I spend quite a bit of time thinking about this but it doesn't appear to be a solveable problem for people with kids/family even if their earnings as an IT/SDEV person are well above average.
http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/jason-rohrer/simpleLife.ht...
Living on $10k doesn't have to mean only having income of $10k. I personally say "we live on $50k" but our income is more than 3x that.
It might be easier to start with a goal of maybe 80% first before moving to 50%? Seems overly ambitious to start with.
This is the real, real big issue. We are surrounded by our peers spending money and ads that tell us to spend more. It makes us lose touch with what's a need vs a want and what sort of spending would actually improve our lives. It's going to be different for everyone, of course, we aren't the same, we all have different priorities in life. I remember reading a Reddit post where someone thought a stay at home mom selling her (financed) car was totally ridiculous because the kids might have a doctor's appointment one day. This was an upvoted post. This was a second car and the family was in very siginficant debt. Sure, a second car is very nice but not anywhere near a "need" for a stay at home parent.
Like, uh, if she needs the car one day she can jut drive her husband to work and pick him up again.
Personally, my family can certainly afford a second car, but we have one car because a second car would costs thousands of dollars and it's just not worth thousands of dollars to us just to avoid the inconvenience of dropping my husband off at his work on my way to my work and picking him up again. That money is better spent on things that give us more joy then avoiding spending more time in the car together.
Every dollar spent requires trade-offs.
Having a spouse that agrees with you in the realm of personal finance and life goals is incredibly important. I don't think a marriage could last without having the same financial/life goals. Not without a large amount of resentment anyways.
The principle of not wasting money is well taken, though.
Yes his stuff works in the same way that Amway works for the people making a lot of money off of it - it's not realistic for the majority of people who want to do it.
He is almost the antithesis of an Amway salesperson. His philosophy is mostly don't buy stuff you don't need and you need way less than our consumerism based world tells you to need. He also is very much "find your own way".
[1]http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/05/19/2016-spending/
PS - When you are trying to live on $25,000 a year so you can choose what you work on, a $200-$500 a month air conditioning bill some people have for half the year is significant.
Two working people == two cars in most places where public transportation is unavailable or very inconvenient. There's insurance, taxes and maintenance. Health insurance - I probably don't need to say much but it's insanely expensive for most people.
I guess for a couple without kids and the right jobs at right places some things are simplified. You could rent a 1BR without worrying about the school districts, have decent health insurance for two, use public transportation and keep your entertainment needs limited. That might get you to a semi comfy retirement at not very old age but it feels like anything else is just going to be a constant hustle.
Me, my wife, and our two kids all live in a 720 sq ft, 2 bedroom house in a worse part of town. We have one car (1999 minivan bought in cash). Right now I work remotely, but I take the bus to work when I'm not remote. It's definitely not living large, but I like the freedom and low-stress.