Old Growth Forest Near Home. The Price Is Right
If somebody was looking for a great example of how to live lean, to truly be efficient in spending and maximize savings… we would not be it. Or at least, we wouldn’t be a good example today
It just takes a quick look at our detailed expenses to see that we are by no means a frugal household. We rent 5-star accommodations, eat out 2 to 3 times a day, and buy whatever we want whenever we want.
This is one reason that I find it a little humorous when the idea of early retirement gets some mainstream press, and people go nuts in the comments.
“Yeah, right. Like I’m going to live like I’m in poverty now, so I can save enough to allow me to live like I’m in poverty forever. No thanks. I’m going to work forever and live a little”
“Yeah, you can do that in Whereverville, but here in my high cost of living area it is impossible (turns on TV)”
Besides ignoring the effects of compound interest, or the value of time and freedom, this type of comment ignores the obvious. A person that lives well below their means can always choose to increase spending. A person that is already spending everything they earn has few options, in spending or in life
So I thought I would look back and see what we were spending while we were still accumulating, to see what 10 years of “living like we were in poverty” in a “high cost of living area” looked like
We don’t budget now and we didn’t back then. We just made budget conscious choices on the big expenses, like rent, transportation, and food.
I also didn’t track spending to the degree that I currently do, and if I wasn’t writing a blog I wouldn’t pay as much attention to it now. That said, Personal Capital is doing a wonderful job of detailing all of our non-cash expenses with zero work on my part. (If you aren’t tracking your expenses religiously, Personal Capital can help you get started)
But with a few hours of digging through old Excel files and mint.com, this is a good representation of our accumulation phase spending.
- Housing – We rented a large 900 sq. ft. 1 bedroom apartment near the University for $980.We were a block from a weekly farmer’s market, a block from a Safeway grocery store, 8 blocks from a public library, 9 blocks from a Trader Joe’s, and 5 blocks from a large city park with walking trails along a stream in old growth forest.(Prior to this, we rented a 400 sq. ft. apartment for $465 and discovered it was too small for us. But if you never try, you never know)I offered to pay a year’s rent in advance for a discount, but the management declined. When we left Seattle, much of our furniture was sold for a profit
- Utilities (included in Housing in the graph)
- Rent included unlimited hot water, garbage, and sewer services. We just had to pay electricity, which averaged about $10/month (more in winter with electric heat, less in summer with 18 hours of sun per day)
- Internet – We had DSL at home for $38.33. This was a discounted rate that we received by simply calling and asking for a lower rate
- Phone – We used WiFi and our laptop or cell phone to make/receive calls at home. Free
- Cell phone – We had 1 cell phone with a monthly expenses of $10 through Air Voice Wireless. Think of it as AT&T, but without the AT&T price tag. Republic Wireless is also a great option:
No contract Moto X from Republic Wireless. Plans starting as low as $5/month
- Healthcare – We had a HDHP with HSA through work. Preventative care was free, and included our annual physicals. This plan cost $0 out of pocket unless we needed healthcare, which we never did. In a big way, our groceries and transportation choices were also our healthcare
- Transportation – Average monthly expense: $30. We didn’t own a car, so had none of the hassle or expense of car ownership. I had a free unlimited bus pass through work, but most days I rode my bike. Even in the rain. Because we were in a very walkable neighborhood, 90% of our non-work life was spent within a few blocks of home.My main transportation for 2 years was a bike I bought on Craigslist for $50. I never even changed an inner tube, and eventually sold it for $60.On occasion, we would attend a dinner party at a friends’ home. Usually we would bus there ($2.50), and take an Uber home (~$15.) Give Uber a try with a free ride
- Groceries – We spent about $400/month on groceries. Most came from either Trader Joes, the Farmer’s market, or our CSA. We loved our CSA from Jubilee Farms, a biodynamic farm near Seattle. For $40/week, they would deliver a box overloaded with seasonal produce. Sometimes the box was so heavy, I needed help to lift itWe would also get grass fed beef, pasture raised eggs and chickens, and the occasional produce from the Farmer’s market. Prices were similar to the mainstream crap at Safeway, and about 1/2 the price of Whole Foods99% of our food came out of our own kitchen. Winnie made kombucha, kimchee, and artisan bread. She made French food, Italian food, Thai food, Chinese Food, American food, and some of her own creations. She is an amazing chefI’ve heard a lot of people say they eat out often, or get take out, because “I can’t cook.” Don’t tell Winnie I said this, but she wasn’t always queen of the kitchen. Over the course of our last 3 or 4 years in Seattle, she really came into her own through a tried and true method: practice. This was one of her favorite text books: The New Best Recipe
