Ok so here’s something I learned when I was young and in debt up to my eyeballs. Your social life doesn’t have to revolve around going out. Some of the best times I have had with friends have been at home pot luck style, playing board games or watching movies. Some of the best date nights I have with my hubby are when we find an interesting recipe to try, shop for the ingredients and then cook together with a nice bottle of wine. Total cost of our date nights are usually under $30 including the wine. Our eating out is reserved specifically for special occasions birthdays, anniversaries, promotions or while on vacation. Our shopping budget is like $50 per month, we don’t shop to shop, we shop because we truly need something. Coffee is made at home every day and poured into a travel mug. Once a month my son and I have a mom/son coffee date and that’s the only time we go out for coffee. You can trim a lot out of your budget just by scaling back your lifestyle. Either that or you have to increase your income by a 2nd job or side hustle. To get myself out of credit card debt I worked 2 jobs plus pet sit/ dog walked on the side. Everything from my 2nd job went to debt, everything I made for dog walking/ pet sitting went to savings on top of what I was making from my regular job throwing at debt and savings. It took me 18 months of it but I got out of debt plus had a 6 month emergency fund at my disposal.

We make over 6 figures a year, have an $1100 mortgage payment that will be paid off in the next 2 years, no car loans because we drive older used cars, no credit card debt because we live below our means. We could afford a much more extravagant lifestyle but choose to live frugally to retire early and live comfortably when we are old. We learned the hard way what it was like to live with crippling debt and made the decision to FIRE. You have to make sacrifices to make your dreams a reality so you may have to compromise on what your social life entails. We host BBQ’s, dinner parties, etc with our friends instead of going out. Or we might meet up with friends for a quick drink and conversation and spend $20 total. There are ways to still have a social life that doesn’t involve constant going out and spending money