The new year is here! What 2015 means to me

Finally, the new year has arrived.  No more anticipation.  No more resolutions or reflections.  No more, "Next year, I will..." utterances.  The next year is here, so it's time to finally put up or shut up.  Happy New Year to one and all.

For me, 2015 is the first year that my wife and I put into practice what we learned in 2014 for the long haul. The truth is last year was a bit of a transition year for us.  We decided early in the year to retire by the time that I am 40 and made some fairly significant changes to our budget and the way we look at convenience and luxuries in life.

Along with those changes, I got engaged and then married.  We renovated two of our homes and began renting one of them out.  We honeymooned in Hawaii as well - in other words, 2014 was not a cheap year for us, and we used the excuse that this was a "transition year" to let some of the more expensive mistakes pass by.

2015 is the year that things really change.  In my wife's reflection post, she termed 2015 as the "year of consistency", and that is what we intend to make it.  We need to be consistently frugal and steadfast in our resolve to retire early.  We already push over $5,000 every month into our investments.  We have curtailed many of our more expensive eating habits.  We've done a lot, but there is much more to do.

And 2015 is the year to do it.  When I write my reflections blog post at the end of the year, I want to be able to call 2015 another completely bad ass year, one that we saved more than we had planned, but also had more fun than 2014, felt more happy and generally just enjoyed life to the fullest, each and every day.

I am determined to make my 2015 reflections the best yet.

Happy New Year, and may this year bring you more frugal habits, smarter decision-making and closer to your goal of reaching financial independence and early retirement.