Confused About Tax Free Living

[HAFFnHAFF]

I just recently came across this blog and the idea of tax free living.  I'm 28 years old and my wife and I have both been maxing Roth IRA's for 6 years now.  We currently have about $100,000 in those funds. 

I understand how you can contribute to a traditional IRA (neither of us have access to a 401(k) but my wife does have access to a SEP IRA as a self employed person) to lessen tax burden now and then convert it to a Roth IRA in years where income was low to avoid paying taxes.

Here is what I can't quite get my head around...

How do you make it through the 5 year waiting period before you can use the money?  If I contribute to traditional IRAs from here on out and then when I stop working and start converting less then $24,000 a year to Roth's to avoid taxes, what do I live on without an income?

[gocurrycracker]

You can withdraw Roth contributions at any time penalty and tax free

You can also spend anything you save outside of retirement accounts. 5 years minimum

[HAFFnHAFF]

So then, the key would be to also invest money in non-retirement accounts and be able to live on that for 5 years while not making income and converting money from a traditional IRA into a Roth? 

[gocurrycracker]

In this particular case.

Haven't looked in awhile, but probably 75% of our net worth is outside retirement accounts.