Does anyone here earn an above-average wage but live a simple, frugal life by choice? I'd love to know what your motivations are, what luxuries you do afford yourself, and what you do with your surplus income.

Yes. My husband and I each have top-1% incomes. We live very simply. We chose to live abroad for work which gives us big tax savings and also means we earn a high income but our rent, household staff, and medical expenses are very cheap compared to what they would be in America. We don't have a car (we rent 1 motorbike and share it, or walk) and spend very little on entertainment (we have a baby and work a lot, so there isn't much time anyway). We do spend a lot on cooking and meals out, because we enjoy it and value it - probably about $500/month.

My goal is to buy fewer than 20 new items this year (not including food, household goods like toilet paper, and baby diapers). So far I'm at 4. I have no interest in new clothes or other fancy things. All the baby stuff so far has been hand-me-downs or freebies. We don't have a TV, oven, clothes dryer, or dishwasher (although we do have a maid). All of our travel spending comes from miles accrued through business spending, for the most part, or cheap getaways near our home abroad.

I do spend on helping my family and on investing in things I care about, like local development projects and animal shelters. But if my income dropped to $20K a year, my quality of life and daily schedule at this point wouldn't change much.

Most days I wear a tee shirt and shorts that I got 10+ years ago, walk my dog while listening to free audiobooks, work hard and take care of my lovely kid, grab a cheap lunch from a roadside vendor (about $1), have dinner with my husband (this is where the $ goes), work a little more or go out to walk around a market, and then go to bed. My days are filled with rescue dogs, palm trees, great food, time with my family, and hard work doing something I love. I don't thikn fancy stuff or a fancier house would make it any better, so I skip it. (For example, the cups in our house are all plastic cups from take-out coffee. So we may have a nice bottle of wine once in a while - but it's still out of plastic take-out cups).

For me, it's about deciding what brings me joy and skipping the rest no matter what other people think. When we move back to the US at the end of the year, I'm planning to give one year's salary to the three household employees who've helped me raise my son this year. It will allow them some safety and security, and it will mean more to me than them. I'd much rather do that then, for example, have a car. (I am lucky to live somewhere that I don't need one to work.)

I know not everyone is in a position to make those kind of decisions, but now that I am, I find I want "stuff" less and less than ever. As my income has increased, I have come to have less possessions, and the ones I have are less nice than they were before. I do spend in some little ways that make my life better though, and when they're service-based I don't hesitate. Like, before it would have felt insane to me to have a porter help with my airport bags and have to pay for it. Now, $20 for him and I don't have to lug a giant stack of bags through the airport when I'm traveling alone with my baby son? No brainer.

/r/Frugal Thread