I feel like a lot of people who post on the forum want to know how they can keep living the lifestyle they lived as a spendypants while also getting the rewards of the Mustachian lifestyle. Unless you have an absolutely massive income, that's not really possible and sacrifices have to be made. Our society -- particularly through the pernicious influence of advertising -- has convinced all of us that not only can we have it all, but we should have it all. That's a really destructive way of thinking.
Think about the way our ancestors lived. Until extremely recently, nearly all meals were prepared at home by people who learned the recipes from each other and made the food with in-season ingredients purchased locally. And people were really happy living that way. Somewhere along the line, Madison Avenue ad executives convinced us that our way of living was inadequate and we had to eat foods from every corner of the planet for every meal and we had to pay someone else for their expertise in preparing these dishes.
Now we have a massive industry built on telling everyone that only poor people prepare their own food and that great meals can only be made by TV celebrities and people who paid tens of thousands of dollars to go to culinary academies. Our ancestors would stare at us like we were aliens from another planet.
For most people, if you want money and success, you need to be prepared to make uncomfortable choices. You need to tell yourself that you are not only capable of doing things for yourself, but it's actually preferable to DIY. This is how you obtain power and with that power comes money and success.
At least, that's the way I see it.
Besides, I just came back from a vacation where tourists were paying big money to eat "rustic" food exactly like the stuff I make at home because it is "authentic", "natural", and "organic." Why not just make it yourselves and become rich?
I agree that there is some of that on this board. It's the same with many things, including vacations.
You can "travel-hack" and get fantastic vacations for free, or for much less. And if it's your thing, and you are willing to work at it (figure out which cards to use, how to manufacture spending to get the bonuses, etc etc), then yay. Live like a spendypants without spending the money. (My personal choice is to just ... travel less.)
When it comes to the food topic it's the same. "Eating out is faster because I stop on the way home", etc etc. And, depending on your lifestyle, it may very well be. I know people who LOVE eating out, and they buy Groupons or use Entertainment book coupons, etc., to feed their lifestyles for less.
And, like travel hacking, cooking food is work.
I didn't learn to cook until I was 32. Oh, the money I blew eating out, and the pounds I gained, and the blood pressure that I had.
In many many cases, people just need to consider simplifying
- Even just 40+ years ago, when I was a kid, we almost NEVER ate out. We ate American Food. Often with a German twist (my ancestry, sauerkraut!) Sometime exotics like spaghetti and meatballs or tacos using the Ortega taco kit. And who remembers the Chef Boy Ardee pizza kits? Shake and bake chicken. Meatloaf. Eggs or fish on Fridays. PB&J or bologna for lunch. Cereal for breakfast.
- "I want to eat..." Fill in the blank. Good food. Fancy food. Variety. Ethnic. I mean, I get that. I like ethnic food too. I can totally see where people would look at my meal plans and think "really? Boring." I mean, how many ways can you combine rice, protein, and vegetables? But it's a bit like hedonistic adaptation. The more variety we get, the more variety we want. I've seen that myself in my own life.
I touched on the method I used while working with 2 small children. One of the meals that I cooked on the weekend was lunch. Yes, we ate the same thing for lunch 5 days in a row. You know what? I never overate that lunch. It could have been the most delicious, most favorite meal of mine. But after 5 days? I'm over it. But it was always *just fine* and I didn't die from eating the same thing for 5 days.
(And now I eat salad for lunch every day.)
Some people like special food. I get it. So do I. So, I have learned to make special food. Yeah, it's work. It takes practice. Just like taking the time and effort to get a vacation for less or free, learning to cook special food takes a bit of time and effort in the beginning, but pays off in the end. And there are some things that I just don't bother to learn to make. But still, learning to cook "special" things cuts down on my eating out massively.
Learning to make (and like) "simple" things cuts down on food costs a HUGE amount. If you insist on "special" food frequently, then at some point, it's no longer special. If you insist on "special" food on special occasions - then it's still special.