10 ms·

How I live on $7,000 per year

341 points by jfoucher 15y ago

rymedia 15y ago
Interesting perspective. Definitely not for everyone living that frugally though. 1 Charlie Sheen weekend in Vegas would blow the years budget :P
- twfarland 15y ago
  Agreed. The author is lucky to have a taste for the quiet life. My wife and I would bite each other's heads off if we stayed in a van eating salad and I'm sure my grandparents would have too. I'm happy to pay for a bit of light hedonism.
gergles 15y ago
The article is mistitled, as there is literally nothing in there about how he allegedly lives on 7K a year, other than what he eats for dinner (apparently every night.)
- erejacob 15y ago
  I just borrowed the title from the previous article. There's a budget here http://earlyretirementextreme.com/frequently-asked-questions http://earlyretirementextreme.com/frequently-asked-questions and tons of other information on the rest of the site.
6ren 15y ago
He doesn't seem to include rent or mortgage.
- munin 15y ago
  he implies that he owns his own home. maybe he inherited it? he's also in his mid-30's. it's possible to have bought a property on a 15yr mortgage, paid it off on a modest salary, have some money saved up, and then just chill out. if you don't have kids, this works. if you don't have any medical problems that cause your insurance carrier to illegally drop you (what are you going to do, sue them?), this also works. my only question is why do this in the US? on $7k a year you can live like a king in other parts of the world...
  - erejacob 15y ago
    I like living in the US. We bought our home in cash. Our home is currently an RV---bear with me here. The cost of it was $16k. We pay a combined $6000/year in rent (half of which is my half). You need $200k in investments to support such a cash flow (which I have). So the total cost or asset base or our current living situation is about $216,000 (not counting repairs which I can mostly do myself). We're seriously thinking of moving to Oregon (away from California) buying a house in cash for around $125,000. If real estate taxes are $1,500, this requires 50,000 in investments. Thus the cost of living of switching over to a house would be $175,000. Again, a lot of the maintenance I can do myself. It would be cheaper to not live in an RV, but it was a fun experiment.
    - munin 15y ago
      oh! neat! some friends of mine live in a van (it's a big van but not quite an RV), it's a pretty sweet deal. I think you have a good thing going on for yourself. if you can save that kind of money it definitely changes how you interact with the world. I only had 1/10th of what you have in investments and it definitely made me bolder in the world. I wasn't being hyperbolic about insurance carriers though, and I'm sure you already know about this but I'd really caution you (and others) on this. As a small (10 person) company, we had a health insurance policy that was dropped without cause by the carrier. They told us to our face, "sue us". They know we won't, because what would it accomplish? We'd lose (burn) money, they have money to burn, it makes no sense. When you're small (an individual or a small company), they can get away with doing that to you. So, you're making payments on a policy, but I'd wager that when you need it, is when you'll be getting a letter in the mail saying "after we received your letter telling us to terminate your policy, we did"...
    - rorrr 15y ago
      Living in an RV is like living in a tiny tiny shitty studio, plus you have to pump your own shit and piss regularly. Yeah, I can live in a tent and hunt for food. Zero dollars per year. Sorry, but fuck that. None of these stories are inspiring.
      - 15y ago
- erejacob 15y ago
  Rent is included. See Frequently Asked Questions for a budget.
- dhume 15y ago
  Nor does he seem aware of inflation (see his "grandparents" paragraph at the end). The site below suggets $7k in 1950 would be about the same as $65k today, and I would hope people aren't amazed at the notion of being able to live on $65k per year. http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm
  - erejacob 15y ago
    I am aware of inflation. I did not intentionally imply anything about CPI. I was referring to the old generations attitude of "make it do or do without" compared to the current attitude of "just charge it on the card".
    - potatolicious 15y ago
      Both are straw men that represent the extremity of a population. There's a bit of rose-tinted glasses going on here, isn't there? I don't particular buy into this notion that the previous generation was oh so virtuous, while this one is just daft as a brick.
      - learc83 15y ago
        Well they existed before the concept of easy credit, so it's not really a matter of them being more self disciplined--just sort of the way things were. For most people, you saved up and paid cash for everything b/c that was the only option.
  - cjy 15y ago
    Nowhere in that paragraph does he say or imply that grandparents where living on 7K dollars in nominal terms. He simply notes that they lived simpler lives. That is supported by the data. Our grandparents had median incomes about 40% of what we have today (in real terms) see: http://www.stanford.edu/class/polisci120a/immigration/Median%20Household%20Income.pdf http://www.stanford.edu/class/polisci120a/immigration/Median...
- hirenj 15y ago
  According to this (http://earlyretirementextreme.com/we-are-going-to-cut-our-expenses-in-half.html http://earlyretirementextreme.com/we-are-going-to-cut-our-ex...) he's living in an RV.
Sodaware 15y ago
The title of the article is slightly misleading in that it's $7,000 per person, so it's actually $14K in this case. I know that's a little nit-picky, but things like rent would eat a good chunk of that $7k. Living on $14k is certainly possible, and the usual suspects can be cut to save some cash: * Drop cable TV * Same for cell phone - keep one pre-pay for emergency and use Skype for business/personal * Stick to one car if at all possible (easier if someone can work from home or has flexible work hours). Negotiate lower insurance rates if possible. * Don't eat out * If internet is essential, go for the cheapest package available. There are usually offers for new internet customers that give low rates for the first year. However, when your year expires you can call them up and ask to be put on a new special. This worked for my wife and I when our rates went up, and we got upgraded to a faster connection to boot. That's really the biggest money saving tip of all - ask politely. It doesn't always work, but you lose nothing and can gain some decent savings over time.
- erejacob 15y ago
  Yeah, it's not rocket science. The biggest money losers are too much house and too much car and all the interest payments that go towards it. Even by eliminating the interest by paying in cash you're already cut your expenses on those items by 50%. The rest is just details, but most importantly. Don't buy ANYTHING on credit.
  - spodek 15y ago
    If you have a credit card with no annual payment and you pay every month, should you still not pay on credit? I'm not sure if I see the problem then.
    - erejacob 15y ago
      Okay, to be more precise: >>Don't pay any interest or fees<<. I do run online purchases through my credit card and then pay off the balance in full every month.
- illumin8 15y ago
  He lives in a trailer at an RV park also... that right there cuts your rent significantly. Hey, if you want to live in a trailer at an RV park for $400 a month, barbecue with charcoal because it costs less than propane, and grow a few vegetables by the side of your trailer in a makeshift garden, more power to you. Unfortunately, I prefer living in a solid structure made of wood and bricks that doesn't wash away in a flood or blow away in a storm.
