Financial independence comes from the combination of having enough money and spending sufficiently little so that interest from the former covers the expenses of the later. The biggest sources of personal expenses are generally
Children
Housing
Transport
Food
Taxes
Reducing expenses in these areas will make a much larger impact that token efforts such as using CFLs, turning the thermostat down, line drying, getting books from the library or buying less.
As far as children go, the choice comes down to having them or not having them. In our economic system those who don’t have children are economically better off than those who do. As such children can be considered a luxury. In other places, for instance, when children are seen as a retirement insurance or cheap labor, the opposite may hold.
Sometimes I also talk about ways to reduce housing costs. Since people rarely move, this is not a big source of continuous commentary. Suffice to say, there are some big savings to be had by living in a room and sharing kitchen, bathroom, etc. with a lot of other people or living in a very small home such as a cottage, a boat, an RV or a van. Since such savings are stupendous compared to the cost of living in a larger place, these should not be ignored. They could mean the difference between retiring in 5 years or 10 years.
Transport is next… .https://earlyretirementextreme.com/why-this-early-retirement-blog-continuously-talks-about-cycling-and-cookin.html