ABC World News Tonight
Our story was recently shared with 8 million viewers on ABC World News Tonight. Awesome!
Hopefully exposure to a huge audience of normal people will inspire a few to think about retirement in a different light. If you haven’t seen the video yet, here is the youtube clip (less than 2 minutes.)
ABC World News Tonight
Overall this was really well done, capturing how we ruthlessly slashed all expenses to save 70%+ of our income. “They made their own soap, grew their own produce, and Jeremy even gave up his costly razor.”
Unfortunately, I think the hosts and many viewers reached the same conclusion: that we lived lean then, so we have to live lean now. (The opposite, really.)
And as the “Investing and Retirement Specialist” at the end stated: “It’s not fun.”
I disagree. Extreme saving was a means to an end rather than an end in itself. Our life is now the opposite of lean. And, like most self-imposed challenges, the journey was loads of fun.
But I think it is worth asking: Was extreme saving really necessary?
Does Extreme Frugality Really Matter
As I explained to ABC, if there was any magic we had it was that we were willing to live like college students longer than it is socially acceptable to do so. Along with earning a good income and staying healthy, this allowed us to aggressively save.
No expense was spared in our quest for freedom.
Analyzing our Budget
In the final years before we pulled the plug, our lifestyle was a finely tuned machine. We lived in a small student apartment, rode bikes, and ate most of our meals at home. And yes, we also made soap. And wine. And kombucha. And kimchee. And bread.
Total annual spending was around $20,000 per year ($1,650/month) in Seattle, which I outlined in full in the post GCC Accumulation Phase Expenses. This includes a couple free vacations each year using miles and points, and some of those “once in a lifetime events” such as getting married and going on a honeymoon (which also cost about $0.)
Some people will see this as extreme. Others will scoff… “You call that frugal?”
But, what if we didn’t do that? What if we “lived a little” – inflating our lifestyle rather than our bank accounts?
The Big 4
The Pareto Principle aka the 80/20 Rule is a great guide for optimizing anything, which is why throughout this blog I’ve recommended focusing on The Big 3: Housing, Transportation, and Food. These are the largest budget areas for most families. It is much easier to trim large amounts from rent or transportation than it is from things that cost little to begin with.
My main way of getting around for 2 years was a bicycle I bought on Craigslist for $50. I later sold it for $60, turning a profit on my transportation. (Plus: no gym membership and no road rage.) I also didn’t shave for most of that 2 years… but I’m pretty sure the non-existent car payments, insurance, gasoline, and maintenance were the bigger boost to our savings. Savings: $500-$1000/month.
A co-worker/friend once gave us a ride home. “You live… here? In this…. place?” Living in one of the new condos in his neighborhood would have doubled our rent, increased my commute, and complicated our lives…. we were 1-block from the grocery store, 1 block from the farmer’s market, a few blocks from the library, and 5 minutes from one of the best parks in town. Savings: $1,000/month.
We made most of our meals at home at an average cost of ~$2/person/meal, or about $200/person/month. We ate well, and our home kitchen was the best restaurant in town. As nomads we eat many of our meals in restaurants, and spend 3-5x as much as we used to. Savings: $1,000/month.
And for Big #4… For 2018, contributing the 401k max ($18,500) at the 22% tax rate will save over $4k in taxes. Put that $4k into a Traditional IRA for another ~$1k savings. Then put that $1k into an HRA for another ~$250 tax benefit. Turbocharge those savings.
Those are big numbers.
 Doing laundry on our honeymoon |  Stuffin’ a Chicken |
|---|---|
 Making Wine |  Making Soap |
The Little Things
We experimented. Some things worked and became a part of normal daily life. Some things didn’t and were abandoned. But there is no loss in trying new things… we don’t need to live the way the advertisements show us how to.
What if we never made wine? Boxed wine is cheaper and better: $0/month
What if I shaved every day? +$10 / month
What if we didn’t share 1 cell phone? +$20-$100/month
What if we never grew our own vegetables? We always had kale and chard: +$10/month
What if we never made our own bread? +$20/month. (But our poor taste buds…)
What if we never brewed our own coffee? $30/month
What if we went to the movies instead of the library? +$30/month
(But… what if I had never read 100s of personal finance books?)
What if we always ran the heater and air conditioner: +$50/month.
What if we always used store bought soap? $0/month.
But which would you rather receive as a gift? Increased spending on gifts: +$30/month.
