LetJ, I also occasionally wonder about the people who plan to live on less than 30K. I guess we COULD do it, but I'm not sure I want to. We spend a bit on travel, but we aren't really typically consumptive sorts...don't spend much on clothes, toys, gadgets, etc. Food is a big expense, and could be tightened with better planning, but frankly, our grocery budget is always going to be relatively higher than is desired by many MMMers, and I'm ok with that.
But I have a hard time seeing a good path to 30K when I run the numbers...we are currently saving 40-50% of take home pay, and living in one of the cheapest cities in the country on after-savings income of 45-55K, which is our cost for 2 people + 3 cats + 1 additional person that we are partially supporting in a second household (utilities, insurance, mortgage, prop taxes, repairs, etc.).
So if you remove the support for the third person, that would shave approx. 10K off expenses. But that person is likely to live at least 15 more years, and at least SOME support will likely continue until then (depressingly, my husband will be full retirement age by then).
If both houses were paid off, then that would free up another 8K. We could tighten a few misc. categories of spending up, too, if we had to, maybe freeing up another 3 to 5K.
Given all those caveats, we could get close to or under 30K BUT, if we had more free time, there would inevitably be some more spending to fill it. Also, I have miscellaneous health conditions that are ongoing, and expect to cost ever more money as I age. And who knows what costs aging will bring in term of my husband's health. (I suspect a lot of young people on this forum underestimate medical costs out of pocket as they age). And finally, we don't WANT to stay in this inexpensive town where the mortgages are scheduled to be paid off. Because it sucks and the idea of aging and dying here makes us miserable. But anywhere else we move, we will be spending a lot more on housing. In fact, we expect to be carrying a substantial mortgage in retirement because of this. Or spending the equivalent on rent.
So, I am aiming for similar plan to Cassie...65-75K minimum, so actually spending MORE in retirement than we currently do, and possibly spending >75K/year if we end up with very expensive housing after a move.
Whether we can achieve this goal is somewhat questionable, but this forum keeps me focused on working toward it.