

Im grateful for an 18% raise in January. $14 to $16.50/hr. No where near what I need to reach my goals, but appreciating the wins as they come!

Smevans

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #896 on: March 15, 2015, 10:39:41 AM »
Paid off one of my 10 loans/credit cards today! Feels fantastic. Have plans to pay a second one off on Wednesday when I get some money from items I sold on ebay.

Hoping to be 100% debt free (including mortgage) before I am 30. A year and a half to go.

yandz

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #897 on: March 22, 2015, 08:25:50 PM »
Got a promotion this past week with a ~10k raise.  Same day the husband got a "salary rebalancing" (whatever that means) which resulted in a 6k raise.  Good day for the family savings rate. This should put us at 75% :)

Sibley

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #898 on: March 23, 2015, 12:11:33 PM »
Just paid off a cc. One down, one to go!

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Re: Celebrations Thread
« Reply #899 on: March 23, 2015, 05:02:36 PM »
Sold a car today! We moved closer to work and both of us bike everyday, so our gas budget is almost non-existent now. Plus I got $2k grand more than my rock bottom price.

$11k cash in my pocket today = $11k straight to the retirement accounts tomorrow!!!

Woohoo!