What are you doing to increase savings in 2016?

Increase the amount of money I pay myself every paycheck.

My big two are eating at home more and drinking less alcohol. I'll also be looking for a better job and save for a down payment on a rental property

building a house in 16 so nothing

Not going to Corner Bar anymore.

We are always looking for ways to cut costs, grocery shop better, etc. Always haggling on cable bill/internet bill and other service providers. Hopefully if gasoline stays low, we will continue to save those few bucks a month.

We recently purchased a new fridge and some new living room furniture at a cost of about $3,000, but it came with no interest financing for year. We are paying $300/month towards that for 10 months. We could have paid cash, but why?

We took the old fridge and put it in the garage, and are looking to do more bulk purchases of meats that can be frozen, cutting down on that costs. We are also trying to get smarter about buying in bulk, using generics if the quality is about the same, and not wasting food. My wife has a bad problem of cooking enough of a meal for two nights, but not wanting it eat it the second night.

The big thing we are considering, though, is Catholic school tuition. We are currently paying $9,000 per year in tuition costs, plus all the insane almost daily asks for money from the school. The public schools in our area have dramatically improved in the last few years, especially the schools in our feeder pattern. My wife teaches in the public school system, so we hear all the real news, good and bad. There is only one Catholic school in our area, and I am not all that impressed. I am having serious doubts as to whether the education is any better in the Catholic school, and it certainly appears it is not $4,500 per kid better. There are some major rumors that the principal is retiring at the end of the year, and honestly the principal is the main reason the kids are still there, as she is wonderful. There are also rumors as to who her replacement will be, and if those are true, that may be the final cap.

I want to do what is best for my kids and have no problem paying the $9,000 per year since we are already doing it, but if we decide to move to public school, all that money would basically go into savings.

Long term saving will probably have to stay about the same. I do plan on doing a "Back Door" Roth IRA. I know the basic idea of creating a non deductible IRA then moving it into a Roth, but need to implement this with Vanguard.

Looks like this will be the year I buy a diamond ring for my lady. So I'll need to replenish savings and build for wedding stuff.

I already cut back on booze, eating out and buying clothes. I will be cutting cable this year.

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"Back Door" Roth IRA

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I already cut back on booze, eating out and buying clothes. I will be cutting cable this year.

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How many kids are you paying child support for?

No kids yet. I used to eat most all my meals out and pretty much buy whatever I wanted. Now I'm seeing a future of a wife and kids, I want to put as much away now while I can.

Improvements I am looking for in 2016:

* wife will be starting full-time work, humble brag

1) Pay off wife's student loans
2) Max out HSA
3) Max out wife's Roth IRA
4) Max out 401k
5) Contribute 6% of wife's salary to 401k
6) Increase emergency fund
7) Begin saving for a home
8) Replace light bulbs, etc with power efficient alternatives (LED Bulbs...)

Things to maintain:

1) Max out Roth IRA
2) Stay cable free
3) Clip coupons for groceries and commodities
4) Budget tracking

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I tell myself this every year but for the third year in a row I'm over 10k in Dining and drinking. Mainly dining.

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Thanks. You made me look my annual spending up. Its quite depressing how much I paid people to prepare me food.