When you jump into an ice cold bath, lake, or beach, your body goes into some kind of shock. Going from a normal temperature to, all of a sudden, freezing water is a sudden change. Similarly, going from a life of working, getting a salary, and spending to not working, not getting a salary, and not spending as much is also a shock. To help, practice spending less before you dive into early retirement.

For decades you had a certain cadence and a certain lifestyle. Wake up, go to work, come home, and run errands. Your lifestyle consists of vacations, weekend gatherings, shopping at certain vendors, eating at restaurants, and enjoying hobbies. Most of everything we do comes with a financial cost. It costs money to maintain a hobby, go on trips, go out to eat, buying presents, and so on.

Unless you’ve saved enough to keep the same lifestyle in early retirement, you’re going to have to reduce or eliminate certain spending. Not knowing what that feels like may come at a shock once you need to. Not being able to buy certain gadgets, maintain all the subscriptions, go on those nice vacations, buying clothes, and eating out often may even have an emotional or mental impact.

In order to prepare myself for early retirement here are the things I either reduced or eliminated spending on

• Reduced subscriptions
• Stopped watching videos on gadgets which caused more temptations
• Reduced going out to eat
• Reduced the amount of groceries I buy
• Reduced the amount I drive which helps reduce the amount I spend on gas and maintenance
• Reduced the number of times I go to Costco which was very difficult
• Reduced my internet speed
• Reduced the number of credit cards I hold which most have annual fees

Not necessarily is this everything I changed but it has helped prepare me both mentally and emotionally this transition. Help reduce the shock of early retirement because it could deter you from enjoying what early retirement is meant to be. If you are interested in following my journey, email subscribe here to get alerts of latest posts or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.