The Bare Necessities

Happy April Fool’s Day… which, for me, has oddly become a day for taking things seriously.

It’s one of the days I use to review my finances, my Zeroscaping progress, and make adjustments. A quarterly reset of sorts.

And, therefore, it seems like a good day to talk about something simple—but powerful.

The bare necessities.

As I was working toward financial independence, I pulled ideas from a lot of places—Your Money or Your Life, Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps, and a blog called Early Retirement Extreme.

That last one pushed things further than I expected.

The core idea was this: if you can reduce the cost of a few major areas, you can dramatically speed up your path to time freedom.

Not everything, simply focus on the big ones.

For me, it came down to:

·       Housing

·       Food

·       Transportation

·       Taxes

·       Insurance

(You could probably add internet now, too, if we’re being honest.)

Get these under control, and everything else gets easier.

The author of Early Retirement Extreme literally  took this to an extreme—living in an RV, biking everywhere, eating basically the same simple meals.

I didn’t go that far but I did take his principles seriously.

I simplified my diet. Ate at home more. Repeated meals. Less decision-making, less cost.

I looked hard at housing. At one point, I realized I could sell my home, buy something much cheaper in cash, and drastically reduce my monthly expenses.

That was how I achieved Lean FIRE, on paper (i.e., one of my exit strategy plans)

Later, when I had the chance, I used money I could have spent upgrading my lifestyle… and paid off my mortgage instead.

That single decision freed up a huge amount of cash flow.

And that’s really the game…decrease expenses, increase cash flow.

Some people call it your “four walls.” Others call it your “burn rate” or your “nut.”

Whatever you call it, the question is simple:

What does it actually cost you to live?

Not your ideal life or your upgraded life.

Just… your bare necessities life.

Because once you understand that number—and start lowering it—you give yourself options:

More flexibility. More breathing room.

Eventually, more freedom.

I eventually moved beyond this into what people call “Fat FIRE.” I spend much more money on wants now, too.

But none of that would’ve happened without first getting clear—and disciplined—about the basics.

So here’s something to think about:

What are your “bare necessities” actually costing you right now?

And what’s one area you could simplify… that would make everything else easier?