Reply to Mr. Money Mustache- DC version

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[quote=Anonymous]The people who say MMM isn't really retired or it's not a good idea to invest lots of resources into a career that will ultimately be short haven't really read MMM and are missing the message. His point is not to retire to sit on your ass or play golf. The point is to get to financial independence as soon as you can so all your life decisions can be made about what you really want and what makes you happy, NOT based on money. If what truly makes you happiest is working hard in a paying job then by all means you should do that.

Getting back to OP's question, I think there are several aspects of life in DC that make it well suited to living the mustachian life. 
-Many free museums, concerts, and other cultural, educational, and recreational activities.
-many beautiful parks, gardens, beaches, mountains, etc relatively close by make it easy to spend time outdoors
-walkable neighborhoods and public transit make it feasible to not own a car or only have one car.
-abundance of grocery stores and markets make it possible to comparison shop and get the best deals on the foods your family eats most. I love Aldi!
-since DC is a big tourist destination, we have had good luck swapping our home for vacations, thus saving tons of money on hotels.

Obviously, one of the big issues in this area is housing since it is so expensive. I agree with the poster who said to get by with as little housing as you can. We are still in our "starter" house long past the point where we originally thought we would. But we really can't afford to move up, or at least we can't afford to and still save a significant percentage of our earnings. At this point we plan to stay in this house as long as we can, possibly until the kids are out of high school, then move to a much lower cost of living area. At that point our starter house is likely to be worth $1 million or more, so that will be a nice addition to our stash. Which is another perk of DC life: while real estate is expensive, if you buy at the right time in the right area and get lucky with appreciation, you can make out very well when it's time to cash out.[/quote]

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