[bojan]

Whenever I read something like this I have to ask if kids are in the picture? Or maybe they've already moved away.

I'd like to do something like this but everything that has to do with kids is both too expensive and too unpredictable for lean living to be an achievable goal.

[exitb]

It’s a very common arrangement, both with and without kids, once you look past the gender of particular participants.

[lesuorac]

It's very common for a teacher's salary to pay the expenses of two adults and 2+ kids?

I guess it must be nice not living in high col areas.

[runako]

There can be a lot of factors at play:

- how old are they? If the poster is ~60, likely has savings and may even have Social Security income. If they worked as (say) a police officer for 20 years, they may have pension income. A 47-year-old former military officer could reasonably have kids at home and also pension income from the military.

- Many people inherit houses (most houses are eventually inherited). Most sell them, but it can be a viable choice to just move into an inherited house to zero out housing expense. OR one could inherit a house that is >> valuable than one's own, such that selling the inherited house allows one to pay off one's own house.

- Location. The Discourse typically divides between HCOL and LCOL, but ignores that in both there are also people who spend much less than the average. In NYC the average home price is ~$850k, but there are today listings for 3BR homes in the low $200s (<$1,500/mo).

And of course these are stackable. One could have a military pension and buy a cheaper place and have a buffer from an inheritance. (None of this is uncommon.)

[exitb]

Given paid off debts and frugal lifestyle (as mentioned by the OP), why not? No one keeps anyone hostage in the high CoL areas.

[chasd00]

they said "teacher" but also mention writing grants. A high school teacher isn't writing grants, their wife could be bringing in a lot more than the typical teacher.

[elzbardico]

A tenured position in a reasonably good university can give you quite a good standard of living, and depending on your area, there are even opportunities for occasional consulting work.

Not to mention that the professional prestige itself in an academic profession gives your family a lot of status that other people usually try to attain by buying expensive stuff.

Even in the fanciest neighborhoods, nobody cares if a Princeton Professor drives a 20 years old Volvo.

[cyanydeez]

Whenever you see something like that, remove USA from the bias, and you probably better understand how stupid the USA is.