Photo by by Nick Arnot on Unsplash
Are you a disillusioned Mustachian?
In last week’s article, I wrote about my tumultuous journey into the world of Mr. Money Mustache. I struggled to be 100% Mustachian, and ended up unhappy, disillusioned, and full of frustration.
Since then, I’ve learned to embrace being ‘mostly’ Mustachian. We’ve found ways to work around our pricier lifestyle choices… and still reach FI before 65!
I 
Mustachianism
Just to be clear: I wrote this article because I actually do love Mustachianism. My intention isn’t to bash Mr. Money Mustache and his fake religion.
Instead, I want to encourage those who are teetering on the edge to try being a little more like MMM. I want to make Mustachianism a little more relatable, and inspire you to live a more optimized life.
It all goes back to my big goal for Eat Sleep Breathe FI: to help you reach FI sooner! (I wholeheartedly believe that Mustachianism will help you do that!)
The Mostly Mustachian path to FI
In hope of inspiring other disillusioned Mustachians, I’m sharing a list of ‘mostly’ Mustachian ways you can reach for FI. You’ll get most of the benefits of Mustachianism, and none of the deprivation!
That means a faster and happier path to FI—who doesn’t want that? Expand the tabs below to learn how being Mostly Mustachian can still get you to FI.
Retiring early
You desperately want to retire in your 30s like Mr. Money Mustache. But that’s nearly impossible because of the hurdles you face (you live in an expensive city, don’t earn enough income, etc.)
Instead of FI in your 30s, aim for FI in your 40s or 50s. After all, anything beats the standard North American retirement age of 65!
What I did
Getting clear on our core values is what allowed me to let go of FI in our 30s.
Now, FI in our 40s feels great. Our path to FI is happier and more meaningful because we’re living true to our values. Plus, I no longer beat myself up for not reaching a goal that was (for us) unrealistic in the first place.
Housing
You could instantly reach FI by selling your house and moving to cheaper area (as Mustachians often do). But you love where you live and you don’t want to move!
Instead of being a roadblock to FI, why not turn your expensive city into a FI booster? Here are some tips to get you started!
What we do
To help offset our housing costs, we house hack by hosting international homestay students.
This house hack/side hustle hybrid allows us to earn income using our house and write off expenses we’d have to pay for anyway!
I’m working on a series of articles about homestay hosting to tell you all about it… stay tuned for more!
Transportation
You’d love to do the Mustachian thing and buy a reliable used car, drive it almost never, and ride a bike almost always. But you can’t ‘cuz everything’s too far, you have two kids to lug around, and the weather stinks… wah wah wah! (Cue MMM facepunch.)
There are lots of other ways to optimize your transportation costs and avoid being a car clown! While these tactics won’t make as significant of an impact as ditching your car, they’ll still make a difference.
Take a look below to learn how we minimize our family’s transportation costs.
What we do
- Walk the kids to and from school everyday: rain, snow, or shine. (Much to my kids’ chagrin, I’ve always been downright militant about this!)
- Save up and pay cash for all our cars. (Something we’ve always done and will continue to do.)
- Buy reliable, non-fancy USED cars and keep them for a long time. (Something we’ve not previously done, but plan to from now on.)
- Keep up with regular car maintenance.
- Have the highest possible deductibles on our insurance.
- Use services and shops as close to home as possible.
- Meal plan so we can grocery shop once a week or less.
- Combine errands to minimize trips.
- Learning hypermiling techniques and drive more mindfully.
I’m also eagerly following the evolution of electric vehicles, and hope that in the not-too-distant future, a good, used EV will become our main vehicle.
Travel
You wish you could slash your travels costs to MMM’s $2,500 per year—but how? That barely covers the flights for a family of four!
MMM might be hardcore with that whole carpentourism thing he does, but his other cost-saving tactics are totally doable. For instance, why not try slow travel, or renting out your house while you’re away?
What we do
We LOVE travel! But our favourite destinations (Asia, theme parks, Hawaii) can be pricey and are arguably non-Mustachian.
Additionally, as Canadians, we’re not as fortunate as our friends down south. (Our travel hacking opportunities aren’t nearly as lucrative.) So we end up paying out of pocket for almost all our travel.
But travelling as a family brings us so much lasting happiness—it’s worth every penny. As with our choice to live in a pricey part of the world, our decision to allocate a large chunk of our budget to travel is a conscious one.
Here are some tools and techniques we use to keep our travel costs reasonable:
- Kayak to find flight deals.
- Hopper and Google Flights for monitoring flight prices.
- Google for researching deals and other money-saving tactics.
- Airbnb for low-cost accommodations (with kitchens so we can save money by cooking).
- House swapping for free accommodations.
- Travel rewards to offset some of our travel costs.
- Slow travel (e.g. staying in one destination for 25 days instead of 10) to maximize the value of costly flights.
One day, we’d like to also try house-sitting and renting out our house while we’re way.
Entertainment
You aspire to be as low-cost and healthy as MMM with your entertainment spending, but it’s not always possible! Maybe you love movies at the theatre (like us), or expensive hobbies like golfing. What’s a Mustachian to do?
Use MMM’s entertainment ‘standards’ as inspiration—not hard and fast rules. Find ways to be more frugal with your entertainment choices, and again, check in with your core values!
If your entertainment choices line up with your values, there’s nothing wrong with (frugally) pursuing them—even if they’re not totally Mustachian.
What we do
We’re mostly aligned with MMM’s thoughts on entertainment. But we do enjoy spendy activities like skiing and occasional movies at the theatre. Here are some of the ways we save on these expenses:
- Look for free or low-cost activities (they’re usually plentiful in bigger cities).