- Dining Out – Total dining out: $80. Dining out was rare, with the exception of the occasional weekend pastry from an amazing bakery or for date night. When we did dine out, it was usually for traditional Asian food for ~$15/meal. Or sometimes for pho, where a large bowl for 2 cost $5.95
- Alcohol – Drinks with friends was a regular event for us, usually at one of the more upscale drinking establishments available: the back porch of a friends’ home. We would usually buy a box of fine wine for $18 at Safeway, and it would last a month. Sometimes there was too much wine so we might go 2 months without buying more. We would also sometimes go for Happy Hour at an Irish Pub, with 2 for 1 Guinness or Hard Cider for $5(I once bought a wine making kit from somebody on Craigslist for $5. The result was undrinkable, but provided several months worth of cooking wine)
- Entertainment – Actual Entertainment expenses from Oct 2012: $25.93. This was $15 for 2 tix to a concert in a small venue, $8.75 for Netflix, and $2.18 to print some photos at Walgreens.Not included here is all of the FREE Entertainment that we would enjoy regularly… walks through a nearby old growth forest, bike rides along the lake, talking with vendors at the Farmer’s Market, reading books from the library, or dinner parties with friends (already included in groceries and alcohol, above)
- Misc – Actual Misc expenses from Oct 2012: $38.13. This included a birthday card, laundry, some cleaning supplies, and $18 for RAM for our Macbook Air.Sometimes we bought clothes, often from a thrift shop. I once bought 10 new t-shirts for $1 from a thrift shop because they were turning over inventory.
Seattle is a high cost of living area, true. We certainly weren’t living in poverty, spending 25% more than the Federal Poverty Level for a Family of 2. And certainly some months we spent more than this
But it was this kind of spending that allowed us to save 70%+ of our after-tax income for years, and even deposit my whole paycheck into our brokerage account once the dividends and interest covered all of our expenses
On the flip side, we had friends that were spending 2x our total expenses just on rent, while also having a lease on a BMW 3-series, paid parking, regular dining out, etc… (And maybe commenting on blogs about how they want to live a little and it isn’t possible to save in their area :-P )
We definitely spend more now, but we would both happily return to our little oasis in Seattle. Spending more hasn’t translated into greater happiness, although much more freedom certainly has
This is awesome. It really goes to show that “living a little” does not have to cost a lot, and you can live a perfectly fulfilling and happy life in what some apparently call “poverty.”
I’ve concluded that living a little has nothing to do with how much you spend, and everything to do with how much time is truly yours
That’s awesome you can show how “easy” it can be to live simple regardless of where you are. We try to do the same, and then save like crazy. While we haven’t gotten extreme about it, we have cut out blind consumerism and keeping up with the Joneses which allows us to save even more. We live comfortably on what our in-laws think is “too little” even though we have spreadsheets and graphs showing it isn’t. Plus, we’re happy, so clearly it isn’t too little for us!
Spreadsheets and graphs don’t lie :)
I always found it interesting how much other people like to tell frugal people how to spend their money. I always wanted to say, “Sorry, I only take advice from people that have already accomplished my goals.” In the case of the in-laws though, I would probably just smile and nod
That’s pretty much how we roll right now in early retirement too (and roughly the same while working).
We own our house so housing is slightly less expensive. But only slightly less since property taxes, insurance, and maintenance recur every year. Utilities still add up since we’re living in 1800 sf and it gets HOT in the summers here.
We own 2 cars which seems incredibly wasteful and we might drop to 1 once Mrs. RoG drops the work habit (which might happen today??). With kids and living where we do, I don’t think we’ll ever ditch cars completely (they are too convenient and we are lazy :) ). Old Honda’s don’t cost too much to keep on the road either, so there’s that.
I’m with you on the groceries, alcohol, dining out, and entertainment expenses. We spend a decent amount on groceries so we can cook awesome food at home 99% of the time and spend almost nothing on dining out. Entertainment is mostly free (there’s a huge world out there that doesn’t require an admission fee, and my borrow my mom’s netflix login and save $4/month that way).
