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Originally Posted by Smallwheels
(Post 20201317)
Exactly. Unless I win a lottery I won't ever have a lot of money. That's OK. Right now I need to earn about $800 per month to live.
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Originally Posted by Walter S
(Post 20203079)
What's your plan for supporting yourself when you get old and working becomes increasingly more difficult and you have more medical needs?
I'm already vested in for a monthly pension. If I hang on for another couple years I'll be guaranteed about $1K/month (guaranteed about as much as anything can be these days). I'll get about $1500/mo social security assuming they don't screw with it. I also have about $70K in IRAs, which will probably be worth at least $100K when I can access them without penalty (I'm 47, so can start withdrawing when I'm 60). So in a sense I'm pretty well set for retirement. I'd have to live fairly modestly, which I'm happy to do. In terms of getting older, while having money can make it more comfortable, eventually we all deteriorate and die. That's just how life works and no amount of money can change that fundamental fact of biological existence. Might as well just enjoy the time we have while we can. |
Originally Posted by AlanK
(Post 20203110)
I'm already vested in for a monthly pension. If I hang on for another couple years I'll be guaranteed about $1K/month (guaranteed about as much as anything can be these days). I'll get about $1500/mo social security assuming they don't screw with it. I also have about $70K in IRAs, which will probably be worth at least $100K when I can access them without penalty (I'm 47, so can start withdrawing when I'm 60). So in a sense I'm pretty well set for retirement. I'd have to live fairly modestly, which I'm happy to do.
In terms of getting older, while having money can make it more comfortable, eventually we all deteriorate and die. That's just how life works and no amount of money can change that fundamental fact of biological existence. Might as well just enjoy the time we have while we can. |
Originally Posted by Walter S
(Post 20203277)
If you didn't have a retirement plan setup then that would sound cavalier and rather irresponsible IMO. But once you take care of your basic needs as you apparently have, I agree. There's nothing more you can do. We're all going to the same place in the end.
I've met persons who live out of a van/bicycle, etc., who just do odd jobs to get by, and in many ways it really appeals to me. After my cat is finally gone it's a way of life I'm seriously considering. |
How about a house that fits in your pocket? Basic House II | Martín Azúa
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I'm never as plain as an Amish bikini.
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When I was away from home I washed my laundry by hand in a sink, but washing my towels cost $6 at a laundromat. Now I may build this device that could be put on the floor and leg-powered: Tabletop Washing Machine (4 Da Poor Man): 6 Steps
If that doesn't work, a simpler device is the same bucket with a hole drilled in the lid and a toilet plunger. I have a bunch of buckets, but I would still be buying one to get a lid. |
Originally Posted by Zedoo
(Post 20224074)
When I was away from home I washed my laundry by hand in a sink, but washing my towels cost $6 at a laundromat. Now I may build this device that could be put on the floor and leg-powered: Tabletop Washing Machine (4 Da Poor Man): 6 Steps
If that doesn't work, a simpler device is the same bucket with a hole drilled in the lid and a toilet plunger. I have a bunch of buckets, but I would still be buying one to get a lid. |
Originally Posted by Zedoo
(Post 20224074)
When I was away from home I washed my laundry by hand in a sink, but washing my towels cost $6 at a laundromat. Now I may build this device that could be put on the floor and leg-powered: Tabletop Washing Machine (4 Da Poor Man): 6 Steps
If that doesn't work, a simpler device is the same bucket with a hole drilled in the lid and a toilet plunger. I have a bunch of buckets, but I would still be buying one to get a lid. It really doesn't need to be much more complicated than that. Just make sure you have practical, quick-drying clothes (no cotton) and a large enough receptacle to wash and rinse them. If you don't have too many you don't much space to dry them either. |
Originally Posted by Zedoo
(Post 20224074)
I have a bunch of buckets, but I would still be buying one to get a lid.
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Originally Posted by Walter S
(Post 20203277)
Sounds like you're setup pretty good. I agree large sums of money is not what makes happiness.
If you didn't have a retirement plan setup then that would sound cavalier and rather irresponsible IMO. But once you take care of your basic needs as you apparently have, I agree. There's nothing more you can do. We're all going to the same place in the end. |
I bought lids at Home Depot and Lowe's for different projects. Lowe's lids are cheaper and easier to remove.
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Originally Posted by Mobile 155
(Post 20238496)
I have no idea what one person needs monthly compared to another but I do know an expense some don't consider. Medical and dental costs. One crown and a root canal gets you a 2k or 3k bill. I paid 13K a year and a half ago for my wife's dental bill. I planned pretty well and I have no outstanding bills but it is easy to get blind sided by uncovered medical, dental and visual expenses.
