We all are feeling the stress of inflation, isolation due to Covid, job insecurity and the future of the world around us and for our own lives. Often, we feel we can do nothing about any of these things.
But we can. Sure, some events are beyond our control, but complaining about them without knowing how to solve the problems creates more frustration and worry. Probably the key stressor we experience today is financial.
To borrow a principle from the business world, there are two ways to improve profits: increase revenues or decrease expenses. Sometimes, increasing revenues does not work, because it costs the business more to increase the income than the revenue it generates. This is more likely in our individual lives.
In our personal lives, increasing income is not always a viable choice. Mostly, it means working more hours, which takes way from our quality of personal life, our family, our leisure, and even can hurt our health. Yet, there are ways to increase income with minimal effort and cost. I will discuss those options later.
Our best option to make ends meet is to lower expenses, but, again, many of the ideas offered to us are undesirable and unpalatable. And most of our expenses are either fixed or difficult to reduce. That leaves us with variable, or infrequent expenses. It sometimes means we must give up the things that are important to us in our personal lives. And that is an unpleasant option.
I have been living a minimal lifestyle since I was twenty-one. For several years, I lived in a yurt. For a few, I lived a nomadic life. Always, I kept personal possessions to a minimum, since 1973. That’s 49 years. For me, the toughest part has been adjusting to a partner who did not share my simple living philosophy. Simple living is not for everyone, and I certainly do not recommend it for many of you.
But simple living does not mean doing without. It means understanding what is important to you, and focusing upon enjoying those things and events.
Simple living takes the emphasis on the owning of items and puts it on making use of the things you have, to create experiences. We don’t buy stuff for the things they are. We buy stuff so that we can enjoy the experiences that those things provide.
A steak is not a pleasure, on its own. It is the experience of the meal, the pleasure of the company, the status of the event, and so on. A dishwasher is not a pleasure to look at. It is a pleasure to see how it alleviates the tedium of doing dishes.
A new car might provide you with an hour of comfort each day as you travel to and from work, it might save you money on gas for other stuff, it might give you a feeling of power and prestige, it might make you seem safer, it might transport you to vacations and getaways, and so on. But the car, on its own, is a burden, with loan costs, maintenance, fuel, repairs, storage, and so on. What is your trade-off between drawback and delight?
The expenses you incur every day, to live or to enjoy life, are burdens. But, when you spend on the things that provide you with experiences that enhance your life, those burdensome, pedantic expenses are easier to justify. In today’s economy, though, those expenses, and the necessary ones that you must pay just to survive, are overwhelming many of us.
Luckily, you can take steps to reduce your expenses, while actually improving your quality of life. And it does not involve becoming an extreme minimalist. It allows you to maintain your social life, enjoy your most important indulgences.
It does, however, require re-thinking the way you do things and spend on those items. Can you cut costs without cutting quality of life? Most definitely. And, for most of you, it will cost virtually nothing more than an hour of your time every two weeks. Maybe even save you time.
Over the course of this series of articles, podcasts and YouTube videos we will explore your individual choices and how you can trim, with very little effort, 10% from your expenses, while increasing your enjoyment of your leisure time.
Also, if you would like a personalized assessment and monthly guide, we offer a package at $14.95 per month to assist you in meeting your budget goals. Just follow the Contact link on this www.independentoffthegrid.com website.
Every week, I will be updating this site and our YouTube channel with a new feature article. If you wish to subscribe automatically to our podcast, sign-up information is available on the indepenedentoffthegrid.com website.
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