It’s really hard to say we are living a life of poverty, but based on our monthly spending we are. $2300/month is the poverty line for a family of 5, and we underspend that amount in most months. Maybe those internet commenters bashing early retirement are right! :)
Okay, back to doing anything I want all day from my heated 4 BR house filled with unlimited entertainment options and computers and TV’s and cars in the driveway and… :)
Did she quit?
Not today. Today, in order to retain her for a few more months, they offered her a 3 month paid sabbatical for May, June and July. HR still has to approve but it’s been cleared by everyone below the COO or CEO or whoever she reports up to.
So I guess work March and April with a week or two vacation here and there. Off May-July, then come back in August and wrap it up. Basically a month or two of work for a half year’s salary.
Or one more year lol. What do you do if they keep offering many months of paid time off every year and/or flexible work and/or more money (she just got a fat raise and bonus)?
I worked 3 years too long for similar reasons. At some point my heart was no longer in it, and it was clear I would rather be doing something else
Perhaps the key is identifying that something else. After a point, more money is just… more
I’m pee my pants happy about her sabbatical. 3 months to test run the RE part of FIRE. Kids are in school for half that so long vacations are very unlikely during those 6 weeks.
She is still concerned about her work getting done and training a replacement and being a conscientious worker, so her heart is still in it to a large degree. She told her boss yesterday in their meeting that she probably won’t stick around much past August when she returns from her sabbatical (though she also told him that about December 2014!).
We’ll see. Not a bad spot to be in at all.
I’ve already got our schedule worked out for May 1st when her sabbatical starts. Walk the kids to school, have breakfast with them. Bring our rackets with us and play a round of tennis at the park next to the school. Walk back home, shower, have an early lunch. Read a book or watch an episode of our favorite show on netflix. Walk up to get the kids from school and maybe go back to the park to let them do homework. Kind of like my life now but with a full time partner in crime. :)
I think she’ll be hooked once she gets a good 3 month taste of “real life”.
I’d love to know which text book Winnie used for cooking… it looks like you meant to link it?
Link should be fixed now. “The New Best Recipe” book
Yep, how much you spend is all about the choices you make. MMM once commented that the USA is simultaneously one of the cheapest industrialized countries in the world to live in and the most expensive, because essentially the full range of everything in the world is available for your buying (or not buying) convenience. Living in a supposedly high-COL city is a microcosm of that.
America, where you can buy anything (with financing)
Great illustration that some initial work on selecting the right location to live does all the heavy lifting. Potentially lower rent/mortgage, lower transportation costs, added health benefits from walking biking…
Another great argument for renting, too. People need more time & flexibility in choosing a place to live than they usually think they do.
Exactly, these were all conscious choices. For some people, getting to a similar place might involve selling a home, selling a car, selling 90% of the stuff that fills the house and car, moving, buying a bike, getting in good enough shape to ride the bike, and so on
Which was exactly what I had to do in previous years
I’m a huge fan of renting. After 10 years of living in Seattle, I think I finally know the city enough that I know the ideal area for our desired lifestyle. I still wouldn’t buy because the numbers don’t make sense, but the point being that had we purchased before really knowing the city we would have had to compromise in some way
I’m considering moving to the Seattle area when I retire at the end of the year. My desired lifestyle pretty closely matches your own, where have you found to be the idea area?
Doh! Nevermind. Looks like you said University District in the post about the 900 sq. ft. 1 bedroom apartment.
The U-district was a compromise, because I needed to commute across Lake Washington for work.
Remove work from the equation, and we would (probably) live on the edge of Ballard/Fremont or in Wallingford. Both of these neighborhoods are walkable, have weekly farmer’s markets, and have easy public transport options into downtown
Although… now that the train is (or soon will be) connecting the U-district to Capital Hill, it looks much more appealing
Which goes to show… the city evolves, personal needs evolve, and as they do the ideal living arrangement may as well. Another win for renting
If we were new to Seattle, we might also choose West Seattle. It is a great neighborhood. But since we have a lot of friends in Capital Hill & Ballard, it is a little too far out of the way
Excellent! I appreciate the Seattle neighborhood recommendations.
Great article Jeremy! It really shows a great example of how a couple can lead a happy and fulfilling life on a reasonable amount of money.
Thanks for all the great writing.
Thanks Jack!
Great post. Nice to show that you lived in a high cost of living area and that it really didn’t cost that much at all. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Mrs Bug
Ok, I have to ask this – how is it that you only spent $10/month for electricity? Doesn’t it get cold in Seattle in the winter? And didn’t you ever have to use A/C?
