The Minimalist Lifestyle

[gene2009]

Originally Posted by elucidate

If you'll notice Kiba started this thread over 3 years ago!

Yeah, i've saw. But if you'll notece this thread wasn't dug by me after 3 years.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Kiba

The Minimalist Lifestyle

I was going to reply to this thread yesterday but I guess I got sidetracked.


There is currently a post in the SBI forums about an SBI'er who is making somewhere around $1000 a month. Several months ago he moved to Bali where he has been living well on an extremely low budget. He is literally "retired" at 26 years old and on a $1k/month income. He said the prices for everything over there are so low that he is doing just fine even on such a limited budget, only paying $200/month in rent and such.

So... one option is to move to a third-world country where your money goes 5x as far. (well Bali is more 2nd world but you get my point)

[Andrew Brunelle]

Minimalism isn't just about a low budget lifestyle. It is about living with less and not feeling deprived. I know that I've saved over $13,000 in the past 2 years due to a semi-minimalist lifestyle. I call it semi-minimalist because I could always own less, spend less. If you could live on 10K and save 20K, that would be amazing. If you can save 2/3 of your income, you are going to be much better off come retirement...although your money will be worth less due to inflation.

I suggest you read Zenhabits.net and other minimalist books/blogs to get the true feel of what it is like being a minimalist. I've been on that path for a few years now and it has worked out pretty well. I don't need all the newest toys, I drive a 10 year old car that works great, and if something I own breaks, I fix it instead of just getting a new one.

I challenge myself every day to see how far I can go when it comes to the minimalist lifestyle, and I have to say I'm not about to live in a house with no furniture or electricity, but I can honestly say that surviving on less than 10K is definitely possible, especially if you live with a roommate. Otherwise, you'll end up spending at least 5K on rent over a whole year. I pay $350 a month, which is half of a mortgage payment. My electric bill is very low, except in the summer.

Living light is the key to saving the planet. But when I say living light, so many people have different interpretations of "light." As a final goal, the ultimate minimalist would live in a very small home, with very few possessions and a very uncluttered life. It is always a work in progress, but we all have to more towards less, because less is more.

[movingtoayurt]

Almost every week, I hear friends tell me how they would "like to live with less." But very few take the necessary steps, mostly because they have no idea what they want less of. But listening to them and reading between the lines (did I mix metaphors there?) it sounds like what they need is less stress, caused by the way they are living. My wife and I live a fairly intense form of minimal living, but our motivation has less to do with cutting back to prove that we are environmentally responsible than it does with looking for ways to focus on other things that are very important to us.
But I have a problem with self-righteous people who appproach minimalism (or consumerism) with the attitude that "it's right for me, so it's right for everyone." We all have unique priorities, needs and wants. I like the previous writer's approach of moderation.
For sure, there are drawbacks to living like we do (see my blog at Yurt Living), but there exceptional benefits, if we approach our altered lifestyle sensibly.
By the way, we live completely "off the grid," but have all the energy we require, just by making a few adjustments.
Necessity is the mother of invention, they say!
Just one last point, though. If you choose minimalism to reduce the stress of your busy and complicated life, expect that you are still going to be experiencing stress when you live "close to the bone." It's just a stress of your own choosing.

[secrets0stolen]

Originally Posted by hymalaia

Kiba, you should check out this guy:

Ran Prieur

He's pretty hardcore about living cheap, if you read the zines he goes into things like squatting and dumpster diving. You may not want to go that far but he's good inspiration, living on something like 5-6k a year. Unfortunately he's recently run into some dental issues it seems that is threatening to wipe out his savings.

I second this recommendation. Ran Prieur is awesome.

[Bizarre Jester]

Originally Posted by Kiba

I am interested in a really low budget lifestyle, that is really low budget living.

But so far, it seem difficult to find such information on the web.

That makes sense, everyone is trying to convince us to spend more money, and buy certain products. I'm be interested in living a low budget lifestyle myself. I already only spend money on needs like food and gas, but that really adds up for me. I would also rather work on finding ways to generate more income, rather then only buying what I absolutely need to survive.

[pjhaggerty]

check out

Early Retirement Extreme: — written by Jacob Lund Fisker, Freelancer

he lives on less than 10,000 dollars a year, or he has in the past...