 Birthday Gift A?
|  Or Birthday Gift B? |
|---|
What if…
Seldom is it completely about the financial outlay, but the mindset and secondary benefits… entertainment, better skin, the joy of learning, understanding personal finance…
Did it matter?
We saved thousands of dollars every month on the Big 4. That seems important.
Let’s say we saved $200/month on the little things…
“You did all of that to save $200/month?! No thanks. I’ll just put that same effort into earning $200 more.”
That’s cool… why not both?
Maybe $200/month doesn’t seem like much, but it was still more than 10% of our entire cost of living. By comparison, the average savings rate in the US is less than 5%…
To support a $200/month spending habit would require assets of ~$60,000 based on the 4% rule. Whether $200/month seems like a little or a lot probably depends on if you view $60,000 as a little or a lot.
And lest not forget taxes… to buy $200 worth of stuff ($220 with sales tax) we would have to earn about $310… (22% fed, 7.65% SS.)
And finally… the difference between saving 70% and 75% of income is the difference between being financially independent in 7 years rather than 9. (Why? Short answer, Long answer.) How much you like your job and how much you like store bought soap probably weigh in on this decision.
Since nobody wants to “live like I am poor forever” we can work longer out of choice rather than necessity to support living large later. We did, and we do.
Summary
We lived lean. But don’t feel you gotta live lean. The Big 4 will get you 80% of the way there. There are financial benefits in going after that other 20%, but many of the advantages are secondary.
Taxes, Housing, Transportation, and Food typically comprise the majority of household spending. Rather than try to save money on these things, design your life around it. Make efficient spending the normal, natural, tax-advantaged outcome.
Avoid using “this is a once in a lifetime experience” as an opportunity to spend big. Weddings and honeymoons, for example. (Easier said than done, family and society have their expectations too.)
Whereas it is impossible to cut costs to zero, there is no ceiling on income. Reduce expenses and grow earnings. Both.
Work is an important and necessary part of saving, but we work better when taking breaks. Take regular vacations, but try to do so for free.
And last but definitely not least, enjoy the ride.
But that’s just me. “It’s pay now to play later.”
“But is FIRE a fit for everyone?” Um, is anything a fit for everyone? Is a 30-year work career for everyone?
Guys, great job shining the FIRE light by living the example!
Aside from oxygen, not much is for everyone.
I follow you folks and you are inspiring! I’m a Senior VP at a multinational company and save and invest almost 70% of my income. My spouse Lisa is a Director of Nursing and follows as well – the funds pile up fast! We don’t try to “keep up with the Jones’ per say which is a key point for people.
My kids used to call me cheap though but they are also learning excellent habits at the same time. I have a free car with all expenses covered through work so it’s a little different than your bike strategy. It’s a 2017 Chevy Impala and I’ve received some flack for driving it but I don’t care – free is great! I do buy .97 cent razors at Walmart that last a month and .99 cent soap there as well so try that for a change. Dollar store is my best friend too while we watch our funds and investments pile up…..like I teach my 13 yr old daughter Gigi – we don’t know the department or grocery store families – why would we give all our money to people we don’t even know when we can keep it for our own family’s future! Not easy at first but we’ve created a fun lifestyle with financial freedom and security forever – I’m only working for 3 more years and then traveling the world…..maybe we’ll see you! You guys are the best!
Frank Costa General Insulation Co. Boston, MA
Right?! No – FIRE is not a fit for everyone. Nothing is. Duh. (except oxygen ;) )
Devastating.
This is an extremely important concept – to live lean now for a major lifestyle upgrade later – that the news story missed. A major miss in my opinion. But, quite frankly, once you live lean, it sort of becomes second nature. I think delay of gratification is the single most important facet of FIRE and I think most people are not equipped to do that simple but hard thing. I’d probably only spend more in travel if price was of no importance now so I think its safe to say that once you become lean, you generally stay lean. Love your blog. (Now that my expenses are so lean, travel hacking is more difficult!)
The strange thing… we could move back to Seattle, buy a house, buy a car, dine out a couple times per week, live a “normal” life…. and still not need to work. But if we did all of those things up front, we would still be on the hamster wheel. It just so happens that after living without… we don’t want them.
