What we need is all in our head. Many countries could live for a month on what the average American goes thru in a day. We’re all wanting to downsize, live within our means and cut the fat from our budgets. Here’s my message of hope: it’s easier than you think.
Living on less doesn’t mean you have to deprive yourself of all pleasure. It means you stop wasting money. A great concept is Joy Per Dollar. JPD takes conscious effort but is very liberating. Many of us buy things because everyone else does. Boats are a classic example… how many people do you know that have boats, jet skis and ATVs in their garage but use them maybe once a year? Insurance, interest and upkeep cost whether you are using the things or not. They pay a lot of dollars without much return in joy.
Recognizing that, a lot of people (like us) are choosing to live in an RV year round. What is all the space in a house for if you don’t entertain or have a big family? Our neighbors come in all types… some have kids, dogs, gardens… the only thing we all lack is big spaces we are paying to furnish, heat/cool and clean. Glenn Morrissette lives like a king on just over $10,000 a month. Mr. Smith & I are finally debt free and own our own home, even if it’s a micro home.
We get the most JPD from computers, so we spend our money there. In our micro home we can have a large television, two computers with big screen monitors and all the amenities like microwave, stove etc. What we don’t have are multiple empty rooms wasting utilities and my time (for cleaning). We get maximum joy for our dollars.
We also have freedom. We are considering getting a dog for companionship. We don’t have to ask a landlord or place a pet deposit. There’s plenty of room in our little place for a dog as long as we use our outdoors for walks (which also benefits us). If we get an awesome opportunity in another state, we can unplug and go in a day. If we want to visit someone, we don’t need to pack. If a hurricane comes our way our whole house evacuates if we want.
Living in an RV fulltime isn’t for everyone, but financial success requires us all to stop shopping on automatic, look at our money differently and purchase with the JPD quotient in mind. Why do we pay $20 to own a DVD we’ll watch maybe twice? We’ve just fed into the myth that we need to own everything instead of just owning what we want.
And who told us that? The people that want to sell us everything of course. When we choose joy over junk we’ll find that a lot of the world’s classic problems (like corporate greed and environmental rape…) have lost their foothold. Joy over junk puts you in control… not Mastercard.
Three Great Freebie Deals (thx MSM!):
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And a sneak peek at a fab new book coming out by an awesome writer – Masquerade by Cambria Hebert!
Both of us being unemployed means we’ve learned about what is important and what isn’t :-)
Yep… good things these lessons are priceless because we have tight lifestyles! ;p
Totally agree on not needing to own things we hardly use… we over consume way too much – something I’ve been trying to curb… You’re doing an awesome job:)
Thanks Tania… probably because I don’t talk about my failings. I am trying to curb a shoe addiction right now. At one time I had about 40 pairs in our little house – everything from platform boots to stilettos. Even if they are all bought at second hand stores 40 is too much. Now I won’t let myself buy them unless I actually need them. The desire is still there tho…
My biggest spending problem? BOOKS…I know I could stop and just buy e-books…but I’m not really sure if I can do that or not. That had to be my one MAJOR guilty pleasure.
BUT one thing I am proud of – we don’t have credit cards and car payments. We only buy what we have the cash for. We reuse things all the time and recycle when we can and give our things that we can’t use anymore to others who can.
Again, Mrs. Smith, you make me smile with all the wonderful things you say to us.
I know what you mean. I used to spend an easy $800 or so at the kids annual book fairs at school. That was most of our books for the year tho…. one massive stock up. Needless to say, that is no longer an option.