But wow, it's shocking how much money we spend every month.
I hear you there. I think our situations are somewhat similar--
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/lifestyle-creep-delays-early-retirement-82147.html
http://www.early-retirement.org/for...ep-delays-early-retirement-update-101841.html
We've put away over $2 million ourselves, but with all of the expenses we've chosen its not really pull the plug money with all of the unknown variables ( healthcare costs, college costs, etc ) that are still too far out and in flux to even guess at a number.
One thing that I do find comforting is that a lot of the expenses are ones that could be reduced in retirement. Childcare costs wouldn't be needed if one of us wasn't working. Eating out could be reduced if we had more time to shop/cook. If we weren't commuting it would reduce gas/parking/vehicle costs. The big house costs a lot more in added expenses, but the mortgage is a large part of that and it will paid off in retirement.
I think we are both on a path that isn't the extreme early retirement that we were originally hoping for/planning on, but it will probably be in the age 60 range. That's still pretty early in the grand scheme of things.
Good luck!