Awesome post. This is soooooo necessary to contrast against the way FIRE is presented in mainstream press like your ABC news story and current criticisms against Frugalwoods.
https://theoutline.com/post/3840/frugalwoods-frugality-millennials?zd=1&zi=h5ar7daw
Totally agree. People seem to think FI/RE is all or nothing, not realizing it all exists on a spectrum. Being more aggressive will get you there faster, sure, but if it’s going to make you unhappy it’s not worth it. Find your own personal “sweet spot” and work toward FI from there.
Thanks Chris.
Respectfully, I’m not going to read any of the criticisms against Frugalwoods….
Liz has done a nice job many times of discussing how, in many ways, frugality is a privilege. She does a great job of discussing privilege in general. News stories about FIRE folks in general seem to be full of some degree of snark or disbelief or…
“You live… here? In this…. place?” – How did you feel when your co-worker said that?
It can be difficult to shun society’s expectations and take different path in life.
HH
Dunno, I probably laughed and said, “Ain’t it great!” I’m cool with thinking differently.
I had an incident many years ago when I was teasing a co-worker about his car/apartment. He was in tune with living his life his way, I was all consumerist. He said, “Hey, compared to the rest of world I live like a king.” He was right. It stuck with me and helped me thing more clearly about my values, too.
Congrats on the coverage, that’s great!
I dunno, the idea of “living lean” and it “not being fun” are some things that trigger people in a certain way. Some folks find out about frugality / FI from reading MMM (or your site :) ) and it immediately clicks for them. They read through his site and they’re like “YES I can do exactly what he did” For others, it’s more like “wow that might work but that seems like deprivation. Hard pass”
This news segment wasn’t as bad as most, but they all seem to follow the formula of needing to point out that any early retirees are making “huge sacrifices”. I wish they focused more on “these people are living efficiently, and not just doing what everyone else it”
I wouldn’t say we practice extreme frugality and actually switching to bar soap is somewhere that we could improve in terms of numbers. To be honest, I wouldn’t call most of things you are doing “extreme frugality”, just more efficient, intentional living.
Did anyone else notice ABC referring to FIRE as Financial Independence Early Retirement as opposed to Retire Early?
Brilliant. I also found the condescending tone of the “it’s not fun to live cheap” conclusion to be humorous.
“if there was any magic we had it was that we were willing to live like college students longer than it is socially acceptable to do so”. Amen to this. This is by far our biggest superpower as well. This is what I teach my undergrads. “You’re happy now living on nothing. Don’t ever forget this. Avoid lifestyle creep. Be like this GCC guy.”
Ha, how do the college kids respond to that?
Not sure how students respond. Every semester I seem to have about 5 students who really get it, and I hope it has a profound impact on their lives. To the remainder of the students it is in one ear and out the next (like most of what I teach them).
I probably would have asked, “Will this be on the test?”
Congrats on the feature! Thankfully we all get to make our own decisions. What’s fun to some, may not be to others. I’m not choosing the exact same path as you did but your path certainly seems fun to me. This includes the extreme frugality and the rewards of it afterwards. It’s a shame that the media does not fully get it even after featuring the story.
One of the big lessons of the fair amount of reading I’ve done on FIRE is that you are supposed to enjoy frugality. I think it is from “Your money or your life”. If you enjoy it you are being frugal, if you don’t then you are being cheap. That said I imagine you enjoyed making soap (I wouldn’t) and I enjoy lentils and rice, not everyone would. So everyone needs to find their own frugal ways.
lentils and rice are divine, especially with a little curry.
haha you put curry on everything!
What’s not fun is working 9-5 for 40 years. Living lean means different thing to everyone. Our living lean is luxury to most of the world’s population. Anyway, we’re living moderately and it’s a good life. Cooking at home is one of the big factor for us too. Now I’m a great cook. It’s a good skill to have.
World News Tonight, impressive. That’s huge. Congrats.
“What’s not fun is working 9-5 for 40 years.” Joe nailed it with this one!
Agree! This lifestyle feels like winning and is incredibly fun! The other one, not so much.
It’s such common sense huh? Not enough people get it!
See that’s the problem, you just need to find a job that you LOVE more than anything else, and then dedicate your life to it and then you won’t feel like you worked even a single day. Or at least that is what I hear… I’ve never found one of those jobs myself.
I do have a job that I LOVE. I love it. Really and truly. I would probably do it if I wasn’t getting paid. I’m as excited about it today as I was when I started doing it 10 years ago.
I still want to be FI. FI is about options, and RE is not mandatory. I want options.