I’m asking, because I am looking for your tips. That’s because I am spending waay more than $10/month in electricity. I don’t want to provide my electric company with too much profit…
Seattle has some of the cheapest electricity in the nation, thanks to a couple city owned hydroelectric power plants, and the water temperature in Puget Sound is nearly constant year round which has a great moderating effect on temperature in the region
In the summer, the electric bill was lower. The sun rises around 4:30 am and sets at 10 pm in the peak of summer, and we were always outside. A “hot” day in Seattle is 75 F / 24C so AC is not very common. There are very few bugs, so people just open doors and windows
In winter, our electric bill would go up 3-4x, as far as I recall. Lights were on longer (all CFLs) and Seattle temperatures get to around the mid 30’s F / 2C (still mild compared to many parts of the country)
2 of our apartment’s 4 walls and our floor were shared with common areas or other apartments. Only 1 wall of our bedroom was exposed to the outdoors. This helped minimize heat loss
Each room had its own wall-mounted electric heater, and we would only heat the room we were in to ~67-68. Cooking at home is also a great heat source. At night, we turned the thermostat in the bedroom down to the high 50’s. We usually wore thick socks around the house and to bed and had a thick down comforter. Since I have no hair, I would also wear a hat. I find lower temperatures help provide a great night’s sleep. This was a practice I adopted from Winnie, since Taipei homes don’t typically have heaters so in the winter everybody wears warm clothes and jackets indoors
I might be off a little on the total, but not by a large amount. I used to pay this bill through Fidelity’s billpay, which doesn’t keep records older than 2 years so I had to estimate this bill from memory. I remember in the summer, 90% of the bill was just the fee to have service and the rest was for actual electric usage
One idea I heard once was to buy enough of a company’s stock to provide a dividend equal to what you pay for service. This would work with electricity from a utility, shampoo and dental floss from JNJ, cell service from T, etc…
I know Jacob over at ERE mentioned looking at expenses in terms of how much needs to be invested to pay for a purchase with dividends/interest. I like the logic, but that’s years from now for a financial independence wannabe such as myself. It is motivating to read about people pulling it off so well though.
In the past, I’ve paid at least 6 dollars to have my bill processed each month.
In the grand scheme of a total budget, $6 is pretty close to zero
By focusing on the Big 3, Housing, Transportation, and Food, you get 80% of the optimization in total spending.
As an example, let’s assume our electric bill was $100. This changes our total spending by only about 5%, because we designed our lives such that the Big 3 were relatively low
I think it starts out with a little sacrifice and it grows into a goal and a destination that you care more about than a BMW or eating out every day.
And wouldn’t you know it, today we could have a different color BMW for each day of the week, and pay a private driver to chauffeur us around. We just happen to call it Uber, and most of the time we still walk/bike/bus
We do eat out everyday though, since the economics are favorable and we enjoy eating a wide variety of food. In many restaurants here, we can eat lunch for $3 or make the same thing at home for $3.
“A person that lives well below their means can always choose to increase spending. A person that is already spending everything they earn has few options, in spending or in life” Exactly!
Wow, I somehow missed that juicy little nugget when reading this before because I was in a hurry to see the budget numbers.
Sometimes I slip juicy nuggets of wisdom into these posts, just to see if you are really reading them ;)
You got me this time! A 2 year old distracted me and I came back to finish reading the budget items and apparently missed the good bits.
Thanks for the post! In one of the comments I mentioned that I was hoping for a little details about the journey…one was the expenses and the other is what did you invest in. This clears up one of them. I am one of those who have been very interested in early FI, but didn’t think it was possible for those in high cost areas. While I do think it’s possible, I still wonder if it’s only possible if all the stars align…well most of them. $1038 rent is pretty good though a one bedroom in NYC, even farther away from Manhattan, in a tougher part of town, and not as convenient, you could get that rent here. Sure you can also get roommates, but it’s a little tougher when you have a kid. If only I had learned of early FI earlier. I do admit that I have a car, though I drive to work out to Long Island where public transportation options are not like NYC. And if we move, it would also be tough due to my wife’s job, childcare, etc. The other categories, we are more or less comparable…except maybe cellphones…and also my student loans.
