Frugality and Budget Living allowed us to put over 75% of our take home pay ($62,000) last year to our mortgage ($32,000 - includes extra $20,000 on principal), IRAs ($8,000), and Emergency Savings ($8,000) alone.

I'm a public school teacher so I also have retirement savings there as well, but that is taken directly out of pay. I think it amounts to about $3,000 a year.

I'm so proud of us!

HOLY MOLY!!!!!!!!!!! That is awesome and inspirational!

That is Amazing!:mdance:

Congrats! You and your families hard work paid off Big Time:applause:

I am impressed!! Keep up the good work!

WOW! WTG!! :tay:

Great job!

Wow awesome job, such an inspiration!

Wow! that is simply AMAZING! Would you mind sharing your stratgey! I could use all the pointers I could get!

Congratulations!! How inspiring, would you share how you spent your money before then after on 25%.
I want to know how?

WTG!!!!!!!!

That is fabulous!!!!!!

This is a typical month…

Monthly Income – 4,930.59

Expenses
$300 Gas
$150 Groceries (all meals are at home from scratch, we use up or freeze all leftovers, and we try not to overeat)
$50 TAP accounts (this is just enough not to be assessed a yearly fee – will bump way back up once house is paid off)
$210 Church
$200 Childcare (MIL and SIL)
$65 Preschool (9 months of the year)
$60 Electric
$20 Phone (our long distance costs us about $1.00 a month, we email and snail mail or they call us on their “free” weekend long distance on their cell phones)
$40 Life Insurance
$9 Cell Phone (used less than once per day – easily within the minutes I share with my MIL and other ILs)
$150 (est.) Diapers, Clothes, Pizza (at most, 2 times a month), gifts, toiletries, dog food

Annual Expenses – we save a little each month as the year goes along
$1500 Property and School Taxes
$650 Vehicle Insurance (’99 Dodge Grand Caravan and ’01 Chevy Extended Cab – my van is only worth about $2,000 so it only has liability)
$600 House Insurance (last year I raised my deductible to 1 or 2 % of the coverage and dropped some extras that really weren’t needed – both lowered my rate)(would use emergency savings to cover 1 or 2% deductible)

In regards to income, I really work for the insurance coverage and mind stimulation, but they pay me as well, so that helps with the income (I bring in a little under half of our total.)

In regards to expenses, we really just go without many, many times…we cover our necessities – we’re fed, clothed, bathed, schooled, warm, insured, and LOVED.

My strategies aren’t anything you can’t find all over this site.

My number one suggestion would be to set goals and stick to ‘em. Life throws us all curveballs, big and small…we still have to do the best that we can to reach our goals.

And my number one goal would be the life I want to lead – material items have very little to do with the value and joy I find in life.

Family Goals
1. To have smart, independent, self-reliant, God-fearing children
2. To be mortgage (and consequently, debt) free
3. Disney vacation in 2008 (see, we are normal!?!)
4. Maintain a health, slim lifestyle
5. Max out TAP 529 plans
6. Always save for retirement

P.S. I love financials and would love to find part-time work researching this whole psychology of people and their finances, so if anyone has any connections they could send along, that would be great!

P.P.S. I would be happy to answer any specific questions you have after reading this.

Wow! You must be living on a beans and rice budget.

Thanks for sharing your successful story.

I too want to thank you for sharing, you are such an inspiration!

Forgot to ask would you care to share some of your frugal meals?

Thanks!

That's amazing! WTG! :thumb:

That's so awesome! WTG!

:clap: Woo HOOO! That's wonderful, good for you guys!

If my question is rude you don't have to answer. What are your typical meals?

It's not rude....$150 is very little I agree

I think the thing that helps the most in that area would be that we eat a lot of deer meat. My whole family hunts. My husband butchers the deer himself at home and we keep it in our deep freeze. We have deer roast, steak, or burger a minimum of three days a week. We just fix it lots of different ways.

Also, my two smallest kids go to my DMIL's for the day while I work. Many times they will have breakfast there (she owns a bed and breakfast) and every weekday have lunch there - so that also helps tremendously with the budget.

