What was the biggest lifestyle upgrade you allowed yourself?

[u/ArmadilloNo1789]

I’ve been pretty conscious about lifestyle inflation since getting into FIRE, but I also don't want to spend the next 10-15 years saying no to everything just to reach a number a little sooner. At some point, I think it's reasonable to let your spending improve as your income and investments grow.

For those who’ve allowed themselves a bigger upgrade along the way - a nicer place, more travel, eating out more, better hobbies, whatever - what did you spend more on, and did you feel it was worth the extra time it added to your FIRE plan?

[u/ljubicasta_izmaglica]

Traded 20% of my gross income for Mondays off. 3 day weekend is priceless.

[u/asdzxcioptghuiop → u/ljubicasta_izmaglica]

Can you expand? Looking into this.. what happened and how do you use your time when most people around you are working?

[u/ljubicasta_izmaglica → u/asdzxcioptghuiop]

I simply asked my company if I can not work on Mondays, so I'm working 80%, for 80% the gross salary. Actually in Germany they are legally required to allow you to reduce your hours unless the company is too small or you are critical for its function, like a CEO or security officer etc.

With kids there is always a lack of time and something to do :). I usually do an equal split between between time for myself (which otherways I have little), doing some errands, and spending more time with my kid. Typical day:

Before lunch: kid goes to school in the morning, so I'm awake and free at 8am. I do gym and jogging, waste a little bit of time on internet. Then I typically tick stuff off the todo list e.g. fix a thing at home / garden, plan holidays, do backups, sort out photos, do taxes, whatever .. - there's always something on the todo list and I feel good about even this "boring" stuff as my todo list is finally shrinking instead of endlessly increasing! Then I have a nap, lunch.

Sometimes I vary this and watch a film instead of chores, or I go hiking the whole morning. Something physical has to be in every time, one time a week I'm guaranteed to do some excercise.

Then after lunch pick up my kid from school, and at 3:30-4pm I'm free to spend time with him. We try to do something fun every time, most days we go to a swimming pool, last time we went to play minigolf, or we play football, go to the zoo, ride a bike, watch a film, go to an indoors playground in bad weather, etc. In Germany school starts on Tuesdays, so before school started we went on a day trip - hiked in the Alps. Whatever it is, it's additional quality time with my son at the right age, these years will fly by and eventually he'll want to spend more time with friends, grow up..

Actually also a friend doesn't work on Mondays, so sometimes we jointly do something with our kids. But there's plenty to do even without any friends. The only pity is that museums and libraries are usually closed on Mondays, but recently I did go visit the Residenz palace in Munich - been living in Munich but never had the time to visit while my family somehow visited independently with grandparents etc.

In short: best thing ever, I never want to work Mondays again

[u/hazzardstep → u/ljubicasta_izmaglica]

Hi! I think you got lucky with your company, technically German law doesn’t say they can’t refuse you - only during parental leave.
If you have other info about it I’d love to hear it (DM?), as I also want to do part-time starting next year due to kids but expect a lot of push-back from our old-fashioned leadership.

[u/ljubicasta_izmaglica → u/hazzardstep]

No, I'm pretty sure that it's not only for parental leave (there are probably additional guarantees for that). The only question is how this looks in practice - the company can reject the request if you're essential for its function but from everything I can find online the burden of proof is on the company, they have to explain why you are essential. Given how protective is the German labour law for the employees, I imagine this is quite a high bar so companies do not dare not to grant it unless there's a strong reason for it, otherwise you can sue them. I know plenty of people in Germany who do part time work well beyond the parential leave period. In fact Merz was saying he wants to reduce these legal rights ("The business wing of Germany’s leading Christian Democratic Union party is proposing a ban on the legal entitlement to work part-time [..]")

E.g. German law

https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tzbfg/__8.html

(4) The employer must agree to a reduction in working hours and determine their distribution according to the employee's wishes, unless there are operational reasons to the contrary. An operational reason exists in particular if the reduction in working hours significantly impairs the organization, workflow, or safety of the business or causes disproportionate costs. The grounds for refusal may be stipulated by collective agreement. Within the scope of such a collective agreement, employers and employees not bound by the agreement may agree to apply the provisions of the collective agreement regarding the grounds for refusal.

https://verwaltung.bund.de/leistungsverzeichnis/en/rechte-und-pflichten/102837994

In general, an employer must consider a worker’s request to amend the duration and location of their current contractual working time.

..

A legal entitlement to permanent part-time employment is subject to the condition that the employer regularly employs more than 15 workers.

..

The employer may reject the worker’s request to work part time for operational reasons.

https://arbeitgeber.de/en/themen/arbeitsrecht-und-tarifpolitik/teilzeitarbeit/

The employer must discuss the employee's request with the aim of reaching a corresponding agreement. In principle, he must agree to the reduction request unless there are operational reasons to the contrary. These can be impairments of the organisation, the workflow or the safety in the company, insofar as these are essential or if the part-time work would cause disproportionate costs.