The "How We Got Here" Series

We're currently sitting at 28.3% progress toward our goal of financial freedom.  At 5 and 4 years in the "real world" under our belts for me and Mr. B respectively, I'm content with our progress.  Not thrilled, because there are things I wish I had done differently.  Not disappointed, because I've gotten my financial act together fairly quickly.

The path to 28.3% hasn't always been easy, or even obvious for that matter.  Of course, you begin by spending less than you earn and saving the remainder.  Then, at least in my case, you start hearing common rules of thumb and striving to achieve those.  10% for retirement, 30% for wants, 30% for needs, and so on and so forth.  Finally, over the past year and half since Mr. B and I have combined finances, our objective has been to save as much as possible in order to reach financial freedom as quickly as possible.  If you're curious, we're currently saving at least 61.1% of our combined gross salaries.

How did we become such a well-oiled savings machine?  Well, we've made a lot of changes in our lives over the past year and a half.  Some were easy, and even enjoyable.  Others are things that me and Mr. B did not see eye-to-eye on initially and were the cause of some heated debates.  And a few have our close friends and family questioning our sanity...

So, with that, the following is a list of topics I plan to discuss over the next couple weeks.  These have been the highlights of our path to financial freedom thus far.

-Renting
-Sharing a Car
-Sharing a Phone
-Enjoying Inexpensive Hobbies
-Eating at Home
-Exercising at Home
-Using Our Library Card
-Working Side Hustles
-Delaying Gratification
-Dominating Conventional Savings Advice
-Tracking EVERYTHING
-Ignoring the Haters

End of June 2012 - 28.3%

Mr. B and I have been at this personal finance thing, as a team at least, for about a year and a half.  Prior to that, we both lived well within our individual means (admittedly, him to a greater degree than me).  So we're off to a solid start.  Out of respect for Mr. B's privacy, I will not share actual figures, so I am going to have to be a little creative in tracking progress towards our goal of financial freedom.  I've chosen an arbitrary dollar figure to represent the goal.  And, in reality, if we had this amount of money in the bank today, I would skip into my boss' office on Monday and turn in my two weeks notice.  Who knows if it that will be the case - we may eventually settle on an actual figure that is more or less than this amount.

Anyway, as of the end of June 2012, we are 28.3% of the way to financial freedom.

The end of the month stock market rally substantially padded this figure and, to a lesser degree, we rocked the expense portion of the equation this month.  I didn't come right out and tell Mr. B this (fear of failure, maybe?), but I personally made a conscious effort not to spend any money on nonessentials and succeeded!  Usually there will be something - a lunch out with coworkers, craft supplies, a movie rental, etc. that I just can't resist.  This month, however, I didn't find myself feeling especially tempted by anything.  For the record, Mr. B has the discipline of a monk and rarely buys nonessentials for himself.

Looking forward, I do not expect that we will rock out on expenses next month.  The car needs its registration renewed and Little B Pup is due for a vet visit.  And call me a wimp, but it is highly likely I will be luxuriating in an air conditioned house next month.