nirvana 15y ago
I've been living on $13,754 per year for the past 4 years. (Average as of last month.) There are two of us, so, double that and you have the average cost over that period. While we've been doing it, we've been traveling full time, spent the last year in europe living in AirBNB pads, and doing our startup. We buy a MacBook Pro each year and an iPad or iPhone each year as needed, with the old one going to the other person to replace the even older one they were using. We don't live poorly, either. How good our food is depends on where we are-- it wasn't so great in england, but it was fantastic in italy. Prior to those 4 years, I lived on about $18,000 a year, and in the 1990s, I was living on about $22,000 a year. I made much more, of course. Starting in the early 1990s I knew I'd want to start a company at some point, and I knew that the less you spent the more profit you had to sock away for retirement. At one point I bought and lived on a boat. Living on the west coast[1] where my friends were paying $1,200-$4,000 a month in rent-mortgage, while I was paying $300 a month in marina fees--- AND I had the best view-- was pretty nice. Like anything, it is something you can do if you practice it, and you just have to have the right attitude. I had an immediate turnaround in my spending when I started tracking my expenses. Just looking at where things went each month had a huge impact... I started buying less pointless stuff ,and cut out whole swaths of things that I didn't need, and conversely, started eating out more, because I realized it was relatively cheap. I didn't even miss the things I got rid of, because I didn't cut any of the things that were important to me. I remember, in 1994 buying a TV thinking that I'd be using it until 1997 when I expected that HDTVs would be out, and planning on buying an HDTV. In 1997, HDTVs ware REALLY expensive, but by then I'd made the change. I kept that TV- which I'd only meant to keep for 3 years-- until 2007 when we went nomadic. 11 years longer than "budgeted". We don't do cable, but we do, luxuriously, do BOTH hulu AND netflix. And the occasional iTunes rental. I got rid of my land line phone over a decade ago, when I moved onto the boat, and then never got it back afterwards. Cellphones were always cheap plans, and then, given up completely years ago. (Reaching me urgently means calling my google voice number or sending an email, which I get in a couple days.) I kept my vehicle for a very, very, long time, but don't even have that now. That right there got rid of over $600 a year just in insurance. Public transportation is a hassle (except in berlin!) but its cheaper. One thing that's really helped-- we set a budget. We have the food/transportation budget, and then we have the personal-spending money. Each month we get a bit of money that we don't have to spend responsibly, and the rest of the money goes into specific budget items. We have all of our major purchases planned out, and on schedule. Actually had to accelerate the computer purchases because we were using them past the end of AppleCare. (Traveling all the time, we want AppleCare.) One important thing to know, to help with all this, is to understand money. I think a lot of people don't really understand money... not on a fundamental level. Money is just a medium of exchange, right, but have you ever wondered what it is you're exchanging? It's life. Not just in the sense that you need food and shelter to live, but in that you rented your body to some labor in exchange for the money. I think people who don't think of money as valuable as that-- as literally being part of their lives-- tend to respect money very much, and so they don't keep an eye on it. Old timers called it "knowing the value of a dollar". As for the nomad thing- yeah, plane flights are expensive (but we take relatively few big ones)...but compared to the cost of living in america, most of the world is cheaper. Europe was more expensive, but we wanted to make sure the idea worked before going places where english was even less common. I expect our cost of living to be significantly lower this year than last. [1] originally types "west cost", which is about how I think of it. PS-- I've done a poor job of explaining "How", but it really is an attitude more than a method. There are probably lots of things we don't have, and don't miss, because we simply changed our priorities. Since I don't miss them, it's really hard for me to name them. There's a line in fight club that is apropos here: ".. learn to let slide what truly, doesn't matter."
ahsanhilal 15y ago
Basic economics tells you that this is not a good growth strategy to adopt especially if you have a consumption-based economy, and not savings-based one (aka China, India). In short population is going to increase over time, resources are going to decrease over time, in order to keep GDP per capita in line with an increasing population, you cannot just decrease your spending (or tighten your belt). You have to grow by increasing income levels, and thereby increasing aggregate demand. If we only increase incomes, and dont spend, then aggregate demand goes down, leading to less consumption, less investment, which leads to lower employment opportunities, which leads to even lesser consumption, and so on so forth until we get to a severely regressive cycle, where our industries shut down. Point is, more power to you if you want to spend less, but making everyone else adopt your way of life because it works for you, does not mean it will work for them, and in entirety would not promote greater economic growth. PS for those arguing 'well it works for China'; well the USA is not China, and they are big structural differences which make it unnecessary and useless to adopt that model.
- erejacob 15y ago
  Well, not to worry, most people won't make "the sacrifice". Maybe if we transitioned to a production based economy but producing only quality items we needed. That way we wouldn't have to work so much. Unemployment would go down because people weren't scrambling for the the ability to consume. Concepts like planned obsolescence would go away. A lot of what we refer to as "growth" is just an indicator that the volume of economic transactions is going up. However, just because the economy is getting bigger doesn't necessarily mean it's getting better. Breaking windows and replacing them creates economic growth, but it doesn't make the house better.
  - ahsanhilal 15y ago
    Well you have a point, and this model of an alternative economy based on self-sustenance, producing what we need is something that is being tested by a philosopher Frithjof Bergmann. Unlike most (read all) philosophers, Bergmann actually practices his ideas which are detailed in his book, "on Being Free". He talks about such an economy based on producing little and necessary items within communes and trading them amongst each other: http://newworknewculture.com/content/frithjof-bergmann http://newworknewculture.com/content/frithjof-bergmann They are actually applying New Work to various parts of the world including South Africa, Iraq (in Kurdistan) etc. I know this because in undergrad I worked with him on this project for a year. However, the main problem regarding an alternate system is quite philosophical; that what is the basic human condition? Hobbes came up with an answer calling life "nasty, brutish and short" and that our animal spritis needed to be kindered. In government we did it through Rousseau's suggestions that we need a system through which we do not kill each other. I don't kill and take your money/land, and you do the same for me. In economics, we came up with an answer through capitalism, and saw the biggest implosion of wealth ever in the 20th century. So it is hard to argue against that capitalistic/democratic mindset unless there is a viable alternative especially in the US, where it has worked the best for the better part of the century. As far as crises go, we have seen destruction and subsequent creation of wealth throughout this century, so that is not a reason to give up I think. http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/stockmarket-returns-20th-century http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/stockmarke...
