Living frugally implies living in a low cost of living area. Practically none of these people are preaching that you can maintain your same lifestyle and just

Living frugally implies living in a low cost of living area. Practically none of these people are preaching that you can maintain your same lifestyle and just magically cut 80% of your expenses (the trick is finding the cuts that save lots of money but don’t sacrifice as much quality of life). You’re not going to do it in Southern California. I would go so far as to claim that anyone preaching FIRE concepts in California is probably not eating their own dog food or has some other consideration that doesn’t apply to most people (has a big inheritance/trust fund, sold a company, had their parents give them their house, etc.) If you want to do FIRE and aren’t just rich already, you definitely have to live elsewhere. You’re going to do it in a remote area with crappy internet and cold winters. You can do it with a family, but your kids will complain and you had better hope your spouse is on board. It’s clearly not for everyone. If it were easy lots of people would do it.