As of right now, June 1st, I have saved the same amount that I did in all of 2014. I was shocked when I realized this earlier today because I feel as if nothing is different. I haven’t deprived myself of anything. We still order delivery, have fancy drinks and give as freely as we did last year. I am just as happy if not happier. I mostly can’t figure out where we used to spend so much money that I could save $20,000 in 5 months when last year it took me 12. Yes saving wasn’t a major goal of mine and I did not have the wise guidance of Mr. Money Mustache, Go Curry Cracker and Root of Good’s blogs, but besides changing my cell phone carrier this month (which this month is more expensive than AT&T because of the upfront costs) I haven’t consciously changed anything about my life. If anything I thought spending was increasing as a result of the impending move. I will need to do a more in-depth analysis of Mint.com to see what has changed and where I used to spend more money, but right now I am shocked and ecstatic.
I thought maxing my 401K in 6 months when I’ve never maxed it in 12 would be difficult, but it hasn’t been. With the exception of some unanticipated giving this month I haven’t even had to reallocate funds from anything else to make sure I reach my goal. And it’s currently in sight. By the end of this month I will have maxed my 401K for 2015 and saved about $1,500 that would have originally gone to New York state and city taxes. I’ll post a full analysis of that in a later post, but overall I’m just shocked with how easy this has been. It makes me even more hopeful for the future and my long term goals.