- Google for festival and event coupons.
- Take advantage of corporate/group discounts through M’s company.
- Buy Groupons to try new activities or save on favourites.
- Make good use of Netflix and our home theatre.
- Have movie nights at home or at friends’ houses.
- Buy discounted season passes for skiing.
- Buy used sports gear for the kids (they outgrow it so fast, and wreck it anyway—why buy new?)
- Borrow books, e-books, and audiobooks from the library.
- Purchase used board games and video games whenever possible.
- Borrow video games from M’s resource library at work.
- Purchase Kids World passes for year-round family fun. (Sorry—they’re for Vancouver-area residents only!)
Note: that’s not an affiliate link. I just love this organization so much that I tell everyone I know about them!
Food, utilities, fixed expenses, and discretionary spending
You might hate me for saying this, but there should be no dilemma in these categories! Why? Well for one thing, MMM himself isn’t all that hardcore in these areas.[note]In fact, MMM thinks his food expenses are over-the-top and totally luxurious![/note] Secondly, I think all of us can easily trim costs in these categories without feeling deprived.
If you’re new to the FI journey, give yourself some quick wins by going through these categories one by one and optimizing them.
What we do
I’m planning to write a future post about how we save on these types of expenses. For now, check out this post from Million Dollar Journey—his strategies are remarkably similar to ours!
Summing it up
It’s okay if you’re not 100% Mustachian. There are lots of ways to be ‘Mostly Mustachian’ and still reach your FI goals—without deprivation. It might mean reaching FI a little later in life. But if it means increased happiness while on your journey, it’s worth it!
What about you?
Are you Mostly Mustachian? How do you include Mustachianism in your FI journey? Share your story in the comments below—maybe we’ll learn a thing or two from each other! 
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8 Comments
Sam
January 21, 2019 at 12:32 pmWell Chrissy, another great post about Mustachianism, for which I think an alternative title would be ‘I did it my way’. Such a great way of looking at things. We can’t all be MMM, but we can work with what we have and we will get there in the end. At the grand old age of 49 and having just discovered the world of FI, unless I can build myself a time machine my best bet is going to be to retire in my fifties. I don’t get my state pension until aged 67 and so even retiring at 57 would be a decade before many other people. Like you, we are hoping to make our house work for us by doing Airbnb at some point in the future. At the moment we would have to pay people to stay, but once it is decorated we have plenty of space, live near the coast and an airport, so hopefully we would get some willing customers. I am always promoting free entertainment in the form of the library – both books and audiobooks. It seems to pass so many people by and in the UK libraries are being closed down in some areas so we need to show that there is a need for them. Travelling abroad from the UK is maybe cheaper than flights in north America, but for this year, with Brexit looming, we are staying at home and going north – which is cheaper than the south of England. We are also self catering, which again keeps the costs down and will be enjoying free walks in our glorious countryside. It’s great to get your posts. We may be on different continents, but we are definitely on the same page when it comes to FI. Thanks again, Sam.
Chrissy
January 21, 2019 at 3:36 pm😱 I’m shocked to hear that libraries are closing down in some areas! That makes me unbelievably sad—libraries are some of my favourite places on this earth. No library is too tiny, old, or badly-maintained for me to love! And I know I’m not alone with my passion for libraries—at least in the FI community. (Yet another benefit to helping more people discover FIRE—we’ll be the protectors of these wonderful community spaces!)
It’s amazing how much we have in common, Sam! I was nodding my head in agreement as I read your entire comment. Thanks for taking the time to write. I love hearing what you have to say!
Darlene
January 21, 2019 at 7:01 pmSuch a great post Crissy! I stuggled with this and still do occasionally. I just want to reach FI in my 30’s so bad but realistically it won’t be until our 40’s and I need to be okay about that. Giving up things that aren’t important so I can continue to do the things that are, is how I’m “mostly mustachian”. It’s about the journey just as much as the destination right?!
Thanks for sharing about the kids world program, I had no idea!
Chrissy
January 21, 2019 at 11:02 pmHi Darlene! It sounds like you’re on the right track. You’re aligning your journey with what’s most important to you, and giving yourself a happier life NOW. So many FI bloggers talk about how they got this backwards, and wish they could go back and slow things down a bit. So just keep doing what you’re doing! And about the Kids World pass—it’s the best family deal ever. We’ve had such amazing experiences through this program (some of which you can’t pay for even if you wanted to). We adore Brian who runs Kids World, and have been with the program for over three years now. I can’t say enough good things about it!
drplasticpicker
June 14, 2020 at 4:54 amHe was definitely a cultural phenomenon about 8-10 years ago. I remember reading him avidly but the world moves on and finds it’s next thought leaders. I very much identified with your post! Super cute pictures. Great posts.
Chrissy
June 17, 2020 at 11:27 amThank you, drplasticpicker! I can’t believe it’s been that many years since MMM came onto the scene. It seems he’s more than happy to live his life in private nowadays. It’ll be interesting to see how the FIRE community evolves over time.
FIRE@55
November 10, 2020 at 11:00 amGreat post. MMM’s blog didn’t get me down when I first found it nearly five years ago. I found it inspiring but I immediately knew I’d never achieve what he did. I’m aiming to FIRE at 55, which in the UK, is currently 12 years earlier than the standard age. It’s just such a relief to know that I’m unlikely to have to slog on until I’m 67 or 68.
Chrissy
November 10, 2020 at 4:25 pmHi there FIRE@55—I love your message. You’re right that 55 is still a very young age to retire. Gaining 12 years is amazing, no matter how you cut it.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I’ll be sure to check out your blog as well!