[Maarja]

When is a good time to back off the gas a bit and live a bit more? I’m burnt out after busting our butts for 17 years and want to relax a bit more after being so frugal for so long and would love some advice from like minded people. Here’s our stats..

• Family of 5 (41,40,12,10,7).
• Husband makes 150k-180ishk) before taxes.
• I’m a SAHM.
• No debt.
• House worth 500k.
• Investments and retirement 1.1 M.

Live in a  small town in Oregon. Everything feels expensive here.

Our typical monthly budget is around $3,600 a month including life insurance, car insurance, home owners insurance,property taxes and medical co pays.

How do you find balance between living a bit more and enjoying life without burning out? I want to travel more and take at least a family vacation a year with my kids.

Advice?

[Gina]

If your monthly expenses are $3,600, that’s $43,200/annually. The general rule is that you’re financially independent when you’ve accumulated 25x your annual expenses. 25 x $43,200 = $1,080,000. Congratulations!

You’re FI. No need to entirely stop working, if you (or your husband) don’t want to, but you’re in a great position to dial back a bit.

If you want to travel more without inflating your expenses, I’d suggest looking at travel rewards credit cards to cover all or much of the cost.

There are more than a few Choose FI podcasts on the topic.

[Jennifer]

Do you enjoy camping? It’s cheap and quality time. Try sleeping Bear Dunes.

[Matt]

What are your goals. This is why it is so helpful to create a written plan. You can see easily if you are on track, behind or ahead.

With your expenses and current investments, you could definitely cut back. You probably could have let off the gas years ago.

Don’t miss: I really need to learn frugal living

[Zac]

Do you homeschool or who is the one burning out? Obviously you can easily take a couple vacations a year but it sounds like you’re pretty flexible living with one income and school aged kids.

[Lee]

Buy a camp trailer. You are in the perfect place to go places for camping and visiting national parks.

[John]

I’m general, travel and education are never time wasted. No one can ever take these experiences away from you. That said, travel frugal.

[MailmanSteve]

Read Die With Zero, listen to Bill Perkins on a podcast or just Google Memory Dividends..Looks like you’re spending 43,200$ per year & your 4% rule on just the 1.1 million would be 44k, sounds like you can either choose to have your husband continue to work & spend more on multiple family trips or he could quit & you’d be just fine on your current budget.

[Author]

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