diiq 15y ago
I've been living on $6000 a year for the past five years. Next year, I intend to spend 10 months in New Zealand on <$8000, including travel, room, and board. It's very doable. I rent a very nice room in a pleasant suburb. I eat well, if repetitively. I have enough pocket money to go out somewhere nice with friends now and again. I don't make much more than I spend --- product, in part, of a BFA --- and sure, an extra few thousand would improve my lifestyle considerably. But I don't need much more, and I've been very happy and very comfortable.
- erejacob 15y ago
  Exactly! It isn't hard to do. It's only "hard to imagine" for those who aren't doing it. It's like being a runner and having a hard time convincing couch potatoes that running isn't primarily dominated by sweating, side stitches, gasping for air, and near heart attacks.
rorrr 15y ago
Sorry, but this story is garbage. Rent/mortgage, retirement completely ignored. Plus he has the shittiest $82 health insurance plan he could find, and he doesn't calculate the costs of what will happen if he gets sick. On average people after 65 spend $2,920 per year on medical out of pocket expenses (Source: http://www.newretirement.com/Planning101/Rising_Medical_Costs.aspx http://www.newretirement.com/Planning101/Rising_Medical_Cost...) Then his food comes from his garden, which means he has to work on that, and he conveniently didn't calculate the opportunity costs, tools, irrigation, chemicals, seeds, etc. What about transportation costs, electric/gas, phone, internet, household supplies, upgrade of your old computer, clothing, shoes. Then if you want to have a car (and it sucks to live pretty much everywhere in the US without a car), what about car insurance, maintenance, new car every X years? Yeah, it's fucking easy to live on $7K per year when you own a house with a garden, don't pay property taxes, use 1995 computer, and have no safety net in case of a serious sickness.
- scarmig 15y ago
  I believe he does account for rent/mortgage, by doing an RV. And his idea is that he has handled retirement--he's living in retirement now. The catch is that he had six figures saved up beforehand (he lives off the investment income), which doubles as a rainy day fund in case of serious illness.
  - rorrr 15y ago
    Then you have to calculate the amortization costs for the next RV (when this one dies), RV insurance, gas (which RVs needs a lot of), maintenance, sewage pumping costs, water costs. I wouldn't call living in an RV a retirement most people envision.
    - scarmig 15y ago
      Not arguing that it's a choice I'd make, just pointing out that he does include rent. It'd be interesting to see his breakdown of the other expenses you mention, though.
    - deleted 15y ago
scarmig 15y ago
Depends on your goals in life. $7,000 is definitely doable. But I don't want to live in an RV. Indeed, I want to live in a walkable neighborhood with groceries, low crime, and easily accessible entertainment. The site probably isn't a convincing case for a general audience. Which is a real pity, because a lifestyle of $10,000 to $12,000 a year is very doable, even for a single person, even in the Bay Area, even with regular outings and entertainment, and even with flushable toilets.
- nirvana 15y ago
  Do you want to start a startup? Or do you want to live your life in the burbs?
  - scarmig 15y ago
    Living "frugally" is so that I can bootstrap a startup. And I live within 5 blocks of an inner BART station. No desire to live in the burbs at all.
  - nhangen 15y ago
    I want both, and both are achievable.
- erejacob 15y ago
  It is really a pity. If I had just claimed that I spend twice as much as I actually do, people wouldn't be so quick to discard the idea. However, it really is a matter of efficiency. It wouldn't surprise me at all if my neighbors spent 50%, 100%, 200% or even 400% more than me despite living in essentially similar structures and enjoying similar things. As mentioned elsewhere, it's mostly an attitude towards what money is, means, and can do for you.
  - wnight 15y ago
    Thanks for telling the truth. I'm at around $18k/y and it's good to have motivation to do better. Rent is $6k right there. Ouch. And this is a small town. Food only gets cheaper the more we do our own, and after becoming vegan. I spent $20 on food in the last week on the fridge is stocked for another week to come. Squash is just cheap, etc. We've gardened before but have nowhere to do it right at our place, though hopefully will soon on the deck.
ctdonath 15y ago
The article comes from the same reason I'm running the A Buck A Plate blog http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com - doing it because so many think living well for cheap can't be done.
- tryitnow 15y ago
  Thanks! A lot of folks are saying they live on the cheap. It's nice to see a commenter who actually is showing others how. Keep up the good work.
- gergles 15y ago
  Living in an RV is not "living well". Flush toilets are generally a minimum standard for that.
  - erejacob 15y ago
    Why do people here have such a fascination with toilets? The way a regular toilet works: Water automatically enters the bowl. You do your thing. You press a lever. The way an RV toilet works: Water enters the bowl when you press a pedal. You do your thing. You press another pedal. That's my toilet anyway. From the perspective of one's posterior it's pretty much the same thing and you can do all this while sitting on the throne. Some RVs have flush toilets or even vacuum toilets.
  - ctdonath 15y ago
    Most RVs have toilets. And beds. And stoves. And refrigerators. And heaters. And other major amenities. Heck, the toilets even use _drinking_water_ to flush - such wasteful luxury. Never mind the ability to just pick up and go anywhere anytime. Most RVs have AC, ovens, TVs, and other luxuries. To much of the world, living in an RV is living well.
leot 15y ago
You're not taxed on work you do for yourself (, yet).
- GFischer 15y ago
  That's not the case in other countries, my bureocratic-loving one for example requires you to pay taxes (social security to be more accurate) on painting your own house. Bizarre but true. http://www.elpais.com.uy/06/08/24/pnacio_233547.asp http://www.elpais.com.uy/06/08/24/pnacio_233547.asp http://www.lr21.com.uy/editorial/195936-fuera-murro-de-mi-casa http://www.lr21.com.uy/editorial/195936-fuera-murro-de-mi-ca...
Abundnce10 15y ago