I definitely agree with this. As a teacher, I feel that I’ve been lucky to enjoy what I do for a living. FI/RE seems like a great goal to reach for, but lots of people are discover, post FI, that the RE part doesn’t matter so much.
Love your comment and your attitude!
I hear journalism ranks high up there. I know a few of those nuts.
I happen to be an anonymous civil rights attorney living in the middle of nowhere. I’ll never stop. BUT, being a MMM/GCC/JLCollins et, al, disciple means I can piss off whoever I need to, whenever I need to. I can take cases for people who don’t have money. I can organize service based initiatives (I founded a non-profit, sit on a bunch of boards, etcetera). I can take public speaking events without needing to be paid (and spread ideas very related to these). I mean, the entire thing was enabled by frugal education choices, huge savings on my “regular” law career before I had the freedom to choose and all the rest of the well known frugality tricks. As we all know, it only took a few years to accumulate that FU money stash and be off and running. Now I still “work,” I still earn money but with financial burdens lifted – I get to let my conscience be my guide. What a gift!
Anyway, sometimes it seems to me that people focus on the “retirement v. work” but don’t realize how your financial independence can give you options to follow your own path – whatever that might be. There is literally nothing higher than having the freedom to consciously choose your path in life and that is core message of all the FIRE movement. People miss the message at their own peril.
Congratulations on the feature guys! I don’t know why big media paints such an incorrect picture – especially when it comes to investment advice and life post retirement. It’s almost they themselves working there don’t understand! Spectacular post!
I think they feel the need to represent “both sides”
Oh well. Back to having fun!
It’s great that more people are introduced to FIRE, but what a shitty way to edit in the “it’s not fun” comment. It’s like they feel the need to emphasize the fact that anything you do on you’re own without paying for it isn’t fun. I suppose they need to keep consumerism alive to support their advertising revenue.
Like you, we don’t garden simply to save money, we do it for the fresh air and satisfaction of eating higher quality veggies that we grew ourselves. Not to mention the convenience. I save money on shaving, but mostly because I can’t stand shaving. I also brew beer because I like to experiment and see how tiny changes can make a big impact on the final product. I suppose I could pay a lot more money to go out for farm to table meals, or spend more time at craft breweries than I already do. The thing is I wouldn’t get the same satisfaction or learn to be a better connoisseur by just spending money.
The fact that my hobbies save money just happens to coincide with my other hobby of living more efficiently and building wealth. This also coincides with a life goal of not working a soul sucking job if I don’t want to. It’s a win, win, win scenario. Anyone can do the same, but I suppose it’s easier for some to just whine and cry “sour grapes.”
Keep livin the dream :)
After being in Taiwan for 6 months now, I’m really missing a good salad. Greens aren’t a big thing here and they don’t transit well… There are definitely quality of life advantages to controlling your own food supply :)
If you ever make it out to Seattle, I’ll introduce you to my friend who is one of the founders of Picobrew.
Well, I thought greens are big things in Taiwan, but they just have to pan fry it ☺ I am pretty sure you can find good salad in Taipei…just keep looking, good luck! 😀
Yeah lots of fried stuff, mostly bitter types. There are a couple salad places now, Saladay and another one whose name escapes me at the moment. They are ok… I’ll be having some great salads in Europe and the US though this summer.
Funny. I don’t need to make my own wine or soap (and never have), but I think doing both sounds like a fun adventure and experiment. Interesting that this is set up by some as a “hardship.” I took the high roller route to FI compared to you two. Maybe worked an extra year as a consequence before bailing, but I really liked my job. So no biggy.
Yeah I think being a little less aggressive would have cost us about a year or 2 of work, but I ended up working 3 extra years anyway. It was a lot of fun though and we learned a lot… it is always cool to have a skill that reduces your need to spend money.
While I agree that FIRE is not for everyone and that for some it isn’t fun like if you are aggressively trying to pay off a large amount of debt or get out of a bad financial situation, but I think for most of us, it has actually sparked a new found passion and meaning within our lives. Yes, we’ve made changes to our lifestyle and dramatically cut costs, but I can honestly say that I don’t miss anything that we’ve cut out. I actually have a new found drive and motivation for life and have learned to value time and experiences over material goods. Its a mindset, a lifestyle and I think most of us fire walkers love it!
Very nicely said mrswow
Congrats on the feature, but they made it sounds like your life “wasn’t fun”. That doesn’t seem to be the case. You experimented with a lot of frugal things, but I’d bet that experimenting was lots of fun!