My oldest has cereal before school and he reluctantly takes a packed lunch (sandwich, carrots, dessert, and drink).

Neither my husband or I eat breakfast and have leftovers or something very cheap for lunch (many times I have Ramen Noodles that I've gotten for 10 cents a pack at Rite Aid.)

Our dinners consist of a selection of the following:
Spaghetti (many times just spag. and sauce, meat and parm. cheese are frugal luxuries)
Beans and Franks
Meatloaf and mashed potatoes
Baked Potatoes
Soup and Bread
T. Cheese and Tom. Soup
Lasagna
Stuffed Shells
Chicken Rolls
Spanish Rice and Corn Bread
Mac-N-Cheese
Hot Dogs
Deer Roast
Deer Steaks
Chicken Pot Pie
Tunafish and Noodles
Tuna Melts and French Fries
Pizza (I LOVE homemade pizza, as does my family!)
Stuffed Pockets (leftovers we stuff in dough and bake)
Egg Roll Wraps
Oatmeal
Tacos
Tuna/Ham. Helper
Deer BBQ (yumm!)
Corn Chowder
Potato Soup

We usually have a vegetable and a dessert as well. We very rarely drink anything but water or milk.

As I said before, almost all is made from scratch. I'm fanatical about matching coupons with sales. And I menu plan every week so I know exactly what I have on hand and/or what I need.

Hope this helps! Keep the questions coming!

I'm interested in your motivation for saving so much of your income. What are your short-term & long-term goals? Do you ever see a time when you will spend more?

My husband and I also save a significant portion of our income, although much less than you do. Currently, we are at about 35% of a low, six-figure income. Obviously, even with our savings rate, our version of simple/frugal living allows for a lot of luxuries. Nonetheless, we are a little odd in our circle of friends & family, who cannot understand why we buy used cars, forego expensive vacations, live in a small house, eat at home, and shun debt.

Our reasons for living this way have to do with my husband's goal of retiring early, our desire to pay for our children to attend college, and our plan to buy our next home for cash. (We are temporarily renting after a cross-country relocation to be closer to family.) Once we have reached financial independence, I expect that we will spend a higher percentage of our annual income.

So, what are your reasons for choosing such radical frugality?

That is pretty cool! Very inspiring!

So, what are your reasons for choosing such radical frugality?

Good question. I do get worried that I use this savings as a means to an end, rather than the end itself.

Yes, I definitely see us spending more as our children get older. More activities, vacationing, nicer clothes, etc.

Short Term Financial Goals
1. Pay cash for a “new to us” AWD vehicle, simply b/c mine is on its last leg
2. Pay off house, and thus, be debt-free.
3. Disney Vacation in 2008.
4. House improvements – new deck, stoning foundation, landscaping, new windows, new gravel on driveway, etc.

Long Term Financial Goals
1. Pay for children’s college education
2. Comfortable retirement, not counting on government and not wanting to rely on children.
3. Vacations – Sasketchewan (sp?), Yellowstone, Alaska, Hawaii, maybe New Zealand
4. More career freedom – possibly start own business – I would love to be a full-time, at-home financial counselor

Thanks for your forthrightness. Saving is nearly impossible in western culture. The temptation to spend is ubiquitous, and it's difficult to resist the pull of "keeping up with the Jones's." I suspected you must have very defined financial goals to make such an extraordinary commitment to savings.

Wow, ecgsmama, you guys rock.

I have a suggestion. Check out Dave Ramsey's site. If you went through the course I bet you could be a financial couselor. He only endorses people he knows are serious about helping people become debt free.
Have you ever listened to him on the radio? Might be worth looking into.

How wonderful, doesn't get much better than that! WTG!! Thanks for sharing! :tay:

Thank you so much for sharing with us.

Did anyone happen to see that the savings rate is negative for the second year in a row? The last time that happened was during the Great Depression.

What a great inspriation you are to the rest of us. Keep up the good work...Blessings..Kathy