Also somewhat related, I tend to not mind spending more money for things I spend a lot of time with. For instance, a fast computer, a comfortable chair and mattress, great sounding speakers/headphones/earphones, etc, etc, are all things I've splurged on, despite being relatively frugal with most other aspects of my life.
- I live in a studio apartment in downtown San Francisco so I can minimize my commute (currently a 10 minute walk). San Francisco is a notoriously expensive city. However, most engineers in similar situations as myself (single, with slightly above market rate salary) can afford to close to work, but many end up choosing not to because they want to save more money on rent. I too could probably save a good $1000 more per month if I chose to live somewhere outside downtown and commute to work, but for me that's a small price to pay to get 5+ hours per week of my life back.
- Ordering food instead of cooking. I cooked my own meals a lot in college. It was definitely significantly cheaper than having meals at restaurants, but it was also ridiculously time consuming, especially when you take into account things like learning new dishes and grocery shopping. These days I almost exclusively order food for pickup when I leave work and for delivery on weekends. I also have a few boxes of Soylent stocked up for when I don't feel any craving for any particular taste. I also had an Amazon Fresh subscription for groceries for a while when I was transitioning between my cooking and ordering phases, so that could be a decent compromise if you still want to cook but are looking to save time off grocery shopping.
- Buying your own exercise equipment instead of going to the gym. Having a treadmill at home not only saved me commute time to and from the gym, it also had the nice side effect of reducing the activation energy for actually exercising, so I end up doing it much more often now because it's so easy to get started. I also don't have to feel self conscious sweating it out in a room full of other people, and I have my own private shower a few steps away to refresh myself when done. This one also happens to be a money saver in the long run because the treadmill pays for itself in gym membership fees saved.
These might not be practical for everybody, but I hope that was at least helpful as a starting point for brainstorming things that could work for you.
live in a neighborhood, especially if possible live in a walk-able mixed use neighborhood close to work, OP might live in NYC so maybe he's got this covered.
I estimate your quality of life is very high compared the people in most of America who spend their days stuck in traffic.
Gyms are a nice way to get out of the house and mingle in the neighborhood, so not sure about the home gym.
I remember reading in the NYT about some very successful actor who they profiled on a Saturday, what did he do with his time / money? Got a coffee, walked his dog down to the wharf, planned on reading a book later. Or what does Andrew Ng like to do on his days off with all his money, according to the article I read, stay home and read a book. Its funny how after a certain level people don't have much to buy unless they take up something like yachting or car racing.