I think 100K is generally going to be VERY "fat" in terms of consumption and environmental destructiveness, which is ultimately the entire thing MMM created his blog to fight back against. With a few exceptions (like charitable donations, very high rent, 6+ children, or costly schooling) I just don't see how a person could spend that much without producing massive amounts of pollution and garbage, and general being pretty awful to planet earth. I would be very interested in seeing a 100K budget that was actually sustainable and didn't involve trashing the planet, and also did not contribute to the human rights issues that are endemic to overconsumption (child/slave labor to produce goods, workers dying in nasty ways due to lack of regulation overseas, cartels, sweatshops, etc). I just don't see how a person could ethically consume at that rate, but I would be interested to see if a person could manage to.
In some ways spending more money can be better for the environment and economy, no?
Take my lawn for example. On a weekly or bi-weekly basis I can pay someone to come and mow, blow leaves, edge, and trim. That is 4 separate pieces of equipment I would need to buy (more stuff) that is only used weekly or bi-weekly.
In turn, I can pay someone to do all that stuff and not need to buy any of that equipment. The money I spend also helps support a small private business.
Boots can be another example. My $230 steel toed thorogood American made work boots last 2-3x longer than the $150 foreign boots I used to buy. The same can be said for many types of well made clothes, leathers, etc.
In other comparison - does a $50 tenderloin harm the environment any more than a $10 strip?
Does a $50 bottle of wine hurt the environment more than a $10 bottle?
My blender may cost 6x more than my old one, but even if it lasts 3x as long, isn’t that actually better for the environment than buying a new blender and tossing an old one every 2 years?
I have a set of $1200 Milwaukee brushless power tools - fairly confident they’ll last far longer than a $300 set.
List goes on with most things I own..
People can spend a LOT more money simply buying high quality items that last longer as opposed to being frugal and buying cheap crap.
I spend a lot, seemingly more than anyone posting in this thread, yet I just moved into my first house (still renting) in my whole life. Prior to that we had an apartment. You can only own so much living in an apartment.
I don’t have a LOT compared to many others, but most things I buy are deeply researched and nearly the best of the best.
I think that's true to an extent, but when you're talking about spending 100K per year, EVERY YEAR, I feel like there's a limit to how much of that could be going towards buy-it-for-life stuff, because even buying more expensive products, your home would very quickly be filled to the rafters with all that stuff at that rate of spending. You could get away with that excuse for maybe one year tops, but I just can't see someone seriously claiming that over 5 years they spent 500K on mostly buy-it-for-life type stuff, because there's just no way someone could possibly need or use so much.
As far as lawns go, it's an interesting example to use, because the process you're describing is actually pretty bad environmentally regardless of whether you do it yourself or hire it out - burning gasoline to blow leaves around, using a lot of water, etc. A lot of people these days instead design their lawns to use native plants that are suited to the local environment and don't need watering or fussing, which is the obvious environmental choice (that or gardening).
All very good points. I was waiting for someone to chime in and be like.. “why mow your lawn at all” or, “why not just put rock and pea gravel down over your yard.” There are certainly more environmentally factors to nearly everything... I could ride my bike on the 2 lane 50 mph hwy with no shoulder 12 miles to/from work in the dark, but that doesn’t seem too appealing (although it would be the best from an environmental standpoint).
You are right though in regards to the “buy for life” stuff. There is eventually a limit to that, you’d be surprised how long it could take to get to that limit... While I generally have nice things, our TV is still a low level Vizio (although good sized). I could easily drop $5k on a new TV, but don’t mind the current one. I used to play the guitar but haven’t in a decade, my dream guitar/amp combo would be about $9k... Haven’t pulled the trigger on that yet either.
Also, for those that spend a lot, you have to consider how much of that money can be for purely “convenience” spending and hiring others to do things you don’t want to do. It’s not like everyone that spends a lot just fills a garage which plastic Chinese garbage that will go to a landfill every year.
There’s a LOT of stuff that I don’t do myself (car maintenance, etc.) for the sheer fact that I work a ton and I make enough that the opportunity cost is not worth spending my free time doing tasks I can pay others to do.
Last week I worked 57 hours. I lifted weights 4x, did 20 minutes of yoga 4x and went to a birthday part for friends both weekends. I was pretty busy doing things for both enjoyment and self improvement outside of work. I listen to audiobooks to/from work and do guided meditations during my lunch.
In my limited down time, I don’t want to do maintenance on my car or my lawn. My take home pay for those 57 hours will be $5840. I’ll be damned if i’m going to spend 1.5 hrs doing my own lawn when I can pay some guy to come do it for $25 and probably do a far better job than I will do. Alternatively, I could work the standard 40 hrs, take home about $2k/wk less, and then doing all the other crap myself? I don’t think that would balance out...
When I am FIRE, I expect my spending to go down a TON. I genuinely want to take care of my own lawn. I want to do my own car maintenance (I have in the past a lot, especially when my income was lower). I LIKE doing that stuff, but I’m not willing to cut back on work, exercise, or downtime with my wife, so that I can do my own lawn care.
For now, my focus is on making as much as I can, and spending to a level to support enough downtime and enjoyment outside of work that I can find a good balance.