Remember there are literally tens of thousands of folks who were more virtuously frugal than all on this board, who now have nothing to show for it due the circumstances beyond their control. As we pat ourselves on the back, it is also important to remember how fortunate we really are.
I've been lurking since my intro thread because I feel I'm too far out of this group's expectations to mesh well, but this thread and this comment in particular is bringing me out of the shadows, at least temporarily.
I'm a "young dreamer", my husband and I both have pretty serious physical and psychological disabilities that interfere with employment, but while we aren't getting handouts for it last year we did receive an inheritance, so we've also had help. Here are some things we've done:
Lived in an RV, cooked all meals from scratch in the RV (!), worked for landlord in exchange for rent discount.
For a torturous time DH and I worked full time opposite shifts - he'd arrive home around 2:30am while I was asleep, I'd wake up around 7am to leave for work, and by the time I arrived home from work he had already left for his shift. We were contributing 50% to retirement accounts through employers and quietly scrambling to pay bills. The fact that I contributed 50% for a year straight and didn't max out the Simple IRA limit indicates how little income we were receiving and how little we were living off of.
Now we are in a paid off house, and the sacrifice is of a different nature than your question--we're sacrificing comforts so that we DON'T have to sacrifice our health and sense of wellbeing, as others in this thread have done so, to w*ork. Currently squeaking by on about $700/month in relaxed online self employment gigs so that we don't have to touch our investments.
- We are living with our thermostat at 60
- We keep our water heater turned down very low, only raising it in advance of a planned shower
- Unplug/turn off electronics when not in use, even the router at night (yes, the hassle of doing this adds up to a measurable difference on our bill!)
- All food cooked from scratch at home
- Barely drive anywhere (our car is 20 years old, was a wedding gift)
- Rarely use toilet paper
- Don't have or use a dryer, let alone dryer sheets (hah)
- Taking a long hiatus from buying things. This is a zillion little sacrifices. I love gardening and animals and I want both. Currently I've started a ton of seeds (obtained free!) in egg cartons and boxes and yogurt cups, and instead of buying seed starter I sterilized a large container of soil in my oven. Our curtains are sheets and other fabric we obtained for free. Our furniture is borrowed or free.
So to sum up, we went through a period of sacrificing our physical and mental health to save up, broke down and realized we'd rather sacrifice on the other end of things at this phase in our lives, to get by with very little so we have plentiful time and a flexibility in life to focus on our health and reconnect with what we want out of life.