You know you've been around MM a long time when...

[explorer2001]

You look at your bank accounts and feel like there isn't enough cushion there and then realize you made and lived on less per year than is currently in those accounts when you were in college/first moved out on your own.

Add yours

[livinitup]

Yeah, this happened yesterday - DH paid the the credit card bill and we reviewed what our monthly expenses average. He was all happy and I had a little moment where I thought "Wow. That's crazy." It was just about what I made summers (at a great $$ job) and lived-on in college all year.

[bostonmichelle]

DH alone makes about what we made combined coming out of college.

If I quit my job we'd be pretty much okay and can pretty much live on DH's paycheck. We would have to give up some luxuries like cutting out going out to eat to fully live on DH's paycheck but we could probably also go along with spending currently and still be good for a couple years.

[Deleted]

I feel like I can FINALLY contribute.

I lurked from 2005 until about two years ago when I finally started jumping in conversations.

[simpsongal]

You're excited about the fed raising interest rates b/c you're a saver and you don't plan on financing things in the future.

(minor downside, I have some variable student loans - but this may be the push I need to get me to pay them off faster).

[UnderProtest]

Yeah, I'm here too. Our house payment now is way more than my monthly income was when I started lurking on MM.

[ssmjlm]

I make significantly more on my own than DH and I did together when we bought our first house and got married.


Of course we didn't have daycare back then.......

[Deleted]

I am loving all these areas of progress!

As for us, I can't quite remember when I started lurking on MM over in that other place....but since then, we have started our early retirement journey and are around 80 - 90 months away

[Pom]

We have changed so much since I first started on MM. We had debt up to our eyeballs.

Now, I can't imagine going back to the mindset I had before. No car payments, ALWAYS paying off CC's monthly (which are often more than I used to make each month). It's very freeing to know that we will probably be able to eat people food AND afford cat food for the actual cat in our old age. LOL

[FishChicks]

You have networth charts that go back for many years.

That was a habit I picked up from MM and I'm really grateful for it, as it lets me feel good about our progress.

[Deleted]

Dec 16, 2016 11:40:06 GMT -5 FishChicks said:

You have networth charts that go back for many years.

That was a habit I picked up from MM and I'm really grateful for it, as it lets me feel good about our progress.

Yeah, still not doing that one. That's still in the "so bad I don't even want to know" category.

[Deleted]

Lol. I know I'm posting on MM when I feel like I had a good year financially, and then read how everyone else is doing so much better than me

[FishChicks]

Dec 16, 2016 13:26:11 GMT -5 @bellakitty said:

Dec 16, 2016 11:40:06 GMT -5 FishChicks said:

You have networth charts that go back for many years.

That was a habit I picked up from MM and I'm really grateful for it, as it lets me feel good about our progress.

Yeah, still not doing that one. That's still in the "so bad I don't even want to know" category.

You might be pleasantly surprised. It's also interesting to look at the chart and see how the various events in our lives are reflected - new jobs, job loss, cross-country move, etc. Some things made the numbers better, others. . . not so much!

[explorer2001]

Dec 16, 2016 13:35:49 GMT -5 @buckybells said:

Lol. I know I'm posting on MM when I feel like I had a good year financially, and then read how everyone else is doing so much better than me

Hugs don't feel too bad. Those broke college years were tough, like I didn't have enough money to eat enough, no car, roommates, etc kind of tough. So it isn't nearly as great as it may sound at first.

[kicks]

When you remember the days of the Friday coupon train. Those were the good ol' pure MM days!

[Deleted]

...I freak out when I have less than a full month's pay in my checking account. I used to get down to like 2-3 dollars before payday and zero efund.

[hski2349]

I have created amortization schedules for the mortgage. And I have also created college savings schedules with actuals, projections, and adjustments between actuals and projections.  I also update my schedules each month.

Yes, I am a nerd. But I also know how many months have reduced mortgage payments due to early payments, what I am projected to say based on current 529 payments, and how both of my schedules will change based on extra payments. #mathnerd

[L]

We are cleaning out our files...DH found an old W2 of when we were first married (2003). He made in a year, half what just his Christmas bonus was this year. And by Aug the next year I quit when we had our first baby...so he supported all of us on not much more than that. Not sure how we got this far on one Architects salary but I'm sure all the time on MM & advice helped.