At some point during my college career I learned about the Rat Race and was propelled to discard my desire to climb the corporate ladder and decided to live a life similar to jfoucher (How I live on $7000 per year). However, after living frugally for a couple years I saved up enough money and decided to travel the world. Fast forward to today - after witnessing first hand the lives of those less fortunate while traveling in SE Asia I realized how self-centered I was to sit out of the "Rat Race" and meander along the road of my meager existence while there were other people wishing they had the knowledge, opportunity, and capacity to live and succeed in our society. There are people all over this planet that don't possess the means necessary to make impactful changes in others' lives, let alone their own, and so I asked myself: What if I took my determination and drive (clearly demonstrated in my previously frugal lifestyle habits) and applied those characteristics to actions that might benefit other people? Would those actions then be better, or more worthy, than the actions of squeaking out a living on $7,000? Personally, I decided they would be and have since then devoted myself to helping bring about change in this world. I'm not saying everyone should view their life this way, but I understand what the author is describing and I have went through the internal struggle of trying to decide what to do with my life. Recently, I decided to go back into the world of the Rat Race and try to make the lives of those around me and myself better (building interesting software, spreading joy and wisdom, raising awareness of certain issues, etc.). I don't unconsciously spend money on things I don't need but I do if it deems fit. More over, I don't think you need to have a garden or be a homebody to live frugally. I hope other smart, determined people don't take the route of sitting idly by the side as hoards of unaware, materialistic consumers perpetuate a system of greed and excess.
- erejacob 15y ago
  I pretty much spend my time trying to "educate" unaware, materialistic consumers. I've affected more people than I can count (those who've told me) and presumable more beyond those (who didn't tell me). So I have a blog, a book, a forum, and now a wiki. There's not really a rat race option for what I do, but if there was, maybe I'd take it. Incidentally, I don't really have a problem with people using the freedom they've gained from stepping off the treadmill to do nothing. If someone wants to use their freedom to become a "beach bum" I have no problem with that.
shareme 15y ago
The article is miss-titled, it should be: Leveraged Retirement.... not in the Donald Trump way but the concept is similar...now for the bonus question what is he leveraging and what benefits does he get in return for that leveraging? He did somewhat obtusely answer it..and no the previously earned and saved Six figures is not what he is leveraging..
tlogan 15y ago
When you have kids then you really live on $7000 per year. Believe me. So maybe when you are younger it is good enjoy a little because when middle age crisis comes (and it will come) and if you didn't enjoy when you were young all kind of crazy shit can happen. Happen to my father in-law: all his millions are worthless...
- hugh3 15y ago
  I'm confused -- why are your father-in-law's millions worthless?
  - ehsanu1 15y ago
    Your parent comment meant that money is less enjoyable when you are not as young as you once were.
barryfandango 15y ago
I agree with the author that there's much to be gained by shrugging off the consumerist expectation that we spend all of our income on junk. The next step in that progression though, in my opinion, is to learn to obsess over money exactly as much as is necessary, then start paying attention to what really matters in life. This guy's OCD approach to money sounds exhausting.
- erejacob 15y ago
  I agree with you to an extent. However, it's a lot easier to think about the money you do have than it is to work for the money you don't have. My attitude towards spending is more of a game to see what I can get away with, e.g. getting the same thing for much less than just ordering it on amazon with next day shipping. I find this entertaining much like some people find shopping entertaining.
sliverstorm 15y ago
Takeaway: If you can score dirt-cheap rent, you've won half the battle. He pays $250 for rent in S.F. You'd be pretty hard-pressed to NOT have an impressive budget in that kind of scenario.
- fennecfoxen 15y ago
  Much of the world lives on less than $1 a day. Dirt-cheap or zero rent, simple foods, minimal medical care.
schiptsov 15y ago
It is so funny to see how american people rediscovering the way of life 2/3 of the planet population enjoy from the beginning of a time. One should visit any Himalayan country to see how it works, or African country if you really want what they call 'extreme'. ^_^
cnxsoft 15y ago
I'm also on that budget, but I don't live in California...
doc_larry 15y ago
It's all about perspective. As physician and entrepreneur I like what I'm doing and enjoy my life. The money is a side effect that grew over time (when I started in the ER I was paid less than $200 for 24 of work). Money isn't the objective, but creating a meaningful lifestyle, being a good husband and leave something positive behind is what really matters. My two cents of happiness :-)
deleted 15y ago
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sayemm 15y ago
This is an amazing blog, just ordered his book - thanks for posting this. I love the overall theme of his blog, which is that society brainwashes us, or most people, to derive utility out of life through consumerism and materialism. Jacob Fisker, the blogger behind ERE, I think is far richer than what his finances and personal budget indicate because he's actually living life for himself and optimizing it for maximum utility (spending the time wisely to do what he really loves doing).
wes-exp 15y ago
For those living in RVs, boats, and so on, can you comment on the amount of time you spend maintaining your living space? As a startup founder, as much as I am concerned about cutting costs, I am also concerned about the opportunity cost of spending time doing maintenance. E.g., even if you fully own a house, a house can be a lot of maintenance work. Depending on how you value your time, that can reduce how much you "save" on rent. Any comments?
lionhearted 15y ago
Some nice points, but this one is dead wrong: > Regardless of how much I made, I think I would pick up a goddamn broom myself before I started talking about my financial struggles. The gall! Paying someone else to do cleaning is one of the easiest positive ROI moves for your life. Not just because it frees up your time, but also because living somewhere clean and organized just does wonders for your sanity, mental health, physical health, productivity, ability to entertain others without cleanup lead time, and has follow-on effects of making you want to be better groomed, prepared, and organized because that's what happens when you live in a hyper-clean environment. Also, everyone else treats your place nicer because it's clean, and messing up a clean place is bad. So yeah, pay someone to come clean every week. It's cheap, it's like $10 in developing countries and $50 max in developed countries. Well, well worth it. Especially if you're any sort of skilled professional at all that works from home ever on anything.
Cl4rity 15y ago
I was going to complain about how this was extreme, but that would be redundant given his URL. The point isn't that we all can/should live off of ~$7,000/year, it's that we can cut down on the crap we don't need, or things that will be gone or obsolete in a year or less. However, the great thing about this article is that it reminds me to find some kind of balance. The impression I got was that the author spends nearly half his time budgeting and penny pinching, with little room to enjoy life. Or, if I could be a little more presumptuous, convinces himself that he enjoys this life so that he doesn't have to go out and earn far more money.
- erejacob 15y ago
  Nah, after a while it just becomes automatic. Kinda how toddlers must concentrate on how to walk but adults don't. Actually, I have a hard time writing about money saving tricks these days because it's all automatic/subconscious to me. As someone else noticed in this thread, it's more of an attitude. Also to clarify a bit, the method I recommend is more about crushing pounds or dollars than pinching pennies. It's much easier to attack a few large expenses like housing, transportation, and food than worrying about hundreds of little things.

