High Enjoyment, Low Spending

One of the key components of adopting a FIRE lifestyle for my has been finding ways to spend my time which result in high enjoyment but low spending. I’d go as far to say FIRE is unrealistic and unsustainable without this key component. Although I don’t know any other FI’ers personally, I’ve seen friends and family fail at budgets and savings goals because of the absence of high enjoyment, low spend time in their lives. I know it’s something I really struggled with in my early 20’s when it seemed like higher spending directly correlated with having a good time.

Lot’s of finance writers focus on the importance of listing the things that are important to you, focusing your spending around those things. I do agree that it’s really important to make that list, but it can seem a little intangible. I could list things that are important to me like Converse, quiet time, food and fitness as things that matter to me, but I feel like the next step after making this list should be to turn these broad concepts into something practical you can fill your time with.

If you’re going to commit to skipping that yacht party (I mentioned in a previous post that I was invited to a birthday party on a yacht at the price of $125 USD which I was not willing to spend!) it really helps to have something you will enjoy more lined up to take it’s place. It makes it a whole lot easier to turn down invites to high spend activities if you have something high enjoyment that you can use to full that time instead.

With that in mind, I’ve made a list of zero or low spend activities which I enjoy. Maybe some of these are the same as you might put on your list, but I think it’s important that your list is personal to you. It needs to be practical for the location you live in and your situation, and it should be linked to the things you find important. Crucially, it needs to be something you get genuine enjoyment from - it can be too easy to imagine you enjoy something just because your supposed to, or because you know other people enjoy it.

I’m lucky enough to live a 15 minute bus ride (or 40 minute walk) from the beach. I could say that going to the beach is a great free activity for me. But I hate the beach. It’s almost always too hot, I burn too easily, people there are too loud and I don’t know why people like sand. It ticks none of my boxes of what is important - it’s not comfortable or quiet or enjoyable. I could go to the beach, I could take a cute picture of myself in a colourful sarong, sipping coconut water under a palm tree and looking like I was in paradise. But, photos are misleading and this would be a lie. It would not be paradise for me. I’d rather be playing video games or reading a book in the comfort of my own air conditioned home. When I go to work and I’m asked what I did at the weekend I know I’ll get a better reaction if I say I’ve been to the beach rather than I stayed home playing Red Dead Redemption - the beach is far more interesting and relatable as an enjoyable activity to most people, but it’s not for me. I have to be honest with myself about what I enjoy and not feel pressured into creating what Converse has taught me are called “set pieces” - events which have all of the appearance of enjoyment and happiness but, in reality are sadly lacking. Social media is fraught with set pieces.

When you make your list be honest with yourself about what you’d enjoy the most. Try not to think about what you’d be expected to enjoy or what would make the best photo or what your colleagues would be most impressed by hearing about on Monday morning. Prioritise your own enjoyment over any outside influences.

With this in mind, here is my own list of 10 low cost ways I enjoy spending my time:

• Hiking - I live next to some great hiking trails. It takes me 10 minutes to walk from my apartment building to a jungle trail. I’m not a particularly accomplished hiker, but it’s calm and quiet and I feel disproportionately happy when I see any kind of wildlife.
• Movie Nights - It’s not just putting on a film, it’s getting movie snacks, drinks, watching the trailers and then the movie itself. We started creating a faux-cinema experience at home during Covid when cinemas closed, but I love it so much that now cinemas are open I still prefer home movie night.
• Reading - Some people like to binge watch TV shows. I like to binge read books. Nothing set in the real world please - I like fantasy, sci-fi and anything supernatural.
• Swimming - My closest public pool is an Olympic sized outdoor swimming pool. It’s half way between my apartment and my work which is perfect.
• Video games - These can be expensive, but I never make in game purchases - it feels like cheating. I tend to buy a game and play it until I’ve completed it, which gives me hundreds of hours of entertainment. I also tend to buy during Steam sales.
• Writing - Although reading is my first love I also like to write. Apart from this blog I also write fiction (which is not published anywhere and is strictly for my own enjoyment). My stories frequently include zombies.
• Visiting Friends - Going to someone’s house can be so much nicer than meeting them at a bar or restaurant. You have control over the music, you can bring a bottle of something and desert and you’ve still only spent what one round of drinks would cost out.
• Having Friends Over - This weekend we are having a make-your-own tropical cocktail night. Even when we are hosting the cost of having friends to visit is still considerably less than the cost of going out to eat.
• Gym - My apartment building has it’s own gym which is free to use. This falls into the category of things I’m not always that motivated to do, but that I feel a strong sense of accomplishment for once I’ve done them.
• Rowing - I may not like the beach, but I do love going out on the ocean. I pay about $400 USD a year to be part of a rowing club. We row, we paddle board, we kayak. I put this last despite it being one of my favourite activities because it’s easily the most expensive. However, if I divide the cost between the approximate 40 hours a year of time I spend splashing about in some kind of boat on the ocean, $10 an hour isn’t bad and the enjoyment I get from this is high.