Could you give a few examples re economics and how? I would love to learn strategies in case I can apply. Thanks
Fuego has quite a few articles on his blog about that. I'm in "practice" ER, but found this to be immediately true.
Mostly it's time arbitrage.
1) food
2) commuting/work
3) "chores"/DIY
4) fear
5) health
6) geographic flexibility
7) vacation
What Peter said.
1) food - We cook at home almost all the time. Like Peter, take out or sit down restaurants aren't very convenient compared to cooking at home (we have 3 kids and sometimes busy after school schedules). Plenty of time to look at grocery store sales and time our shopping to benefit from those.
2) commuting/work - we got down to 1 car for a while and hopefully can get rid of our unneeded second car soon. We walk to many places and sometimes drive just 1-3x per week.
3) "chores"/DIY - we mostly took care of all chores around the house. When working, DIY was tough due to time constraints (I could get it done but it might take a loooong time to research/buy materials/fix). Now it's much easier to drop everything and tackle an emergency. I figure we have a half dozen issues per year that I DIY and therefore avoid a service call at $100-200+ each.
I also have more time to shop for contractors and focus on properly scoping the contract when I do hire one. We spent $8700 to replace all siding, install new windows, and complete a major roof repair. But I spent time researching construction methods and materials, getting quotes, reviewing them, buying some of my own materials, and discussing the scope. Otherwise I imagine we would have spent $15,000 for a similar outcome.
4) fear/comfort - I'm pretty comfortable with our spending but I know DW got more on board once she quit working full time. I was used to not having a paycheck but once she quit working, DW would mention "we can't afford it" and reference the lack of a paycheck. Nothing major, but the attitude to skip some frivolous spending certainly helps trim overall spending.
Coupled with that is no longer working and having the "I work hard and earn a paycheck so I need to treat myself". DW was never bad about it, but I think that mindset led to some stress-related spending that we haven't had since she quit working (meals/drinks out come to mind here).
5) health - obviously more time to exercise and less stress! I'm getting in 2 miles per day walking the kids to school compared to 0.5-1 mile max while working (sometimes walking to my bus stop, otherwise walking a couple blocks from parking lot to downtown office building). My BP dropped about 10 points soon after quitting work. Going in for another physical next month so I'll be curious to see any changes.
Good diet and nutrition is much easier when not working. I can eat when hungry instead of first thing in AM, around noon, and 5-5:30 after work. Also have more time to prep good food and snacks instead of whatever is convenient.
I've also noticed getting sick less often. Probably a combo of more ability to sleep in to recover when sick (better immune system) and not being around sick people at the office all the time (doorknobs and hand shakes will do you in).
6) geographic flexibility - already in LCOL area but we have the flexibility to relocate to an even lower area. House prices in our neighborhood are up 50% or so over the past 4-5 years so it's starting to get tempting to think about selling up and moving somewhere else (but then there are the kids and the good schools they just got into).
7) vacation - This is huge. We have the time to travel off season (kids school be damned!). Cruises are our big thing in the winter. Rates are like $1500 for a week for the five of us during off season. Probably $3000-4000+ during the summer or Christmas or spring break.
We also have multiple months to travel during the summer so we can stay in one place much longer. We rented for 2 weeks at a time in 3 different cities in Mexico and paid between $21 and $65 per night for what were basically villas (a 2-3 BR house plus a 1-2 BR guest house in our same walled in compound with gardens, fountains, patios, etc). That tripped ended in a more typical week in the Yucatan peninsula. Though we still did it on the cheap (villa rental was under $100/nt and Cancun hotel free w/ points), it was more expensive per night because we were on the go and more reliant on eating out all the time and on taking taxis.
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Other ways that not working allows us to economize: going out to eat during lunch specials. Chinese buffet is $7 or $8 during the week and $13 at night and on the weekend. DW loves the sushi there (amazing for $8).
If we see a neighbor giving something away on our neighborhood facebook page, we can snap it up first. Recently we got a free little tykes style play castle, two nearly brand new tennis rackets for kids/friends to use plus tennis balls, a stroller for the in-laws. Other neighbors commented "crap, didn't see this until we got home from work. Otherwise I would have claimed those!".
We also managed to buy our minivan a few hours after the price was lowered so got a great deal (well below blue book). It was a Monday morning, so most people would be at work but instead we were able to head over first thing, check it out, get it inspected and buy it immediately. It would have been gone soon given the price so we got lucky.
I'm also around the house a lot more so selling on Craigslist is much easier. I can list a bunch of stuff and I'm almost always available. Hard to make a sale if you're traveling late or overnight for work or have to tell the buyer you won't be free till 7 pm that evening.
