» How I live on $7,000 per year Early Retirement Extreme: — a combination of simple living, anticonsumerism, DIY ethics, self-reliance, resilience, and applied capitalism

The strategy described in this chapter focuses on living inexpensively in a culture dedicated to extravagance, productivity, and material waste. It follows these guidelines: Reduce wants and needs from the marketplace to a minimum to decouple the buy-work connection. Decrease the volume and size but increase the sophistication of your activities an

In fact, by taking the other end of the bargain, saving as much as other people are spending on wants, it's possible to retire and live on invested savings after just five years of full-time work.

First, reduce waste and increase efficiency. It's possible to live with the same benefits as the rest of society for one quarter of what the average consumer spends. Many of these expenses are eliminated by only owning what is actually used, and maintaining what is bought.