Hi Andrew
I think for most people the stars only align if you force them to, not an easy task. The heavens don’t easily succumb to the will of man
I used to own a house and a car, and be out of shape so hard to ride a bike (round is a shape.) I have lots of faults, but perhaps my best quality is that when I do decide to take action, I usually do it like an unstoppable freight train. So I sold the house, moved, started biking, dropped the dining out habit… Around this same time I met Winnie, and she reinforced these practices as she was saving 50% of her income
It wasn’t always easy and a straight path. Sometimes we would regress, but by not having a car and already living in a walkable area, it couldn’t regress too far. We designed the system to reinforce our goals, instead of trying to force our goals on the system
We really tested our boundaries. I mentioned the $465/month apartment in Chinatown. It was… not horrible. But it forced a longer commute (30 more minutes on a bus each way), the neighborhood was sketchy at night, and the only grocery store in the area was expensive (but easy access to Asian markets.) So we learned from that, and found our great place near the University. It cost more, but overall our cost of living didn’t increase tremendously, but quality of life was much higher.
This is how we went through the process. Finding the balance is hard
Good luck!
Jeremy
Yes most people can’t get it that sacrifice in your 20’s and 30’s leads to FI in the 40’s. Too many want everything right now and from personal experience people can’t figure out why I work so little. My fellow co-workers thought I was cheap and mocked me about it. Now my boss openly says I’m a lucky man when they are pulling their hair out. I do feel fortunate at this time.
I don’t even think of any of it as a sacrifice. We had an awesome life filled with everything we wanted, exceed freedom
I used to get a little (respectful) teasing from people at work when I would arrive on my bike, especially if it was raining. Then one day I raced a co-worker home. I called him after a nice ride, having really pushed hard up a couple hills, and he was still in his car stuck in traffic on the bridge across the lake. I made it home much faster, cheaper, healthier
Man those are incredibly impressive numbers. I regret not doing more to walk/bike around before we purchased a house. We definitely didn’t choose our location that way before I got the FI bug. Houston has never been walk/bike friendly anyway.
Now we have a house. We don’t save on the transportation, but our home cost is super low with a roommate.
I bought a house when I moved to Seattle in 2000, and sold it in 2005. I would describe it exactly the way you did… not great for transportation, but cheaper because of a roommate.
I might have a hard time walking in Houston, in the summer at least with the crazy humidity. Or maybe you get used to it. On a bike though you get the breeze
Jeremy,
Nice breakdown on the spending. Good stuff!
What I find is that just cutting down on the “Big Three” – housing, transportation, and food – has a major effect on your spending. And due to the abundance here in the USA, it doesn’t take much to live significantly below your means and still have a high quality of life. Once you cut down on the big stuff, you can go out and have fun on very little money. It’s just that most people are trapped by a huge mortgage payment and way-too-much car. I think people have this idea of frugality as eating cat food with a blanket around you because you don’t have the heat on. That’s not my idea of frugality, anyway.
Some view living below your means as a sacrifice. I view the far bigger sacrifice in life as working until you’re in your 60s.
Best regards!
Hi Jason
Exactly. It’s the 80/20 Principle at work. 80% of a typical budget is spent on housing, transportation, and food. If you fix those 3, you can’t go too far astray, even if you try
While we were accumulating, I think our quality of life was substantially greater than most of our peers. We just spent much more efficiently. So ironically, we have more freedom and greater quality of life. That doesn’t sound like a sacrifice at all
I gotta say, your current lifestyle seems much more enjoyable than your accumulation phase, but that’s from an outside perspective. I personally struggle with how much to try and cut, as our income still has afforded us a high savings rate. I’ve been working on the big things (BMW gone as of last week, expensive truck gone soon) but where to start drawing a line is tough, especially as my wife is slower to adapt and still sees many things as sacrifices.
Our current lifestyle is much more enjoyable, but probably not for the reasons you were thinking
Unlimited free time and location independence are awesome
Otherwise, our quality of life in Seattle was incredible. I would choose Seattle over Taipei any day, but it is fun for now
Congrats on making changes. We didn’t know where to draw the line either, it required experimentation to figure out. It’s possible to do anything for 3 months, and if you don’t like it after that trial period you can always go back to the old ways. Change can be hard, but can be made easier if it is just on a trial basis
Even “early retirement” doesn’t have to be permanent
Each person needs to come to their own conclusion in their own way, but I think these two quotes are spot on:
Jason (Dividend Mantra) in the comment above said: The real sacrifice is working until you are in your 60’s.
