One thing I find interesting is that he's not budgeting - he's just claiming straight-up cash accounting (assuming his numbers are legit). Notice he doesn't have anything listed for the eventual items: accidents, appliances, home maintenance, healthcare, etc. He squeeks by with some good results, and says he only spends $25k/year.
If you went to the casino and played craps, and rolled 8s 3 times in a row and won, would you think that you could walk into any casino all the time and keep playing craps and make a living out of it? Hell no - because you know
in the long run, things average out and you will have some good runs, and not-so-good runs.
Yes, he did spend just $25k. But I'm curious how he will deal with the whole thing of the eventual, unavoidable cash outlays that will come with time.
As an example - he says he used just 2 tanks of gas for the entire year! Quite admirable if that's the truth....but there can also be a downside to such gas thriftiness: your battery in your car won't last as long. Condensation may accumulate in components if used that little. Tires dry-rot.
And admittedly, I haven't read his blog...but I see a reference to him moving into a different house. He references buying a place and redoing the roof, and then doing plumbing and various other activities in it before moving in. Was this a second house he owned and paid for with cash? A little curious how he counts all of that expense in the grand scheme of things.
I also see just $410 for homeowner's insurance. I wonder what his insurance bill was for 2 residences? Sounds pretty cheap for 2 (even for 1 residence, given insurance liability coverages, etc.). Speaking of which, I wonder what coverage limits he has. Referring to my earlier comment about playing craps at the casino, if you carry bare minimum liability coverage for auto and/or homeowners, versus paying far more each year for 5x-10x the coverage, is it being 'successful' if you are exposing yourself to a huge issue if an accident happens and someone sues you?
And when his son turns 16, hope he has fun paying for those car insurance premiums! Wonder where that $2,000/year+ will come from in his budget.
Also, I'll be curious to see how he spins his home renovations. Buying a second residence then renovating it while you live in yours (when you claim a paid-off home and "zero housing expenses") surely takes some cash. You don't get to buy a second home with cash you have, do all this work with your own sweat equity (and buying materials), and then sell your other house and claim zero housing costs on a $25k budget. Unless you are ok with having tons of assets to pay for all of this. Which makes his $25k budget more of a charade and shell game than an honest look at what one's true "cost of living" budgets are.
And here is an interesting comment he makes:
"Similarly, I don’t count business expenses like blog-only travel or supplies in my personal budget, because that wouldn’t get spent if I wasn’t doing the business, and the business covers those expenses through its own income."
Ah, I see. "Blog-only travel or supplies" aren't counted. Yes, I
haveto fly to South America for a week-long trip for a talk I'm giving. That's blog-related, so any costs associated with a week here, or traveling a few days there....that's off-budget. Sure, it adds enjoyment to my life and is a perk. But it doesn't cost me anything!
That's like bragging that your food costs are only $100/month because you get to go out and eat dinner 20 times a month on your employer's dime for business dinners. "But hey, I don't pay for it, so I can claim I live a bare-bones budget". The only problem is, you still get the benefit and intangible benefits of that experience without any impact to your cashflow.
I'm also curious just how aggressive he is on what is defined as "blog-only travel or supplies".