341 points by jfoucher 15y ago

Interesting perspective. Definitely not for everyone living that frugally though. 1 Charlie Sheen weekend in Vegas would blow the years budget :P

twfarland 15y ago
Agreed. The author is lucky to have a taste for the quiet life. My wife and I would bite each other's heads off if we stayed in a van eating salad and I'm sure my grandparents would have too. I'm happy to pay for a bit of light hedonism.

gergles 15y ago

The article is mistitled, as there is literally nothing in there about how he allegedly lives on 7K a year, other than what he eats for dinner (apparently every night.)

erejacob 15y ago
I just borrowed the title from the previous article. There's a budget here http://earlyretirementextreme.com/frequently-asked-questions http://earlyretirementextreme.com/frequently-asked-questions and tons of other information on the rest of the site.

6ren 15y ago

He doesn't seem to include rent or mortgage.

munin 15y ago
he implies that he owns his own home. maybe he inherited it? he's also in his mid-30's. it's possible to have bought a property on a 15yr mortgage, paid it off on a modest salary, have some money saved up, and then just chill out. if you don't have kids, this works. if you don't have any medical problems that cause your insurance carrier to illegally drop you (what are you going to do, sue them?), this also works. my only question is why do this in the US? on $7k a year you can live like a king in other parts of the world...
- erejacob 15y ago
  I like living in the US. We bought our home in cash. Our home is currently an RV---bear with me here. The cost of it was $16k. We pay a combined $6000/year in rent (half of which is my half). You need $200k in investments to support such a cash flow (which I have). So the total cost or asset base or our current living situation is about $216,000 (not counting repairs which I can mostly do myself). We're seriously thinking of moving to Oregon (away from California) buying a house in cash for around $125,000. If real estate taxes are $1,500, this requires 50,000 in investments. Thus the cost of living of switching over to a house would be $175,000. Again, a lot of the maintenance I can do myself. It would be cheaper to not live in an RV, but it was a fun experiment.
  - munin 15y ago
    oh! neat! some friends of mine live in a van (it's a big van but not quite an RV), it's a pretty sweet deal. I think you have a good thing going on for yourself. if you can save that kind of money it definitely changes how you interact with the world. I only had 1/10th of what you have in investments and it definitely made me bolder in the world. I wasn't being hyperbolic about insurance carriers though, and I'm sure you already know about this but I'd really caution you (and others) on this. As a small (10 person) company, we had a health insurance policy that was dropped without cause by the carrier. They told us to our face, "sue us". They know we won't, because what would it accomplish? We'd lose (burn) money, they have money to burn, it makes no sense. When you're small (an individual or a small company), they can get away with doing that to you. So, you're making payments on a policy, but I'd wager that when you need it, is when you'll be getting a letter in the mail saying "after we received your letter telling us to terminate your policy, we did"...
  - rorrr 15y ago
    Living in an RV is like living in a tiny tiny shitty studio, plus you have to pump your own shit and piss regularly. Yeah, I can live in a tent and hunt for food. Zero dollars per year. Sorry, but fuck that. None of these stories are inspiring.
    - 15y ago
erejacob 15y ago
Rent is included. See Frequently Asked Questions for a budget.
dhume 15y ago
Nor does he seem aware of inflation (see his "grandparents" paragraph at the end). The site below suggets $7k in 1950 would be about the same as $65k today, and I would hope people aren't amazed at the notion of being able to live on $65k per year. http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm
- erejacob 15y ago
  I am aware of inflation. I did not intentionally imply anything about CPI. I was referring to the old generations attitude of "make it do or do without" compared to the current attitude of "just charge it on the card".
  - potatolicious 15y ago
    Both are straw men that represent the extremity of a population. There's a bit of rose-tinted glasses going on here, isn't there? I don't particular buy into this notion that the previous generation was oh so virtuous, while this one is just daft as a brick.
    - learc83 15y ago
      Well they existed before the concept of easy credit, so it's not really a matter of them being more self disciplined--just sort of the way things were. For most people, you saved up and paid cash for everything b/c that was the only option.
- cjy 15y ago
  Nowhere in that paragraph does he say or imply that grandparents where living on 7K dollars in nominal terms. He simply notes that they lived simpler lives. That is supported by the data. Our grandparents had median incomes about 40% of what we have today (in real terms) see: http://www.stanford.edu/class/polisci120a/immigration/Median%20Household%20Income.pdf http://www.stanford.edu/class/polisci120a/immigration/Median...
hirenj 15y ago
According to this (http://earlyretirementextreme.com/we-are-going-to-cut-our-expenses-in-half.html http://earlyretirementextreme.com/we-are-going-to-cut-our-ex...) he's living in an RV.

Sodaware 15y ago

The title of the article is slightly misleading in that it's $7,000 per person, so it's actually $14K in this case. I know that's a little nit-picky, but things like rent would eat a good chunk of that $7k. Living on $14k is certainly possible, and the usual suspects can be cut to save some cash: * Drop cable TV * Same for cell phone - keep one pre-pay for emergency and use Skype for business/personal * Stick to one car if at all possible (easier if someone can work from home or has flexible work hours). Negotiate lower insurance rates if possible. * Don't eat out * If internet is essential, go for the cheapest package available. There are usually offers for new internet customers that give low rates for the first year. However, when your year expires you can call them up and ask to be put on a new special. This worked for my wife and I when our rates went up, and we got upgraded to a faster connection to boot. That's really the biggest money saving tip of all - ask politely. It doesn't always work, but you lose nothing and can gain some decent savings over time.

erejacob 15y ago
Yeah, it's not rocket science. The biggest money losers are too much house and too much car and all the interest payments that go towards it. Even by eliminating the interest by paying in cash you're already cut your expenses on those items by 50%. The rest is just details, but most importantly. Don't buy ANYTHING on credit.
- spodek 15y ago
  If you have a credit card with no annual payment and you pay every month, should you still not pay on credit? I'm not sure if I see the problem then.
  - erejacob 15y ago
    Okay, to be more precise: >>Don't pay any interest or fees<<. I do run online purchases through my credit card and then pay off the balance in full every month.
illumin8 15y ago
He lives in a trailer at an RV park also... that right there cuts your rent significantly. Hey, if you want to live in a trailer at an RV park for $400 a month, barbecue with charcoal because it costs less than propane, and grow a few vegetables by the side of your trailer in a makeshift garden, more power to you. Unfortunately, I prefer living in a solid structure made of wood and bricks that doesn't wash away in a flood or blow away in a storm.

