Things you should not neglect when saving for FIRE?!

[dachs]

Hello Mustachians!

I often read about people only eating ramen noodles and thinking about wether or not they should go to a relatives wedding just in order to save money. In my opinion people just should not neglect certain things even though they want to save for FIRE.

What things do you think are very important even though saving is your priority? I mean you can still choose between something in between flying first class and walking to a wedding or having a chef cook you healthy organic food every day and eating convenience food.

Summing up: Health and social relations should not be neglected in order to save money.

What do you guys think?

[Bertram]

It totally depends on income. If you make six figures and live like somebody with a 45K income you are just not even going to debate the basics like healthy food.

With an income below 50K it certainly gets tricky. Personally I view balance as important, I would not want to lead in unhappy life for X years just to reach a goal faster. Either something is not necessary for basic happiness then I'd throw it out for good (not just temporarily) or it's part of what I deem necessary and then I am not going to be so miserly to skimp on it.

Therefor I find the question to be posed in the wrong way. It's not about what you can temporarily do, it's about how you want to change your life for good and what it is you need for true happiness. It's about focus. You don't get healthy by binging on broccoli for a few days in order to eat a lot of fried stuff the rest of the week. You find a balanced diet with food that you enjoy and that has the added benefit of making you healthy.

[11ducks]

Health x1000.
A bit of happiness - I recently increased my grocery budget beyond what is strictly necessary for a balanced diet- the extra $25 or so a week is spent on a variety of lovely fruit and veg and some extras- makes my lunches much more delicious, varied, and is a simple joy
Values- free range eggs and cruelty free meats cost more, but are the right choice for me ethically

[2ndTimer]

Happiness in general should not be neglected.  It should just engineered so it doesn't cost money than it necessary.  Easy to do once you really think about what it is that makes you happy.

[AnEDO]

I've always been drawn to the message that this whole blog is about life optimization and FIRE is just a part of that.  So I've taken a lot of advice from this blog to increase contentment, happiness, amount of free time, and assets.  I don't feel like I've neglected anything as I've optimized for FIRE.  In fact, I live a better life now for me and my family than before my little grey cells were exposed to the wisdom of this community. 

[HAPPYINAZ]

You have nothing without your health!  As I get older and watch others decline and be unable to travel or become unmotivated to get out and experience new things, I realize more clearly than ever that health is the key to wealth!  If I reach a one million dollar goal but then have to spend my time in the hospital getting chemotherapy because I neglected my diet, then I have sabbotaged myself.  My husband and I have prioritized our nutrition this year in order to have the best chance at avoiding chronic diseases. 

And I agree about social connections being important too!  Time and again studies show those who have the most connections with people are happiest. 

It's good to remember these things as we make our priorities for spending.

[elaine amj]

I look at FIRE as another way to optimize our lives. It's not a goal I strive to in neglect of today - but in addition to today's goals.

For me, Mustachian-style frugality has two major benefits:
- reducing my spending today forces us to focus on what is important to us (and what is worth it to us) and reduces overall waste (love being efficient)
- a lower annual spend = a lower FIRE number
Saving for FIRE is a by-product of these benefits.

Right now I have an annual travel budget of $6k a year (heavily supplemented by travel hacking). I could use the money to add to my FIRE stash - but I also want to live for today. That's what I have deemed as "worth-it" expenses for today. And I am thrilled with it. We vacation a LOT - way more than the average family. But that's how we have chosen to use our money and I sure do treasure that very precious family time. That said, it wouldn't make the cut if I had hair-on-fire debt. I used to spend a lot less on vacationing and we still had plenty of awesome family memories.

[aschmidt2930]

Cliché answer, but it's about finding the balance right for you.  It seems some get pretty excited at the beginning and may take it too far, but find the sweet spot. 

[Guses]

I often read about people only eating ramen noodles and thinking about wether or not they should go to a relatives wedding just in order to save money. In my opinion people just should not neglect certain things even though they want to save for FIRE.
...

I know this is not the point of your post, but I was surprised to learn that ramen noodles are actually quite a poor choice for sustenance in terms of $/calories. I was looking them over at the grocery and for 49 cents, you only get about 200 calories.

Rice is a much better choice at about 10 cents for the same amount of calories (5x cheaper!!!!) and you can get spices to give it flavor too!

[arebelspy]

You should not neglect anything important to you.

You should optimize your spending such that you spend money on things you value, and don't spend money on things you don't value.

Thus you shouldn't neglect spending on anything you value or that you find worthwhile.

[Cookie78]

Cliché answer, but it's about finding the balance right for you.  It seems some get pretty excited at the beginning and may take it too far, but find the sweet spot.

I've been here almost exactly a year and making lots of changes since then. I'm at the point now where I wonder if I've gone too far and if I should find that sweet spot.

On a case by case basis I almost always absolutely choose buying freedom over buying item/event x, without any feeling of sacrifice. If I prefer item/event x (for example, most commonly, road trips to visit family), I do spend money on it instead, also without regret.

The problem is that when I look at the entire picture I start to wonder if all the little choices I make to not spend are building up to something larger that is going to be negative to my well being in the long run. For example, not spending money on restaurants/pubs/etc means I don't see my friends as often or meet new people as often, meaning my social life suffers. This is just an example, and I do not yet feel like my social life has suffered.

I guess the good news is, at the moment that I feel like there is a negative impact, I can quickly rectify it by spending more money as required to improve the situation. Right?

[elaine amj]

Reminds me of a great strategy for finding your ideal level of consumption of most things advocated by Amy D. way back in The Tightwad Gazette era:

Basically take any consumable you use on a regular basis (I believe she used toothpaste and shampoo as her examples, if I recall correctly), and cut back the amount you usually use by 10%.  If you don't really notice any difference in outcome/satisfaction after a few uses at that level, cut back by another 10%.  Once you find your results/satisfaction diminishing below an acceptable level, you can bump it back up to the previous level where you didn't notice the difference.  You now have your new setpoint, and most likely have reduced your usage of whatever that consumable is by anywhere from 10-80%, depending on what your previous setpoint was.

Sometimes I think Amy D. may have been MMM's secret fairy godmother or something.  She was a badass optimizer before being a badass optimizer was cool....

I really enjoyed reading Amy's writing :) She was a cool tightwad.

[Cassie]

I think you need to balance the future with the present.  Yes worry about your future self but also let your present self have fun. If you die tomorrow you don't need future $ & I hope you enjoyed yourself in-between.