How I Saved $380K By Age 29 To Retire Early

[ss20ts]

I pay around $2500 a year in utilities so that's 1/10 of those funds already gone. Internet is $1020. Cell phone $1170 (for 2 phones). Already at close to $5K and haven't even talked about food, car insurance, car payments, healthcare, rent/mortgage, etc.

You can get Cell Phone service for $15 per month per phone.
You can get car insurance for $30 a month in some areas.

Those $15 a month cell service plans don't work everywhere. They don't work here. Even the major carriers don't work everywhere.

Car insurance for $30 a month doesn't exist in my state. Certainly, not on a vehicle that is leased or has a loan in any state.

[spohara]

I think the discussion here shows the wide variety of lifestyles out there. A lot of people assume their needs are the same as everyone's. You might not need a car everywhere. I used to live a block from the grocery store and I rode my bike there. My mortgage+taxes+insurance was $700/mo (taxes and insurance have shot up these days, so I'm not saying this is as easy to do now). I lived a pretty good life for around $15k a year in expenses. Now I live what I consider a luxurious life for about $48k a year. I think for most people it is unrealistic to try to live on $25k, or they'd need more than 700 sqft to be happy, but it is still an interesting idea and a good goal at least for a young person to obtain that kind of "skinny FI" at a young age. It is an incredible amount of savings for that age, and it really does open up a lot of opportunity when you have a good nest egg as a fallback. I'm not as sure about the "RE" part of FIRE sometimes. To me it is about owning your time and creating opportunity. I'm 37, and I guess I have technically probably hit or come close to my FI number, but there is too much left for me to do to actually RE.