Today’s guest is on a journey to retire extremely soon, like really soon. I’m 35, she wants to retire at 33. What does that say about me?
Mrs. Frugalwoods is a self-described frugal weirdo, all the way from Boston. She’s one of a couple that’s set on living on an extremely small budget with the goal of retiring in their 30’s. They’re called The Frugalwoods and their blog is apply titled Frugalwoods.com. There they chronicle their journey. They live in Cambridge, also known as Frugal City, with their dog Frugal Hound who makes frequent appearances on the blog and the couple saves more than half of their income in the hopes of retiring to a homestead in rural Vermont one day. Their end game is to create a new fulfilling life for themselves close to nature and be able to garden and just live off the land. They’ve become so efficient at saving that they spent just $13,000 last year in the city of Boston. How is that possible? They’re also expecting their first child and have just spent about $20 on the baby so far. Is that gonna keep up? How is this possible, right? Right now they are 30 and have just three years, they say, to go until retirement. In our conversation with Mrs. Frugalwoods, Mr. Frugalwoods was at work so we just got Mrs. Frugalwoods on the phone, but she has some amazing advice for all of us.
Three takeaways from our time together:
- Frugal luxury. How does that work? How can you be frugal and luxurious at the same time?
- Saving 71% of their income last year and guess what? They don’t budget.
- Maintaining an extremely frugal lifestyle as parents. They’ve spend just a whopping $20 on the baby so far, and she is six months pregnant. Once that baby arrives, do they think they can still be frugal?
If you would like to learn more about Mrs. Frugalwoods, visit her website www.frugalwoods.com or follow her on Twitter @Frugalwoods.
One of my favorite quotes from our interview: “It’s so much more fulfilling and enjoyable to save towards a goal.” – Click to Tweet
