[bsmith]

I think the point is that your middle-class life is an "exploding volcano of wastefulness" and you can make a lot of decisions that reduce your expenses without sacrificing much, if any, quality of life. For example, living closer to work and riding a bike or walking instead of driving a car everywhere—makes you fitter, happier, and saves you cash.

Sure, he takes it to an extreme not all could stomach, but there is practical advice in there for almost anyone in my opinion.

[hsitz]

Yeah, Mr. Mustache himself may carry it to extremes that most people wouldn't want. But it seems he himself and his family are actually happier than they were when they were spending more. Plus they're retired (or semi-retired) and they have no money worries.

I think the optimal spending for most people -- i.e., the amount of spending that would maximize happiness -- is far lower than the amount that most people actually spend (in large part b/c people work at jobs they don't love to earn money to buy stuff they don't need). Much of it is wasted on mindless luxury that people come to believe is necessary and that doesn't really increase happiness because of hedonic adaptation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_adaptation Here's Mr. Money Mustache's piece on hedonic adaptation: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/22/what-is-hedonic-ad...

[waterfowl]

And MMM considers himself to be fairly "non extreme" compared to other big names in the space(Early Retirement Extreme being the most prominent contrast...that guy was harrrrrdcore)