Certainly in my own experience of reaching FI, we had a TON of fun. We didn’t live a deprived life at all, we just lived a *different* life.
You could say we have a certain “Zest” for life…. not sure if they make that soap anymore.
This is a great post. I love learning about how people have experimented with FIRE principles and go on adapting them to suit their particular situations. I’m an extreme frugality sort, my partner isn’t so a lot of our discussions involve a lot of fun experimenting to find out what works and what doesn’t. For us, the ‘ difference’ lies in not trying to convert the other person to our way of thinking but allowing ourselves to be open to another way of thinking that the other person provides – if that makes sense.
Makes perfect sense
Great post!
I’m all about trying to make simple changes to reduce your regular expenses to a point you’re still comfortable with and can enjoy!
Love this part: “we were willing to live like college students longer than it is socially acceptable to do so”. Made me smile and I definitely relate (still ongoing over here though!). Sometimes I think (no, I know!) I’ve confused some friends and family with choices I make frugal-wise. But I love that we’re able to invest money even with me only working part-time. That wouldn’t be happening if we lived large right now. And the thing is, I don’t feel deprived because I’m lucky enough that these are choices. I’m happy with my life the way it is right now, this journey.
sounds like you’ve found the perfect balance
I’ve found picking the frugal stuff you enjoy and not worrying about the rest is a good approach for us. We made some more extreme decisions when repaying the mortgage and formed some habits that keep us ticking along nicely. I’m an introvert and enjoy cooking and entertaining at home so that lends itself to not wasting money. I’m fairly certain I won’t be retiring in 7 years but I’m not desperate too and I certainly don’t resent you doing it. Can’t guarantee not to show mock jealousy though when I see exciting twitter updates though ;)
Definitely pick the stuff you enjoy. We would try things for a few months and see if it was a good fit. The first time we made soap we mixed it all by hand, and had to stir like crazy for an hour until it started to trace. Later, we bought a $5 hand blender on Craigslist and that reduce the hour of hard labor to 3 seconds of pressing a button. Live and learn
I liked the ABC feature because I found out more about your life that was pre-full time work retirement. I didn’t know about the wine and soap making, which tells me you and Winnie were VERY dedicated to getting to your joint goal. It also shows me your flexibility and desire to try a different path. I get the impression that you aren’t just about how to save $$, but how to enjoy the journey while saving money. I have not been one of your blog readers for very long, but I do enjoy the humor in your blog posts and the way you look at certain things from both a financial and flexible point of view. FYI – I have learned how to rack up more air miles based on your advice (paid for a new sewer line with mileage cc so I could earn the miles!). Thanks for all the past and future advice!
Yes, I practice my own version of extreme frugality, such as buying food on sale and using coupons (at the same time). People give me grief that I won’t buy things unless they are either on sale, or I have a coupon. It might be baby step extreme frugality, but that is how I get closer to my goals – (fully funding my 401k and IRA) – one step at a time.
When life gives you a broken sewer line, get yourself a free vacation… I love it! haha
Generally I think of life as a game. Play for the joy of it .
Your #4 was fascinating. By applying the Big 3, it allows for #4. Brilliant!
You have to love the cascading tax benefit.
I agree with others that their little “it’s not fun” stab at the end was unnecessary. But let’s face the facts, for most of America it’s true – most people LOVE spending their money on stuff. So yes for most it would not be fun. The folks commenting here on this blog are the ones who have this figured out – that freedom and the ability to choose your own work are MORE fun than stuff. But societal pressures prevent that message from really taking off.
The jab by ABC at the end is a conditioned response either for two reasons:
1. As a network with advertisers they have a vested interest in the continuation of a consumerist lifestyle for everyone, or
2. They cannot conceive of doing something like you guys did themselves, so they don’t believe anyone can or should
Great job by you both to wind up exactly where you wanted to be. BTW, true story on the saving from my standpoint. I sport a mustache and goatee but shave the rest of my face. I only shave every 2-3 days since I am retired so blades will last longer, but a year? I started using a Schick Hydro 5 in March of 2017 and finally stopped using it in March of 2018. Never cut me like some razors will after one week or two, so I am unsure if I got an exceptional razor or if it is the norm for that type (I have a number of different ones I got for free over the years, or at a very low cost, so I use varying types and manufacturers products). I remember once a Gillette person was pressed on how long a razor should last, and while they wanted to remain unnamed, they did admit they could last up to 100 uses. So maybe that year I got shaving every 2-3 days was not out of the ordinary. Regardless, I was impressed and felt this came into the category of frugal, not cheap.