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Re; Dental and Lids
Originally Posted by Walter S
(Post 20252714)
Good point. I have dental coverage thru a policy at work - I won't have that when I retire. I've budgeted for buying health insurance and getting coverage like I have now, and doing that privately is expensive. But the older you get the more likely you'll have significant regular expenses that are not covered well enough by insurance for you to ignore them. I don't know what the right amount is to anticipate here. You could easily suffer more or less than some reasonable-seeming figure. It comes down to your personal risk tolerances and how bad you think being wrong might be. But if you plan for no such expenses or a few hundred dollars a year etc. then you're probably fooling yourself. But who am I to judge? :innocent: other than another oddball for whom unexpected difficulties have taught us a lesson :50:
Also If you live Near a Company such as I work for, like a Printing Company they Discard Hundreds of Plastic 5 Gallon buckets With Lids in Black and White !! Not Food grade , but Great for storing Supplies, Ammo, Clothing Etc. 👍 |
I love this thread. I’m looking forward to reading through the whole discussion over time. I’m sorry to see though that the OP appears no longer active. I’ve been refining my own approach to living simply for a long time. The challenge of temptation to acquire “more,” or to assign sentimental importance to what I possess now still comes up occasionally. So in a sense, living simply is a practice for me. In started by accident. My drinking had gotten out of control, and resulted in the loss of my drivers license, and the need to begin sofa surfing around the same time. I had to start downsizing my material possessions dramatically. Since then, and long after sobering up, independent stability has been restored, but the “art of living simply” has also sustained. I rent a studio apartment which has just enough room to hold all of my current luxuries. Yet I’ve grown to cherish the freedom of not being weighed down by frivolous material. To this day, if I had to, I could easily offload replaceable items such as furniture, and easily pack my essentials into a backpack, a guitar case, a cat carrier, and get along just fine. The space, the mobility, and the affordability gained by an unattached relationship to “things” has been the great reward for prioritizing, learning to discern needs from wants, and for practicing a “simple attitude.” |
Nation of worryers
Reading this kind of inspired me to downsize and simplify.. [Mod note: Removed political content as experience shows political discussion only leads to a downhill spiral in thread cycling content] |
Originally Posted by technoD
(Post 20258214)
One trick over the Years I've learned is a Sterilized Multitool, Hemostats and a Bottle of whiskey ! What dental bills ?? I Know that sounds Crude, but Living Simply and being a Former EMT I have some Skills ��.
Also If you live Near a Company such as I work for, like a Printing Company they Discard Hundreds of Plastic 5 Gallon buckets With Lids in Black and White !! Not Food grade , but Great for storing Supplies, Ammo, Clothing Etc. �� Simple living is fun in your 20s, 30s, 40s, ??? Then you might start saying oh sh&$ |
Originally Posted by Walter S
(Post 20517082)
In some areas of life like that a simple life may be a shorter and more painful life. You’re less likely to eat a healthy diet with no teeth. You may not be able to afford good medical care if you haven’t saved for old age. Simple living is fun in your 20s, 30s, 40s, ??? Then you might start saying oh sh&$ |
Originally Posted by mtb_addict
(Post 20521376)
How do you cook in a mini van?
If you want to work on multiple burners you get a camp stove and do it outside. Inside would create too much heat if the doors are closed. The meals I made were in a pressure cooker. I could heat a can of anything for two minutes and turn off the fire. Then I would let it sit for forty minutes or so and the heat from the pot would finish the job. At about the forty-five minute mark it was the perfect temperature to eat. Cooking things with rice required getting the pot to the pressure point and then lowering the flame for two minutes or three minutes. Then the flame would be turned off and it would sit for forty-five minutes to an hour and the food would be done and at a good temperature for eating. My cooking was done with the doors closed to remain hidden. |
Originally Posted by Smallwheels
(Post 20522210)
My cooking was done with the doors closed to remain hidden.
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Originally Posted by mtb_addict
(Post 20523498)
I assume you need some ventilation holes. Not just for cooking...for sleeping. I assume you cannot crack the window open. Must get hot in the summer.
Having a fan inside makes life much more comfortable. |
Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike
(Post 20523510)
What are you hiding from?
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Originally Posted by smallwheels
(Post 20523661)
busybodies.
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Car free
I have been car free in Barbados for almost 5 years. I am retired, so that makes it easier, but I did go car lite for the last 4 years of work and finally car free the last year of work. I originally lived in the US, but there are just too many wonderful places in the world. Of course it doesn't hurt that healthcare is affordable just about everywhere outside the US. I have panniers for front and back and I have a trailer. If that doesn't do the job, I catch a bus to anywhere. I have a folding bike for travel, and the airlines are used to them now, and they are looking for ways to make more money on them outside of the extra bag cost. My house is here, as my wife and I like to travel, but Barbados is home.
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Originally Posted by Trotsky
(Post 20571559)
I have been car free in Barbados for almost 5 years. I am retired, so that makes it easier, but I did go car lite for the last 4 years of work and finally car free the last year of work. I originally lived in the US, but there are just too many wonderful places in the world. Of course it doesn't hurt that healthcare is affordable just about everywhere outside the US. I have panniers for front and back and I have a trailer. If that doesn't do the job, I catch a bus to anywhere. I have a folding bike for travel, and the airlines are used to them now, and they are looking for ways to make more money on them outside of the extra bag cost. My house is here, as my wife and I like to travel, but Barbados is home.
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