nirvana 15y ago

I've been living on $13,754 per year for the past 4 years. (Average as of last month.) There are two of us, so, double that and you have the average cost over that period. While we've been doing it, we've been traveling full time, spent the last year in europe living in AirBNB pads, and doing our startup. We buy a MacBook Pro each year and an iPad or iPhone each year as needed, with the old one going to the other person to replace the even older one they were using. We don't live poorly, either. How good our food is depends on where we are-- it wasn't so great in england, but it was fantastic in italy. Prior to those 4 years, I lived on about $18,000 a year, and in the 1990s, I was living on about $22,000 a year. I made much more, of course. Starting in the early 1990s I knew I'd want to start a company at some point, and I knew that the less you spent the more profit you had to sock away for retirement. At one point I bought and lived on a boat. Living on the west coast[1] where my friends were paying $1,200-$4,000 a month in rent-mortgage, while I was paying $300 a month in marina fees--- AND I had the best view-- was pretty nice. Like anything, it is something you can do if you practice it, and you just have to have the right attitude. I had an immediate turnaround in my spending when I started tracking my expenses. Just looking at where things went each month had a huge impact... I started buying less pointless stuff ,and cut out whole swaths of things that I didn't need, and conversely, started eating out more, because I realized it was relatively cheap. I didn't even miss the things I got rid of, because I didn't cut any of the things that were important to me. I remember, in 1994 buying a TV thinking that I'd be using it until 1997 when I expected that HDTVs would be out, and planning on buying an HDTV. In 1997, HDTVs ware REALLY expensive, but by then I'd made the change. I kept that TV- which I'd only meant to keep for 3 years-- until 2007 when we went nomadic. 11 years longer than "budgeted". We don't do cable, but we do, luxuriously, do BOTH hulu AND netflix. And the occasional iTunes rental. I got rid of my land line phone over a decade ago, when I moved onto the boat, and then never got it back afterwards. Cellphones were always cheap plans, and then, given up completely years ago. (Reaching me urgently means calling my google voice number or sending an email, which I get in a couple days.) I kept my vehicle for a very, very, long time, but don't even have that now. That right there got rid of over $600 a year just in insurance. Public transportation is a hassle (except in berlin!) but its cheaper. One thing that's really helped-- we set a budget. We have the food/transportation budget, and then we have the personal-spending money. Each month we get a bit of money that we don't have to spend responsibly, and the rest of the money goes into specific budget items. We have all of our major purchases planned out, and on schedule. Actually had to accelerate the computer purchases because we were using them past the end of AppleCare. (Traveling all the time, we want AppleCare.) One important thing to know, to help with all this, is to understand money. I think a lot of people don't really understand money... not on a fundamental level. Money is just a medium of exchange, right, but have you ever wondered what it is you're exchanging? It's life. Not just in the sense that you need food and shelter to live, but in that you rented your body to some labor in exchange for the money. I think people who don't think of money as valuable as that-- as literally being part of their lives-- tend to respect money very much, and so they don't keep an eye on it. Old timers called it "knowing the value of a dollar". As for the nomad thing- yeah, plane flights are expensive (but we take relatively few big ones)...but compared to the cost of living in america, most of the world is cheaper. Europe was more expensive, but we wanted to make sure the idea worked before going places where english was even less common. I expect our cost of living to be significantly lower this year than last. [1] originally types "west cost", which is about how I think of it. PS-- I've done a poor job of explaining "How", but it really is an attitude more than a method. There are probably lots of things we don't have, and don't miss, because we simply changed our priorities. Since I don't miss them, it's really hard for me to name them. There's a line in fight club that is apropos here: ".. learn to let slide what truly, doesn't matter."

ahsanhilal 15y ago

Basic economics tells you that this is not a good growth strategy to adopt especially if you have a consumption-based economy, and not savings-based one (aka China, India). In short population is going to increase over time, resources are going to decrease over time, in order to keep GDP per capita in line with an increasing population, you cannot just decrease your spending (or tighten your belt). You have to grow by increasing income levels, and thereby increasing aggregate demand. If we only increase incomes, and dont spend, then aggregate demand goes down, leading to less consumption, less investment, which leads to lower employment opportunities, which leads to even lesser consumption, and so on so forth until we get to a severely regressive cycle, where our industries shut down. Point is, more power to you if you want to spend less, but making everyone else adopt your way of life because it works for you, does not mean it will work for them, and in entirety would not promote greater economic growth. PS for those arguing 'well it works for China'; well the USA is not China, and they are big structural differences which make it unnecessary and useless to adopt that model.

erejacob 15y ago
Well, not to worry, most people won't make "the sacrifice". Maybe if we transitioned to a production based economy but producing only quality items we needed. That way we wouldn't have to work so much. Unemployment would go down because people weren't scrambling for the the ability to consume. Concepts like planned obsolescence would go away. A lot of what we refer to as "growth" is just an indicator that the volume of economic transactions is going up. However, just because the economy is getting bigger doesn't necessarily mean it's getting better. Breaking windows and replacing them creates economic growth, but it doesn't make the house better.
- ahsanhilal 15y ago
  Well you have a point, and this model of an alternative economy based on self-sustenance, producing what we need is something that is being tested by a philosopher Frithjof Bergmann. Unlike most (read all) philosophers, Bergmann actually practices his ideas which are detailed in his book, "on Being Free". He talks about such an economy based on producing little and necessary items within communes and trading them amongst each other: http://newworknewculture.com/content/frithjof-bergmann http://newworknewculture.com/content/frithjof-bergmann They are actually applying New Work to various parts of the world including South Africa, Iraq (in Kurdistan) etc. I know this because in undergrad I worked with him on this project for a year. However, the main problem regarding an alternate system is quite philosophical; that what is the basic human condition? Hobbes came up with an answer calling life "nasty, brutish and short" and that our animal spritis needed to be kindered. In government we did it through Rousseau's suggestions that we need a system through which we do not kill each other. I don't kill and take your money/land, and you do the same for me. In economics, we came up with an answer through capitalism, and saw the biggest implosion of wealth ever in the 20th century. So it is hard to argue against that capitalistic/democratic mindset unless there is a viable alternative especially in the US, where it has worked the best for the better part of the century. As far as crises go, we have seen destruction and subsequent creation of wealth throughout this century, so that is not a reason to give up I think. http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/stockmarket-returns-20th-century http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/stockmarke...

