★ Shifting The Spend

"We spend about the same every month, say, $2,000. And within that two thousand dollars are a bunch of static categories: $300 for groceries, $50 for gas, $400 for future travel, and on and on and on. Instead of trying to reduce the $2,000 figure to $1,900 to increase our savings rate, let's intentionally move some stuff around from one category to another, experiment, and see what the results are... Of course, if our overall spending doesn't change, neither does our savings rate. So what's the point?... If we're just going to spend some set amount, we might as well spend it in the way that makes us more successful, more efficient, and happier."