Very excited to putting out this episode today! We’re interviewing Angelo and Sofia all the way in Vienna, Austria because they have accomplished something astonishing: living on 600€ month each in a pretty expensive city. How do they do it? What do they live off? Will they do this forever? Listen to the episode or read on to find out 😉 (and this is my (Araminta) first time interviewing!)

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Who are Angelo and Sofia?

A very frugal couple currently living in Vienna. Angelo is Austrian and was working in IT until 2 years ago, when he started his own business. In 2015 he started his own Youtube channel: Minimalist Keto. He quit his job and is now travelling and working online. Sofia is from Hungary and is currently a student in Vienna finishing her master’s program. She also has a Youtube channel over at Minimalist Ways, where she does animations for cool books (for those who don’t want to read them all). They both recently started a merch business, and are focused on living life to its fullest: travelling, eating well, being with family. Inspiring.

How the fudge do they spend only 600€ each a month?

Now we get to the juicy part. Angelo and Sofia share with us their hacks on living as cheaply as possible. Let’s break it down a little:

• Because of their Keto diet (see below), food is their highest expense. They buy in bulk and eat at home
• They do not spend 90€ on a steak (just the lemonade ;))
• Cheap travel: they travel to cheap places such as Thailand and then Rome and Budapest where they have family to host them
• Their rent is less than 300€ in total!!!! They started searching early on and found a great deal on some government buildings. Wow.

By generally being frugal people and optimizing as much as they can, this couple manages to live on a very cheap budget. Kudos to them.

So what’s the income?

What I love most about their lifestyle is their mindset. This is what Angelo says on the podcast:

“Don’t do a job you hate just to reach FI earlier – learn to value life and enjoy it in the moment.”

Thanks to this mindset, they’re ok with not having a high-income job and retiring early; because to them, they’re already ‘retired’. They get to do what they want everyday and they earn money doing something they enjoy. Which is:

• The two Youtube channels
• The merch business
• Angelo’s savings from his job, where he was saving 70% of his income

Both Mathias and I were bewildered, which is why Mathias then asked them: what do you do all day long? Great question, and interesting answers. They explain that they are travelling a lot, and Sofia is still studying at university. But not only that, she is also does some volunteering at a co-working space called Impact Vienna. She also reads productive books and does animations on them. A win-win-win. Amazing.

The keto diet

Something Angelo and Sofia have adopted is a very healthy lifestyle with a keto diet. The keto diet basically means only 20 grams of carbs a day (sorry Italians).

Angelo tried out the keto diet because of all these pains he was feeling in his body. After a few weeks, they were gone. He had more energy and the most interesting: he felt independent from food. All our supermarkets are full of carb based foods and this could be the cause of many diseases, obesity and other health issues in our current world.

Want to learn more about keto? We might have a Youtube channel you could check out ;): Minimalist Keto

Angelo also explains how he got to 30K subscribers and over 3 million views. The main advice: find where your audience hangs out, keep consistent and use your tags and keywords well.

The future

I was intrigued as to what their plans for the future was, but they openly said that they were simply enjoying life one day at a time.

They’re getting married in September (minimalist wedding of course) and they don’t really have plans to have children yet. They both say that they’re focusing on growing their passive income streams and enjoy the ride. Their advice to others: become a minimalist. Nice answer.

Top takeaways

I really enjoyed interviewing this very interesting couple, especially since it was my first time. In this episode we cover how Angelo and Sofia live on a very small budget, their income streams and their alternative FI lifestyle.

The important stuff:

• Living on 600€ a month is not impossible
• You can be frugal and still enjoy life
• The keto diet could be your key to a healthier and energetic life
• Don’t get a job you hate just to reaching financial independence earlier, enjoy the moment.
• Frugal hack: use your kids as weights instead of going to the gym (thanks Mathias)

Links

• Angelo’s Youtube channel: Minimalist Keto
• Sofia’s Youtube channel: Minimalist Ways
• Blog: Mr Money Mustache
• Book: Keto by Maria Emmerich
• Documentary: The Minimalists
• Community: Firehub.eu

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