When I was younger, my mother was friends with a couple that moved to the woods in VT when they retired. Nice cabin, but no running water, no electricity, heated the cabin with wood. Sponge baths, no hot water, ran a generator only an hour or so each day to pump water from the creek.
He was ~60+ I think, and they had to be living as cheaply as anyone. Way under $30K a year. But as far as I am concerned, that is not a viable long-term lifestyle. It’s OK for a fly-in moose hunt, but not for day-to-day living. I had relatives that did it, even my Dad on the farm, but I do not want to be working every minute trying to get through the next. As you get older, cutting wood for heat becomes something like work. And there is something about hot showers that you get used to.
You can live on very little, but if you are going to make every financial decision a major focus of your life, I would rather work another year. If you have to eat at home because you cannot afford the $20 it takes to eat out, you are on the brink of disaster.
A few items people miss are the income tax and car payment expenses. They can live on $75K, but need $90K+ in income to have $75 after taxes. The same for car payments. No payments now, but driving an unreliable car could be a death sentence when you are too old to fend for yourself if it breaks down.
It’s great to save in retirement, but if you have to skimp every day just to make it work, it’s not for me.