diiq 15y ago

I've been living on $6000 a year for the past five years. Next year, I intend to spend 10 months in New Zealand on <$8000, including travel, room, and board. It's very doable. I rent a very nice room in a pleasant suburb. I eat well, if repetitively. I have enough pocket money to go out somewhere nice with friends now and again. I don't make much more than I spend --- product, in part, of a BFA --- and sure, an extra few thousand would improve my lifestyle considerably. But I don't need much more, and I've been very happy and very comfortable.

erejacob 15y ago
Exactly! It isn't hard to do. It's only "hard to imagine" for those who aren't doing it. It's like being a runner and having a hard time convincing couch potatoes that running isn't primarily dominated by sweating, side stitches, gasping for air, and near heart attacks.

rorrr 15y ago

Sorry, but this story is garbage. Rent/mortgage, retirement completely ignored. Plus he has the shittiest $82 health insurance plan he could find, and he doesn't calculate the costs of what will happen if he gets sick. On average people after 65 spend $2,920 per year on medical out of pocket expenses (Source: http://www.newretirement.com/Planning101/Rising_Medical_Costs.aspx http://www.newretirement.com/Planning101/Rising_Medical_Cost...) Then his food comes from his garden, which means he has to work on that, and he conveniently didn't calculate the opportunity costs, tools, irrigation, chemicals, seeds, etc. What about transportation costs, electric/gas, phone, internet, household supplies, upgrade of your old computer, clothing, shoes. Then if you want to have a car (and it sucks to live pretty much everywhere in the US without a car), what about car insurance, maintenance, new car every X years? Yeah, it's fucking easy to live on $7K per year when you own a house with a garden, don't pay property taxes, use 1995 computer, and have no safety net in case of a serious sickness.

scarmig 15y ago
I believe he does account for rent/mortgage, by doing an RV. And his idea is that he has handled retirement--he's living in retirement now. The catch is that he had six figures saved up beforehand (he lives off the investment income), which doubles as a rainy day fund in case of serious illness.
- rorrr 15y ago
  Then you have to calculate the amortization costs for the next RV (when this one dies), RV insurance, gas (which RVs needs a lot of), maintenance, sewage pumping costs, water costs. I wouldn't call living in an RV a retirement most people envision.
  - scarmig 15y ago
    Not arguing that it's a choice I'd make, just pointing out that he does include rent. It'd be interesting to see his breakdown of the other expenses you mention, though.
  - deleted 15y ago

scarmig 15y ago

Depends on your goals in life. $7,000 is definitely doable. But I don't want to live in an RV. Indeed, I want to live in a walkable neighborhood with groceries, low crime, and easily accessible entertainment. The site probably isn't a convincing case for a general audience. Which is a real pity, because a lifestyle of $10,000 to $12,000 a year is very doable, even for a single person, even in the Bay Area, even with regular outings and entertainment, and even with flushable toilets.

nirvana 15y ago
Do you want to start a startup? Or do you want to live your life in the burbs?
- scarmig 15y ago
  Living "frugally" is so that I can bootstrap a startup. And I live within 5 blocks of an inner BART station. No desire to live in the burbs at all.
- nhangen 15y ago
  I want both, and both are achievable.
erejacob 15y ago
It is really a pity. If I had just claimed that I spend twice as much as I actually do, people wouldn't be so quick to discard the idea. However, it really is a matter of efficiency. It wouldn't surprise me at all if my neighbors spent 50%, 100%, 200% or even 400% more than me despite living in essentially similar structures and enjoying similar things. As mentioned elsewhere, it's mostly an attitude towards what money is, means, and can do for you.
- wnight 15y ago
  Thanks for telling the truth. I'm at around $18k/y and it's good to have motivation to do better. Rent is $6k right there. Ouch. And this is a small town. Food only gets cheaper the more we do our own, and after becoming vegan. I spent $20 on food in the last week on the fridge is stocked for another week to come. Squash is just cheap, etc. We've gardened before but have nowhere to do it right at our place, though hopefully will soon on the deck.

ctdonath 15y ago

The article comes from the same reason I'm running the A Buck A Plate blog http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com - doing it because so many think living well for cheap can't be done.

tryitnow 15y ago
Thanks! A lot of folks are saying they live on the cheap. It's nice to see a commenter who actually is showing others how. Keep up the good work.
gergles 15y ago
Living in an RV is not "living well". Flush toilets are generally a minimum standard for that.
- erejacob 15y ago
  Why do people here have such a fascination with toilets? The way a regular toilet works: Water automatically enters the bowl. You do your thing. You press a lever. The way an RV toilet works: Water enters the bowl when you press a pedal. You do your thing. You press another pedal. That's my toilet anyway. From the perspective of one's posterior it's pretty much the same thing and you can do all this while sitting on the throne. Some RVs have flush toilets or even vacuum toilets.
- ctdonath 15y ago
  Most RVs have toilets. And beds. And stoves. And refrigerators. And heaters. And other major amenities. Heck, the toilets even use _drinking_water_ to flush - such wasteful luxury. Never mind the ability to just pick up and go anywhere anytime. Most RVs have AC, ovens, TVs, and other luxuries. To much of the world, living in an RV is living well.

leot 15y ago

You're not taxed on work you do for yourself (, yet).

GFischer 15y ago
That's not the case in other countries, my bureocratic-loving one for example requires you to pay taxes (social security to be more accurate) on painting your own house. Bizarre but true. http://www.elpais.com.uy/06/08/24/pnacio_233547.asp http://www.elpais.com.uy/06/08/24/pnacio_233547.asp http://www.lr21.com.uy/editorial/195936-fuera-murro-de-mi-casa http://www.lr21.com.uy/editorial/195936-fuera-murro-de-mi-ca...

