Ajeossi (aka my husband) has been touting the concept of FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) for the past few years. More recently, he proposed a super frugal January. Just for this month, he insisted. Just to see how little we can survive on.
I agreed to the challenge. How hard can it be to be frugal? We’re not exactly extravagant people (although we still marvel at our credit card statements at the end of the month). Yes, I like my imported Costco cheese, but my go-to wine is a six-dollar screw top.
#wineflex
And don’t forget that time that I, a woman living in South Korea, publicly Instagrammed matching couple Casio watches. I can be frugal with gusto!
#casionotcartier
We’ve been flirting with the idea of FIRE and discussing a path to early retirement for a few years now, but we hadn’t made major changes or commitments to achieve it. Starting our frugal challenge in January made sense because this is the month when we can be optimistic about making positive or unrealistic changes. Coincidentally, we also anticipated our expenses to drop drastically in January. This was the perfect time to kickstart our FIRE journey.
So how did we fare overall during our Frugal January challenge? By being conscious of our spending during the long month of January, we managed to cut our monthly living expenses by 70%.
Here are a few of things we did to resist the temptation to spend during our frugal month:
Removed the Necessary Evil Shopping App from the home screen of our phones. Maybe for you, it’s Amazon or Shopee. Here in Korea, it’s Coupang and its 7-hour delivery. We still used Coupang, but when we did, we ran it past each other to ensure we really needed it.
Stopped shopping at Costco. We have a love-hate relationship with Costco because it brings us joy, but it also makes us poor. We decided to eliminate shopping there altogether because we always set out for two specific items, like cheese and butter, but somehow return with a pack of luxurious socks or a bag of gourmet dark chocolate-covered nuts, and at least 200~300 dollars less in our pockets.
Eliminated restaurant food. We normally eat out two to three times on the weekends, but with the exception of one gluttonous meal during the entire month of January, we stopped going to restaurants or getting takeout/delivery (we continued to get snacks for the kids, but only on occasion).
Avoided shopping and entertainment multiplexes. Department stores and shopping centers in Korea are a destination in themselves. They’re delightfully convenient and packed with the crème de la crème of the F&B scene in Korea. It’s easy for us to knock out multiple errands, a quality meal, and even play time on the immaculate playgrounds of a shopping center. The problem is that a trip to a shopping complex is always a family affair which includes a pricey meal, a coffee and dessert, and probably cotton candy for the kids.
Stopped buying coffee. I usually buy coffee about twice a week, but it’s more to support neighborhood businesses than for the actual coffee. Coffee in Korea is notoriously inflated—about 4 USD for an iced latte. I can usually make better lattes at home with my Gran Gaggia Deluxe and Barazta Encore, so this wasn’t a difficult adjustment.
There were other tiny tweaks like replacing a credit card with a high annual fee and downgrading subscriptions we weren’t fully utilizing, but those savings are nominal compared to our overall food and household savings.
Wait, there’s more!
On top of the food and household savings mentioned above, we cut an additional 2720 USD of other recurring monthly expenses. These aren’t living expenses but luxuries that we didn’t absolutely need in the first place. I’m glad we no longer pay for these services, but I’m grateful for the experience and support we had.
What we didn’t spend in January 2022
Here’s a breakdown of some of the luxuries and recurring expenses we did away with in January. (As always, I use 1 USD = 1,000 KRW for ease of understanding. Currently it stands closer to 1 USD = 1,200 KRW—quick, go change your dollars into won!)
I didn’t renew my personal training sessions +480 USD
I work out 2x a week and pay up front for 20 sessions at 60 USD/session
Ajeossi didn’t renew his personal training sessions +720 USD
Ajeossi works out 3x a week pay up front for 30 sessions at 60 USD/session
We no longer have a nanny +1,400 USD
I reduced my working hours in January, so December was our last month with part-time help
Boy didn’t renew his fencing lessons +120 USD
After the first few sessions, he grew tired of all the poking, and our policy is to never spend money on things kids don’t enjoy or aren’t grateful for.
TOTAL SAVED +2720 USD
Final thoughts on frugal living with FIRE in mind
Reflecting on the past month of frugal living, we found that we can comfortably live below our means, not just within them—and I think that’s key to our long-term saving and retiring plan. I’m still unlearning the notion of buying something just because I can afford it.
Intentional frugal living and FIRE isn’t feasible or a good fit for everyone, and we’re not even sure if it’s right for us. We’re not confident that we can replicate this month’s living costs on an ongoing basis because circumstances can change. For example, if we weren’t living through a pandemic, we might be spending several grand a year visiting family overseas. With that said, we can’t deny that there are amazing rewards associated with frugality. We calculated that if we can continue this savings rate, we can comfortably buy an income property within two years. So now, each time I want to indulge in fancy foods or facials, I realize I’m creating distance between myself and a small studio in Seoul (or a modest apartment outside of Seoul).
We didn’t feel too deprived during our frugal challenge, aside from the absence of social activity, which has unfortunately become the norm during COVID. We didn’t miss traveling (it’s too cold for that). We didn’t miss eating out (we had some great meals at home, courtesy of my favorite food blogs, Ambitious Kitchen and Pinch of Yum). We didn’t miss artisan loaves (I’ve been making my own sourdough for the past month—still a WIP, but getting there!). The kids didn’t ask to eat out every weekend (they did ask for ice cream. They’re always about that ice cream.).
Elective frugality is a privilege. We’re blessed that we can choose to be frugal with our money, but we realize that in order to really embrace this lifestyle and achieve our early retirement goals, we have so much yet to learn (and unlearn).
What helped you reframe how you manage and save money? What motivates your frugality? Would love to hear about your experiences below!