Or as Jim Collins said: Think of saving money as spending. What you are buying with it is your freedom
Yes, I could see how the free time and location independence are probably the greatest parts. I think you also have more luxury of freedom in how you spend your time (Language lessons, arts, spending time with friends out) now compared to when you were in Seattle.
I think both of those quotes are great as well. I do think though that no matter what, everyone makes sacrifices when they make these choices. The important thing is that sacrifice is not necessarily bad, and in the bigger picture well worth it.
I will gladly sacrifice some crap that won’t make me markedly happier to shave decades off my working career. I think not acknowledging the sacrifice, can drive more people away from the concept. The bigger piece is the journey to realize what makes you happy, and figure out how much is truly enough.
Thanks for the post! I’ve wondered about what kind of expenses you had during the ten years and a day. These numbers are pretty impressive. We do pretty well, but we aren’t quite this good… yet :).
Now that you’ve put in the work, you get to enjoy your well-earned luxury! Keep up the good work with the blog. I love reading it.
Yet :)
Is it accurate to multiply this out for the entire year, so 12 x $1,638 = ~$20,000 all-in for a year?
I recreated this from memory and partial data, so there is probably some error in it. Maybe 20%?
This also doesn’t include vacations, which might add $1000 to the year (we typically used frequent flier miles and hotel points)
Probably the one and only valuable Yahoo article I stumbled across. Thank you! I’ve been in deliberation for a while on how to accomplish the same thing. Lots of good advice!
Loved reading your posts. I am about to embark on a new chapter in my life. Living on my own in West Seattle. I started work almost 10 years ago, but only started accumulating 5 years ago after the financial meltdown. I stashed away almost the entirety of my pay in my investment and ROTH accounts and the minimum to get the match in my 401K. Today I’d like to think I’m financially independent. I’m glad I came across your blog as I was about to make the mistake of buying a place. Now I won’t. I think I’ll lease an apartment for $1250 for a year or two while I figure out what my next steps should be as I’m planning to see the world when I choose to retire in a couple of years after putting in the minimum time to qualify for social security and to hopefully get my net worth up to 1.5m before I call it quits to roam the world. Thanks again for all the insights!
Awesome, congratulations on reaching FI!
I did end up buying a condo because the cost of the mortgage, taxes and HOA fees was low enough that it matched the price of rent. I may or may not be able to break even when I sell the place when I choose to move on, but at least I will be able to live in my own place. :)
Just found your blog after mainlining Mr. Money Mustache and ERE for a couple months; my wife and I are starting out on our journey to financial independence. I am really enjoying reading about your experiences and also hearing stories about the old neighborhood (we used to have a place on 42nd ST when we were both at UW). If you lived in the building I think you did, two of our good friends may have been your downstairs neighbors!
Also, God bless Finn MacCool’s. We had many a night of shenanigans there.
Go Curry Craker,
Is there anyway I Perry, can get in contact with you guys? I have a few questions in mind that I would love to discuss in private with GCC.
Very Respectfully,
Perry
ps: really love this blog and love the email you guys sent!
The contact page?
Loved it.
Where did you live in Seattle?
A couple blocks from UW
https://gocurrycracker.com/home-sweet-home/
This is us 100% of the way! We can easily live the same lifestyle and we pretty much are at the moment.
The only thing that my wife and I suck at is where to invest our money to ensure the profits later? Perhaps you could push us into the right direction. Also, how did you know (or how can one calculate) when you will be able to retire based on current savings?
Thanks so much!!
Hey Jason
Take a look at this book for ideas on how to invest.
You want to aim for invested assets worth 25x target cost of living. For an idea of timeframe, see this post.
I’m not sure this is the right spot for this comment, but readying more of your posts, the thing that blows me away is how easily you can live well for almost no money at all. I mean, you weren’t fighting traffic, you didn’t have pollution where you lived, you had great food handy, and someone you loved to share things with. Isn’t this 99.9999999999999 percent of happiness? It just takes having the courage and confidence to not sync up with the dominant culture. And the funny thing is that — other than where you live — almost no one ever has a clue how you really live anyway. Cheers, Hombre. Cheers.
That’s the meaning of life right there.
I agree with you, for the most part, regarding housing, transportation, and entertainment costs. When people argue that their high cost choices are necessities, I don’t see that as reality.
Healthcare is an entirely different story, though – choices are extremely limited. You were incredibly lucky to be offered a $0 out of pocket plan – I’ve literally never heard of that! That is not an option available to most people, and it can be a very significant expense