Nowadays I almost never shave with a blade, but I trim with one of these (rechargeable trimmer.) Also works well on my head. I definitely never got close to 100 shaves with a Mach3, closer to 10.
Love it! You can make your own soap! Gaah! Must do. I have a lavendar plant I am not quite sure what to do with .. now I know!
And what a fun video – eco friendly and a higher quality of life – awesome! Keep the posts coming please – still learning a lot from you three!
Winnie is going to put together a blog post about making your own soap :)
Great article, Jeremy! I often think the perspective of “slash every penny” is unnecessary and misses the point, as like you said most of the savings come from the big 3. However, it also bothers me when people say discretionary spending doesn’t really matter as long as you reduce the cost of the big 3, which is silly because I know many people whose discretionary spending is as much as our total budget, meaning if we adopted those habits we could still manage to double our spending. It’s all about balance and figuring our what’s worth it for you. Is that extra year of work worth it to maintain your fancy craft beer habit? For some people the answer is yes, for some it’s no, and for some it’s “I’ll make my own fancy beer, which I will enjoy more”
I used to think of our budget line items in term of our total net worth and the 4% rule.
Craft beer is $20/month? That requires assets of $6k to support, so I can add that to my life once I’ve saved $6k. It helped prioritize and to challenge any underlying assumptions of what was important.
It’s so much about the gap – and trimming expenses to widen the gap just makes sense. Like you said – why not try? Not every cut is going to be the right fit for everyone – NBD if you try and hate it. We just cut cable – it was a sticking point for years and I couldn’t get hubby to give it up. We switched to a streaming service, are saving tons of money, and we don’t freaking miss it a bit… it’s not deprivation, and if it was… we’d just go back. I’ve heard lots of stories – Mad FIentist stands out to me as one, where FIRE folks spend AS MUCH AS THEY CAN on the stuff they really care about, and it increases their expenses, like… $3K a year or something. But yes – they probably feel like they need to show “both sides” of the story.
Even when you were living the very frugal lifestyle – you were living at a higher standard and comfort than billons of others in the world. Just not like most Westerners.
I came to learn about all of you “smart guys” very late. I was able to sell my business and retire at 59. And my wife has one more year left. Man if we had made some different choices she could be retired now too. (And she is very ready). She will be 60 but has friends at work that are over 70 still plugging away.
We still spend too much I think, but “luxuries once enjoyed become a necessity”. Not really – but harder to go from living large to living frugal than the other direction.
I admire what you guys did and are doing. And I especially love how you are so transparent in how you did it and are doing it.
Mark
Mark, I was thinking the very same thing about the world perspective the whole time I was reading the post. Like you, my spouse and I were not extreme early but later (I’m 55) when we decided we were FI.
So much of this conversation is about values and choices more than money. I sew; it baffles a friend because she can buy a dress cheaper than my material, pattern, etc. so she thinks I’m not true to my “your money or your life” mentality. I think it represents exactly my values – I get to create something unique, just for me, that is of very high quality, that I will keep for a long long time, that was not made by 12 year olds and makes me (and my spouse) smile every time I wear it. And I am vain; I love the compliments.
Congrats on the feature:)
I have never tried extreme frugality, just sticking with frugal for now, slowly trying to cut back on our grocery bill:)
And I would go for gift B!
I believe frugality can help you learn what you can do without, how to save money during lean times, and how to still live “comfortably” while sacrificing those things that don’t really bring you joy anyways. However, I am one of those that believe that I’d rather earn more than spend less. It’s a lot easier to save and invest when you make more (as long as you don’t inflate your lifestyle of course). Great write up, and it’s awesome that you made a lot of your own things like wine and soap. I meant venture out and start making my own wine.
I think living frugally is amazing and you guys rock! Honestly, you guys are #goals for me.
There seems to be a lot of bitterness and harsh criticism towards people who achieve early retirement…I just read a scalding review of the Frugalwoods the other days with the title “Being Frugal is For the Rich”. It was by The Outline in case anyone was interested.
I think you have had some salty comments yourself in other articles, right?
I think Chris linked to it above. People do things, and others point out why they can’t do what they already did. It’s human nature to miss the point, so I don’t bother reading that stuff.
