http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2014/02/23/reader-case-study-going-west-for-early-retirement/#comment-615626We're trying to create a realistic budget that will work in early retirement and allows us to compute the total savings/FU $ we need to have. In the course of this, we've reviewed many MMM case studies as well as MMM's own budget and are struck by the categories that seem to be "missing."
In the most recent case study, here were some categories that seemed to be missing:
It allows for a house, but no house maint. $
house, but no water/sewer
It allows for 2 paid off cars (!!!), but no car maint $
no clothing $ (even if for thrifted clothes)
no entertainment $ (a lot is free, but not everything; i know this is a personal pref)
no travel $ (even if camping, still a little bit...)
no charity $
even if many of these categories are small $ sums, they would still add up to something and then would definitely impact the total $ needed to be saved (multiple any small sum by 25 and it gets big, right?).
Anyway, just wondering if others have had this reaction to budgets? And more importantly, how have you made sure your budget is appropriately encompassing so that when you compute your FU $/FIRE budget, you're in good shape? The lack of these categories in many case studies makes me wonder if $2500 is truly realistic...
thx staches!