Sometimes to assuage my daily anxiety and urban existential crises, I fantasize about the day when I throw the last of my ever-dwindling shit into a camper van or RV and head for a series of isolated boondocking locations for complete peace and quiet. This is not my permanent FIRE plan, but it's sounding really good for a couple or a few years. The best part about it would be the low, low spending levels. I could live that lifestyle very contentedly for no more than 12K, which is a good 5-6K less than my target SWR amount. My question: how do you compute that sort of thing for FIRE planning? I guess the same would apply to living abroad cheaply for awhile, then returning to the States. Is there a formula that could help me figure out divergent spending patterns in different years?
I went and did this for a couple of years as a reward for completing studies and working for a couple of years and it was AWESOME!
I wish it didn't have to end, but the sensible side of me saw my savings slowly dwindle and my small income I was making as a writer wasn't enough. Since I am still young and I want to have a plot of land in the future I could see it wasn't going to work out and that I needed to suck it up and find a stable job or source of income (still working on that entrepreneurial angle) to save more money and buy some land. The issue with buying land in the countryside of course is that it often doesn't have a house on it and it's far away from town, so it's the sort of purchase you make when you are planning to live on it to get your money's worth, as renting it out while you work in the city is very difficult.
My new plan for early retirement is to have enough money saved to live off the returns, own a plot of land somewhere nice and quiet, maybe go in with some friends to share the cost, build a off-grid tiny home on it, and then spend 3-4 months of the year travelling around with a hand build campervan or backpacking/bike touring in a foreign country every couple of years.
I was spending about $250 (AUD) a week (about $12,000 AUD a year) including food and vehicle expenses while travelling and living in a campervan, and, interestingly, it was about the same to live and travel with a vehicle in South America as we had no other expenses back home while we were away.
And of course, living in a campervan means you aren't tempted into wasting money on fancy shit, consumables or restaurants as much as you are more conscious of your money and you kinda look like a hobo so it's more fun to just camp out in the forest, hang out with like minded travellers and make your own food too. :)
I posted in my own thread that I am back in the office and already dreaming of escaping again. Hopefully my experience and love of a low-cost, mobile lifestyle will mean that I can bail out and have financial independence sooner than later.. another few years of doing this work and I'll be finished.