Congratulations @Zikoris . Nice article.
We need to hear more stories from people like yourself.
A lot of the 'FIRE at an early age' articles seem to be from people who make six-figure salaries and are able to exit the workforce quickly. Since most of the population doesn't make six-figure salaries, it's hard for the regular person to relate to and understand that, yes, it is possible to FIRE at a relatively early age. It's important to hear stories from people like you, who, with median salaries, can demonstrate that FIRE is very attainable.
I hope so! Certainly from the comments on these types of articles, it seems like people always come up with something about the person/family featured to make them decide they can't relate.
If it's a couple? "Yeah, it's only because they're dual income, single people don't have a chance."
Single person? "It only works because they're single, if they had a partner that would be the end of their frugality."
High income? "You can't retire early on less than six figures income, look at these rich assholes acting like they're doing something hard."
Low/medium income? "They don't eat in restaurants or go drinking? What a horrible shitty life, I'd rather work forever!"
Early on in the journey to FIRE? "Yeah, there's no way that plan is going to work."
Nearing the end, with a high net worth? "They're obviously lying about something, nobody gets to that net worth with just the stuff they talk about doing."
Meat eater? "Their grocery spending is only low because they can eat anything, if they had dietary restrictions, like being vegan, it would all be over."
Vegan? "Obviously their grocery spending is only low because they don't eat animal products, nobody with a normal diet could do that."
Big/normal-sized house? "That lets them buy in bulk and store so much stuff that helps them save money (tools, kitchen equipment, etc), they'd be screwed living in a small apartment!"
Tiny apartment? "Well OF COURSE they can save a fortune if they live in a small, cheap place, nobody with normal-sized living spaces can do that!"
So it is literally impossible to win, because whatever option you pick out of two, people will have excuses ready for both of them.