Plus this has the advantage of showing him that you're willing to try his ideas since he is just now really showing an interest in the finances.

Take this for what it's worth coming from a huge spender (currently paying down close to 40k in credit card debt)... early retirement has a huge appeal. Just think... you could be enjoying life while you're still young enough to do a lot more stuff. I can retire with my pension at 53 (13 yrs to go), but my goal is to get enough financial security that I can walk away in 10! Then that last three years (should I decide to stay) will be a breeze, because I know they just have to piss me off and I can quit... no longer HAVE to work a job I hate, but here because I want the extra three years of $$$ to pad the retirement fund.

Okay, it's been too long. I stayed away because I was feeling embarrassed that we hadn't made more progress.

I gave up shopping for hobby supplies in the new year. At first it was rough but I'm feeling better all the time. More content, more relaxed. Enjoying all that I have instead of pining away for what I don't.

Mortgage: $197,400
Savings: $7580

I don't think you should be embarrassed at all. Your savings is growing and you're working on some of the mental aspects of not spending. That's great progress!

Thank you! It just felt a bit slow in January. We were short a paycheck and I spent a bit much on clothes. Also when I did our taxes, our income shocked me. It was really high and yet it didn't feel that high while we were living it. And I feel like we didn't save enough given how much we were making.

No sense dwelling on it, though. Just have to keep plugging away.

Anyway, my husband just got his contract renewed through the end of June. My back of the envelope calculation suggests we can save $10,000 by then. I want to see if we can!

Savings: 8,300
Mortgage: 197,000

In general we've had a pretty good month. Life has been low key. I have seriously tamped down my overspending which feels great. We had about $400 worth of medical expenses but were able to cover them without halting our savings too much.

I've realized that we're going to easily hit 10k in our savings account this month. Probably a bit more. I'm so excited. The most we ever saved in the past was 4k.

Congrats! I was reading earlier posts and you mention looking at your taxes and realizing how much money you made versus how much you're spending. I had the same realization this year and it was tough to swallow. Sounds like you've been able to turn that discovery into real savings--good work!

Thank you! There is definitely room for improvement but we're getting there. We're also spending a bit more on health related things but I think those are important.

I think when I spend according to my values and not to fill an emotional black hole, well, that's a sign I'm doing much better with my finances.

Anyway, we have topped $10k in savings:

Savings: $10,275
Mortgage: 196,700

Crazy thing to note: one year ago we had five figure's worth of consumer debt. Today we have five figure's worth of savings. What a difference a year can make.

I am also doing some financial housekeeping. We have about 30k in various retirement accounts, sort of strewn behind me in my job-hopping wake. Some have been easy to transfer to a new IRA at Vanguard (index funds, baby). Some have been a PITA (Fidelity). Getting there, though.

My husband has been offered a job! It's a six month, 1099 contact gig at $70 an hour. He has another job that we think he is a contender for. It would have more of a chance for conversion to W-2 and is at more of a household name kind of tech company. For that one, they are talking in the range of $55 an hour. He is currently a W-2 employee at $43 an hour.

So we're working on the negotiation process, the company that made the offer is pressuring him to decide quickly. Meanwhile, I think the second job would be better from him. I have NO IDEA what we're in for with taxes and health insurance, which is stressing me out a bit.

Yay! He got two offers! Now to negotiate... but I feel really good about where he'd like to end up.

Sounds like given the nature of your husbands contract work my advise is save, save then save one more.

Your doing great and I enjoyed reading your successes!