It depends on HOW you live and how you WANT to live.
For me, I started living extremely frugal.. and now, even if I had more money, I wouldn't go back and I'd still keep these habits. I feel better with them, and they make my life a happier, more humble place.
It's not to say I wouldn't like more luxuries, but what it takes to get & maintain is not worth it to me. My time & energy spent elsewhere is worth more. I find I enjoy what I have MORE, even if it's less, because I have the time & energy to do so, not caught up in a rat race.
And I've always found the idea of pursuing money & the illusion of security in youth to someday supposedly kick back in retirement & finally enjoy life on your terms, but now you're old & ugly & perhaps riddled with health problems, to be absurd. Doesn't make sense to me.
I actually travel more & have more leisure activities I engage in now that I work less & make less than I did pre-economic depression when I worked full-time.
Anyways. There are a lot of ways to save money on all bills and costs of living. So it really is hard to say. But I can say this:
- You need a savings fund. You need to put away at least 1 month's worth of living (not just bills), and preferably 3+ months worth.
- You need to keep in mind that you need a slush fund. Some things always come up. If you're trying to make a hardcore budget, you'll forget SOMETHING somewhere. The car registration. A birthday. A beer with your friend that just got dumped by her relationship of 5 years. A new girlfriend walks into your life. Etc. etc. A slush fund is important--do NOT tie all of your money up every month.
These are good points. After having to live off a savings for some time due to economic slump & unemployment, I realized more than enough savings to not be living check to check is mostly unnecessary. I would say 1 months worth is enough, the rest is illusion.
There was little discernible difference between my life before & after the savings ran out, other than an illusion of security. So I worked hard for years to save up money gone in less than a year to the mundanities of life (car payment, rent, groceries, gas), when what really got me through that period was
human connections.
The
human connections are much more important than a big, fat savings. This even includes travel, hobbies & little luxuries. For example, people feed me all the time - not cuz they see me as a charity case. But we're friends, so they invite me over for dinner or treat me to lunch. This extends my food budget, of course. Knowing people with a clothes washer/dryer who don't care if you use it can be handy, but always be prepared to take care of it yourself too.
As for the "slush fund" - not sure what that word means, but I call it "padding". It's budgeting for the unbudgeted. And some of it becomes pretty predictable if you're honest with how you spend on little things here & there. A tight budget doesn't feel tight when you don't have to worry about scraping up money to meet a friend for coffee.
I also advise having your own business which shows a LOSS. Write-off as much as you honestly can. Tie business up in everything. Out to eat? Talk about that business a bit. It doesn't matter if you have a job elsewhere. Always have a side business or two, and LOSE money on it. This comes in handy for making more & working less, because less is eaten by taxes. You can make less than someone with a higher income & live the same because you actually do bring home the same cash.
At this point I want to be able to afford to take care of myself so-dishwasher, Kitchen, Dryer etc Have a mattress, 1 bathroom, Entertainment Room (Home Entertainment system, Table Games), Bar, A Mitsubishi Lancer Evo for transportation and to be able to go Laser Tagging on a weekly basis. Outside of that food, Clothes (Zumiez for casual, Armani for work) Gym Membership, so would that be around $80,000-100,000?
Where are you living?
I don't know what laser tagging costs, or what kind of car payment that would be, but 100k seems a lot for that.
I live in a small city (one which requires a car) & get by on much less, although ideally I'd make a bit more than I do now (but not by a lot...maybe just $5k a year more).
I don't do so much home entertainment. I don't pay for TV, but sometimes pay for music. But I do more personal care stuff than most men would (ie. hair appointments & nice skin care products). I tried going without internet at home for 1 month & realized it was not to be. But I also use it for work.
I also fix things all the time. Instead of new electronics, I fix them & use them much longer than most people do. If you want the latest/greatest, then that's a problem. But I tend to buy the best I can afford & then use it for a long time, so it's not dated as fast as some other options. I see little difference in the quality of my life compared to people who pay more in this area. My experiences aren't lesser, or not by
enough.
I don't have a microwave - discovered I don't need it. Apartments are usually cheaper without these things. I save about $300/month on an apt in my area because I looked for places without "amenities". I don't have a dishwasher - discovered I do want one very badly
. Can get one for around $200 if I decide it's worth that (one I can take to another apt with me should I move; probably a better bet than paying higher rent every month for a place decked out with that stuff). These tiny things have saved money & not affected my life negatively, but in a positive way I don't need to work as much. But I don't let anyone tell me what I really need or do not. I'm just painting a picture here & throwing out ideas. Some would call some of what I pay for frivolous but then marvel at what I do without. You just have to know what that is for yourself.
Roommates can help a lot to cut down expenses, but I prefer to not have one, so that's a choice I make that costs me more. If you want more expendable income or to save more faster, then that's roomies are probably the way to go.
I hardly have furniture, and I would like some, but it's the dumbest thing to spend money on, IMO. I'm keeping my eye out on craigslist. I've seen some good deals that I missed due to not needing it at the time. In the meantime, nowhere for people to sit means no one comes over & eats my food - I continue to save
.
Gym membership - might find cheaper ways to work out. But it's good you've figured out the "must haves" for lifestyle. I tend to do groupon passes where I get a discounted pass to a pilates/yoga studio & then when it runs out I find a new one, as the full price is too much. I'm not locked into any contract, so in a tighter month, I don't worry about paying a bill.
Lastly -
don't take advice from an INFP on these matters, unless you are "crazy" - aka very creative - & ready to disperse with all common sense & don't fret about safety/security stuff. If you think you could emotionally cope with couch surfing, living out of a car, & eating top ramen for a few months, then you're ready for The Lifestyle (TM)*. Then you will know that NOT stressing about money doesn't mean having more of it, and having the life you want probably costs less than you imagine.
*I've never quite done any of that, just FYI, but it doesn't frighten me & I even manage to romanticize it.