We get lots of salty comments. I just delete and forget.
I wonder if the somewhat negative, skeptical tone of the piece was edited in by the powers to be, or did you feel the journalist who was engaging with you had the best interest in mind? I think I’ve seen this with other successful bloggers where the final segment is not really portrayed in a great light, as if the underlying message is sort of “they did it well, but BEWARE, this isn’t for everyone” instead of: see how they did it and apply the relevant concepts in your life. Seriously, if making soap and wine at home was the only takeaway for people watching this, then ….nothing more to say.
Love the Big 4 optimizers. Thanks to you my interest in taxes, or minimizing them, has gone up by leaps and bounds!
That could be the case. Or a case of who they found to play the role of retirement expert and what sound bites they got from it. The interview itself before hand was a really good conversation.
Your new hobby will serve you well :)
I really enjoyed this post and the interview. Its bad that people can mix up frugality with deprivation. I think the important concept about FIRE is that you chose what you cut down on. If you hate drinking your own coffee then no one makes you drink your own coffee! Its crazy!
There are some really good ideas here for me just starting out on my FIRE journey!
Little Miss Fire x
I’m with you on shaving plus beards rock.
Gotta ask though – how’d the wine taste?
Worth the extra time & energy? How would this compare to $2 chuck ?
not so great, honestly. Box wine is better. We mostly used the home made stuff as cooking wine.
Our first foray into making wine was when someone actually gave us two boxes of fresh grapes. We loved it. Was an amazing Rose that we served at our wedding. After that, no more grapes…so tried the box kit stuff and I agree you are better off buying cheap wine.
Beautiful wife and baby <3
Good post. We have saved a ton by living in a cheap rental that happens to be in the most expensive neighborhood(we lucked out on a landlord who doesn’t raise rent). We have been locked into this rental for about 3-4 years.
Honestly we spend rather frivolously on groceries. We spend way more than you do and I don’t necessarily think it’s good but I think it’s an illustration as to how if you super save in one category it makes others easier. And maybe that’s ok.
In the first 3 years of our marriage we were also a one-car couple, an old toyota I brought into the marriage. Due to my love of snowboarding and the local mountain’s horrible roads, I did get an AWD vehicle last summer. I ended up keeping the other as it is so cheap at this point. So this post made me feel a little bad because it reinforced how big of a hit that was on us. I mean I haggled this car down…but still $13k is a big hit on super savers. All that being said, I feel pretty good that for 3-4 years we didn’t buy a new car and still only bought a used car. We still bike more than drive and mostly use it for the dangerous snowy days. We live in a mountain town so you can be seriously restricted at times without AWD–like you aint’ gettin out of the block for 3 days restricted.
We have been able to maintain about a 50 – 60% savings rate(income: $100k to 120k) while being stupid with going out, groceries, and just decent at transportation. The point? Even hitting one or two of the big 4 will make everything else easier. 70% savings rate is sweet and I so envy that this blogger can do that…but 50% ain’t that bad either and it’s really not that hard if you just hit one or two of these big ‘uns.
Great feature! One thing that confused me, I think the ABC peeps might be a little dyslexic. FIRE or FIER? lols.
When I saw “they make their own wine” I was like.. yeah that’s not going to save anyone money. :D Homebrewing is fun but pricey, isnt it! But hobbies like that are inexpensive ways to entertain yourself instead of taking a vacation to Napa Valley for instance. I haven’t read about that part of your journey yet but I bet it was fun!
Thanks for putting yourself out there on TV so that people can learn from your example and get inspired.
“Pay now, play later.” Growing up on a farm that is how it was. Invest time and money to plant a crop or grow livestock while spending efficiently, get paid a year or two later when the produce sold. Money invested conservatively to ensure funds would be available to finance next years operations and to allow for variable future prices of inputs and produce. And making laundry soap from lard rendered from the kidney fat of beasts slaughtered on farm as a small part etc. “It’s not fun.” The small things are a game and a test of skill. Like solving a puzzle,
Pay now to play later seems to be the natural order of things. For some reason (advertising) about 50 years ago people started thinking if they could afford the payments they could afford the play. The game mentality is how we though of it as well; it makes saving fun.
I don’t think my wife would let me not shave for two years. I barely make it a week before she will say something.
We try to cut costs, but not quite as bare bone as this. We also have a newborn, so we’re trying to figure out how to raise him cheaply but effectively (I guess frugal would fit those two words.)