Abundnce10 15y ago

At some point during my college career I learned about the Rat Race and was propelled to discard my desire to climb the corporate ladder and decided to live a life similar to jfoucher (How I live on $7000 per year). However, after living frugally for a couple years I saved up enough money and decided to travel the world. Fast forward to today - after witnessing first hand the lives of those less fortunate while traveling in SE Asia I realized how self-centered I was to sit out of the "Rat Race" and meander along the road of my meager existence while there were other people wishing they had the knowledge, opportunity, and capacity to live and succeed in our society. There are people all over this planet that don't possess the means necessary to make impactful changes in others' lives, let alone their own, and so I asked myself: What if I took my determination and drive (clearly demonstrated in my previously frugal lifestyle habits) and applied those characteristics to actions that might benefit other people? Would those actions then be better, or more worthy, than the actions of squeaking out a living on $7,000? Personally, I decided they would be and have since then devoted myself to helping bring about change in this world. I'm not saying everyone should view their life this way, but I understand what the author is describing and I have went through the internal struggle of trying to decide what to do with my life. Recently, I decided to go back into the world of the Rat Race and try to make the lives of those around me and myself better (building interesting software, spreading joy and wisdom, raising awareness of certain issues, etc.). I don't unconsciously spend money on things I don't need but I do if it deems fit. More over, I don't think you need to have a garden or be a homebody to live frugally. I hope other smart, determined people don't take the route of sitting idly by the side as hoards of unaware, materialistic consumers perpetuate a system of greed and excess.

erejacob 15y ago
I pretty much spend my time trying to "educate" unaware, materialistic consumers. I've affected more people than I can count (those who've told me) and presumable more beyond those (who didn't tell me). So I have a blog, a book, a forum, and now a wiki. There's not really a rat race option for what I do, but if there was, maybe I'd take it. Incidentally, I don't really have a problem with people using the freedom they've gained from stepping off the treadmill to do nothing. If someone wants to use their freedom to become a "beach bum" I have no problem with that.

shareme 15y ago

The article is miss-titled, it should be: Leveraged Retirement.... not in the Donald Trump way but the concept is similar...now for the bonus question what is he leveraging and what benefits does he get in return for that leveraging? He did somewhat obtusely answer it..and no the previously earned and saved Six figures is not what he is leveraging..

tlogan 15y ago

When you have kids then you really live on $7000 per year. Believe me. So maybe when you are younger it is good enjoy a little because when middle age crisis comes (and it will come) and if you didn't enjoy when you were young all kind of crazy shit can happen. Happen to my father in-law: all his millions are worthless...

hugh3 15y ago
I'm confused -- why are your father-in-law's millions worthless?
- ehsanu1 15y ago
  Your parent comment meant that money is less enjoyable when you are not as young as you once were.

barryfandango 15y ago

I agree with the author that there's much to be gained by shrugging off the consumerist expectation that we spend all of our income on junk. The next step in that progression though, in my opinion, is to learn to obsess over money exactly as much as is necessary, then start paying attention to what really matters in life. This guy's OCD approach to money sounds exhausting.

erejacob 15y ago
I agree with you to an extent. However, it's a lot easier to think about the money you do have than it is to work for the money you don't have. My attitude towards spending is more of a game to see what I can get away with, e.g. getting the same thing for much less than just ordering it on amazon with next day shipping. I find this entertaining much like some people find shopping entertaining.

sliverstorm 15y ago

Takeaway: If you can score dirt-cheap rent, you've won half the battle. He pays $250 for rent in S.F. You'd be pretty hard-pressed to NOT have an impressive budget in that kind of scenario.

fennecfoxen 15y ago
Much of the world lives on less than $1 a day. Dirt-cheap or zero rent, simple foods, minimal medical care.

schiptsov 15y ago

It is so funny to see how american people rediscovering the way of life 2/3 of the planet population enjoy from the beginning of a time. One should visit any Himalayan country to see how it works, or African country if you really want what they call 'extreme'. ^_^

cnxsoft 15y ago

I'm also on that budget, but I don't live in California...

doc_larry 15y ago

It's all about perspective. As physician and entrepreneur I like what I'm doing and enjoy my life. The money is a side effect that grew over time (when I started in the ER I was paid less than $200 for 24 of work). Money isn't the objective, but creating a meaningful lifestyle, being a good husband and leave something positive behind is what really matters. My two cents of happiness :-)

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

sayemm 15y ago

This is an amazing blog, just ordered his book - thanks for posting this. I love the overall theme of his blog, which is that society brainwashes us, or most people, to derive utility out of life through consumerism and materialism. Jacob Fisker, the blogger behind ERE, I think is far richer than what his finances and personal budget indicate because he's actually living life for himself and optimizing it for maximum utility (spending the time wisely to do what he really loves doing).

wes-exp 15y ago

For those living in RVs, boats, and so on, can you comment on the amount of time you spend maintaining your living space? As a startup founder, as much as I am concerned about cutting costs, I am also concerned about the opportunity cost of spending time doing maintenance. E.g., even if you fully own a house, a house can be a lot of maintenance work. Depending on how you value your time, that can reduce how much you "save" on rent. Any comments?

lionhearted 15y ago

Some nice points, but this one is dead wrong: > Regardless of how much I made, I think I would pick up a goddamn broom myself before I started talking about my financial struggles. The gall! Paying someone else to do cleaning is one of the easiest positive ROI moves for your life. Not just because it frees up your time, but also because living somewhere clean and organized just does wonders for your sanity, mental health, physical health, productivity, ability to entertain others without cleanup lead time, and has follow-on effects of making you want to be better groomed, prepared, and organized because that's what happens when you live in a hyper-clean environment. Also, everyone else treats your place nicer because it's clean, and messing up a clean place is bad. So yeah, pay someone to come clean every week. It's cheap, it's like $10 in developing countries and $50 max in developed countries. Well, well worth it. Especially if you're any sort of skilled professional at all that works from home ever on anything.

Cl4rity 15y ago

I was going to complain about how this was extreme, but that would be redundant given his URL. The point isn't that we all can/should live off of ~$7,000/year, it's that we can cut down on the crap we don't need, or things that will be gone or obsolete in a year or less. However, the great thing about this article is that it reminds me to find some kind of balance. The impression I got was that the author spends nearly half his time budgeting and penny pinching, with little room to enjoy life. Or, if I could be a little more presumptuous, convinces himself that he enjoys this life so that he doesn't have to go out and earn far more money.

erejacob 15y ago
Nah, after a while it just becomes automatic. Kinda how toddlers must concentrate on how to walk but adults don't. Actually, I have a hard time writing about money saving tricks these days because it's all automatic/subconscious to me. As someone else noticed in this thread, it's more of an attitude. Also to clarify a bit, the method I recommend is more about crushing pounds or dollars than pinching pennies. It's much easier to attack a few large expenses like housing, transportation, and food than worrying about hundreds of little things.