All three of these are linked and also contradictory. I think you should employ all three.

RETIREMENT

This is the ultimate goal. To not to have to work and spend your one life (I apologize to the Buddhists and Hindus) doing what you love is a travesty. And this view point has only become possible in the last few generations. Since the beginning of time we've been consumed with trying to feed ourselves and stay alive. Due to modern agriculture and vaccines we have enough breathing room to live a majority of our lives without having to labor.

Retirement has meant different things to each generation. Prior to the greatest generation there was little to no retirement for the unwashed masses. Retirement for the greatest generation just meant not having to work and being able to live out your last years in dignity. The baby boomers came along and wanted more (of course they did). They wanted decades of care free living while traveling and visiting grand kids. My generation has the opportunity to up the ante again. Why spend your best years working? Why do I have to work most of my life? These are the people who have found a way to travel around the world for a year or more while being completely broke. This would have been unimaginable to my grandparents.

This trail is being blazed by the likes of Tim Ferriss, Jacob Fisker, and Mr Money Mustache who started asking, "Why does it need to be this way?". They've reset their lives to reject consumerism and to look at what's really important in life.

MINI RETIREMENT

I first heard this from Tim Ferriss in THE 4 HOUR WORKWEEK. He was fed up and close to a breakdown in his 20s. He stepped back and said there had to be a better way. He's a big advocate of building up cash hordes and using them to take mini retirements of a few months to a few years. Enjoy life while you're young enough to live it. One of my grandfathers worked very hard his whole life to retire and then travel the world with his wife.

On the first leg of that trip he got sick and had to return home. He never recovered enough to leave again. Don't stand around waiting for the bus to hit you. It always eventually will.

NEVER RETIRE

I completely mean this. I read a book in high school named DIE BROKE. The author advocated working full time your whole life until you dropped dead. He was an idiot, but he got one point right. Even when you retire you should find a small job that you enjoy and can hopefully make a little bit of money at. If you're able to pull in a measly $5,000 a year for 40 years (7% ROI) and not spend it you'll end up with over $998,000 to help in case you run low on funds.

This also helps you keep up your skills in case you need to go back into the workforce.

Here's an example of a woman who wrote into Mr Money Mustache and her story about how she cut costs. She was able to cut costs by 52%!

"First, some additional background. As previously mentioned, my husband is a retired veteran. He was awarded a temporary disability rating upon exiting the Army, and is now on a permanent, lower disability rating. This change happened in July and resulted in a $901 drop in pay. Also, around August, my husband’s condition had reached a point that unreliable transportation was no longer acceptable, meaning our options were to risk becoming wheelchair-bound or buy a car at stupid high interest rates to avoid walking, as unmustachian a doctor’s order as possible. Luckily, I had a head start on these disasters; I was already carefully nursing my stubble.

Between January and May 2013, this is my best guess at what our spending looked like. We never kept receipts and often didn’t even look at price tags.

Total Income: $3,130
Rent: $900
Utilities, phone, and internet: $600
Transportation: $100 (bus fare, borrowing cars, paying for late night taxis)
Food: $800
Cigarettes: $200
Impulse Spending: $400
Pets: $150
Household $100 (Cleaning, toiletries, maintenance, cheap fixes)
Banking Fees $100 (ATM, Overdraft)
Total Spending: $3,350

Fast forward through June, July, and August, which were spent reading all of mrmoneymustache.com, writing up sample budgets, taking notes where they applied to us, and picking one thing to tackle at a time. In September 2013, this is our budget:

Total Income: $2,229
Rent: $300
Transportation: $320 (insurance, gas, taxes/registration, and maintenance)
Car Payment: $320 ($~4,900 @ 23.99%, hair is on fire emergency.)
Dental Work: $118 ($~2,500, no interest)
Student Loans: $118 ($9,000 @ 4.5%)
Phone: $46 (unlimited, we share a phone.)
Cigarettes: $108 (woohoo, a 46% reduction!)
Food: $250
Pets: $85
Household: $100 (Cleaning, toiletries, DIY toolbox building)
Fun Money: $240 ($120 each, gradually working down to reasonable levels.)
Banking Fees: $75
Total Spending: $1,760 <– Saving $469/mo to throw angrily at debt!

Also, upcoming in October, I am scheduled to start my first month as a part-time nanny. I will be making an extra $300-$550 month, $45 of which will be kept for a Treehouse membership and a gym membership, and the rest will also be thrown angrily at debt.

We are also staying with my mother, she offered for us to stay around the time she found out *I* was going to be on *your freaking blog*. We intend to get out around March 2014.

I am proud of this huge 52% reduction in spending levels, but even more proud of the lifestyle changes that allowed it to happen. For one thing, we’ve started cooking at home with at least partially healthy ingredients with more and more regularity. We’ve also all but entirely cut soda and fast food from our lives. My husband has cut his nicotine addiction nearly in half in only three months. We are no longer fostering stray dogs and are buying better-priced cat supplies.

We have not only cut our discretionary spending, but we have also started buying things we need with it instead of random impulse items. We have started paying off my federal loans, previously left in default. Moving in with my mother is not only saving us nearly what our pay cut cost us, but it also allows me to have a job and easy access to a grocery store with reasonable prices. We are also being forced to think carefully before each purchase due to space constraints and a strong desire to become independent as soon as possible. When things break around the house, I determine which tools are needed, buy them, and add them to my collection of problem solvers.

There are several areas that we have identified for further improvement, including every single section of the budget, but for now our largest priorities are a sucka banking cycle we’ve been in for over a year now (borrow $1500, pay $100 in fees, pay back on pay day, repeat…) and that really hot car loan burning my scalp. Once these two emergencies are settled, we’re prioritizing a small emergency savings, our own dwelling, and our disfigured credit reports/scores. As we continue to learn to not suck, we hope to get our monthly living costs down to around $855 plus mortgage by 2015, and from there who could possibly predict? How’s that for a Mustachian 180?"

$600 was reduced by moving into her parent's place, which makes up 18% of the reduction. But if you're not able to do this you could make it up in other areas. The cigarettes and car payment (24%!!!) are absurd! Not to mention the student loan that should have been paid off long ago. When these expenses are done away with it'll make up for the decrease in rent.

Fall is in the air and for my part of the country that means not only football, but farmer's market!

Every community is different and I'd search the web to see where your local ones are and when they run. The one off of lake Eola in downtown Orlando runs year round. But the giant one in downtown St Pete stops for three months in the summer. It's a giant market though so it's great while it's open.

There is one less middle man, so a lot of times you can get the produce for half or two-thirds of the grocery store price. Usually the produce is local and organic, which saves you more! I can often buy an entire bag of produce for around $10.

It's not just a place for farmers anymore. Many now offer local ranchers and fishermen who sell their meat as well. Sometimes you have to order it a week in advance or they'll email you what they recently caught. The fish from St Pete is amazing!

The weather is turning beautiful, so save some more money by walking or riding your bike if you can.