Call it "the cafe question." Any given weekday you can stroll by any given coffee shop in the city and see dozens of people milling about, casually sipping and eating and reading and it's freakin' noon on a Tuesday and you're like, wait, don't these people work? Don't they have jobs? They can't all be students and trust-fund babies and cocktail waitresses and drummers in struggling rock bands who live at home with their moms.
Of course, they're not. Not all of them, anyway. Some are creative types. Some are corporate rejects. Some are recovering cube slaves now dedicated full time to working on their paintings. Some are world travelers who left their well-paying gigs months ago to cruise around Vietnam on a motorcycle before returning to start an import-export business in rare hookahs. And we look at them and go, What is wrong with these people?
It's a bitter duality: We scowl at those who decide to chuck it all and who choose to explore something radical and new and independent, something more attuned with their passions, even as we secretly envy them and even as our inner voices scream and applaud and throw confetti.
I'll admit, part of the reason for this site is to Simplify My Life so that I can do just that. It's not something you can enter into on a whim, however, I realized that I needed to get my financial house in order to be able to even consider living a simpler life on reduced income.
I have my ideas. My parents have a farm, and I've kicked around the idea of building a house there (They've said they're setting aside house lots for my sisters and myself) and working from home there...the idea being twofold, my living expenses might be less, and I can be available to help out my parents when they need it.
I could look into growing certain crops, organic even, or doing something called a CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) the opportunities are there, the land is there, and my parents struggle at times to get by.
I've spilled a lot here, and more will come as we go on, but the dream to Simplify My Life lives on...
3 comments:
I know what you mean. I'm about as frugal as I can get right now. I brown bag everyday with a few exceptions on days I go out for lunch. I buy clothes at Old Navy and I don't have a huge wardrobe. I live in Los Angeles where the cost of living is extremely high, so that doesn't help my situation at all. I make a good salary, but it's amazing where all the money goes for expenses and what not. I love my job and the company I work for, so I wouldn't think about quitting this job!
I am seeing a trend where people are getting tired of their fast lifestyle and wouldn't mind moving out to the "farm" to get away from it all.
Living at peace with what you've got, even though meager, is sometimes better than making $100,000 per year and losing your health to stress.
Financial Maturity Blog
The only safe way to leave the financial stability you have now and move into an uncertain venture is to make sure that you have covered your living expenses.
Reducing the living expenses is one step.
Increasing revenue generating assets is the other.
With that combination we can set ourselves free and we can start experimenting with all of those projects we frequently dream about.
Money and Investing
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