Chronicles of HumanEarl- Wake Up, Pay Bills, and Die
Good Job! You made it. Welcome to retirement. You've spent the past 60 years of your life doing what everyone else wants you to do. What are you going to do for the rest of your life now that everything is up to you? How much time do you think you have left before you die? Hopefully 15-25 years. But, what if you only have a day left? What if the day after retirement, you die? What things do you wish you would've done when you had the energy and time? I bet it wouldn't have been waking up just to pay bills.
Look... bills are something almost everyone in the world has to deal with but I often ask is there another way to eliminate most or all of them? For example, recently my wife and I calculated what we pay in rent for the whole year just to get a concrete look at the numbers. In her own words, "I feel like I'm being robbed."At this point in life we can't seem to bring ourselves to justify paying what we pay in rent every year. So we've decided we will no longer settle for just waking up everyday in order to focus on having to pay rent or any of these other so called "necessary" bills.
(A.W.)
We want something different. Now we're exploring what the van life could be like for us. So far our research is pretty exciting, especially knowing we can save an extra $15,000+ in a year. I mean come on, think about how much people spend just in rent alone every year. Also think about how most of the space that people pay for isn't even used. This makes no sense at all. To each his own.
My point about bills is that there are so many things we are told we have to pay for when in fact many things are just extra. Why would I spend all my time feeling like I'm obligated to get up everyday just to have to pay bills? What kind of life is that to live? Since as long as I can remember I could never picture myself graduating from college just to go sit in an office somewhere to afford a house or neither could I imagine myself doing the whole 9-5 thing. It's just not me. There are so many other important things in my life that I am focusing on chasing right now, one of which is not bills/ paying rent. Sure there will be other bills besides rent to deal with but still I can't get my head around the cost to live in an apartment that most likely has already been paid for many times over.
(Goals)
So yeah. As of now the plan is to get rid of most of what we have in our apartment, save up for a van, mod it out, and live in it with my family while being able to travel and experience this thing called life. Hopefully this will be a lot less burdensome on my mind and wallet. Who knows maybe I'll change my mind but as of now I can't keep having all my mental capacity warped by having to think about how most of the money I grind for is zapped away by rent and other expenses that can be reduced. I have to shake things up a bit and do something else. There are other important things in life that I need to focus on for the sake of my sanity.
Wow! It's really nice
Nice! I never did mobile living but it seems like it would be great.
I did have a similar method though. In order to spend your days focusing on doing what you love, rather than trying to make as much money as possible, I first tried to cut out as many expenses as I could. I went a little far with it, I tried to get down to zero but never made it that low, but I went from $1500 a month to about $150 a month.
By lowering your expenses rather than trying to make more money, you can spend more time doing what you love and eventually find ways to make money doing it. You don't feel as rushed so you can turn down opportunities that feel like they go against your nature. Now I can make almost as much as I did before but doing stuff I love.
Good thing is we have made adjustments to do just that. Cut our expenses to little or near nothing and spend more time actually living.
AWESOME POST! I enjoyed reading it so much, @humanearl :)
Upvoted & Followed you as well!
Thank you. I enjoyed creating it even more!
This is inspirational. I remember being there. I'm about to purchse about 8 acres in Arkansas for what I would have paid in property taxes over 4 years in Wisconsin. Also, we will be building our own house, no rent or mortgage. By providing the majority of our own food, the cost of living should be drastically reduced.
GO FOR IT!
Also, school buses work great. I used to live on one!
Wow. No rent or mortgage is nice. I'm thankful that you read this post. It means alot. How much does 8 acres in Arkansas go for? And also what do you plan on growing? Lastly how was living on a bus?
Lots of questions but I'm interested to hear your thoughts.
Ok, I'll give the condensed version.
There are still places that you can purchase land for $1000 an acre. Many places cost more than that, but some still exist. I was paying about $2000 in property tax per year in Wisconsin on a 1/4 acre. With the homestead credit and low property tax rates in Arkansas, I may not even have to pay property tax! If that is the case, I could either drop $8000 here for 8 acres once, or pay $2000 a year to have a restricted 1/4 acre with limited options and a shorter growing season.
About everything that can grow in my zone. From Noodle beans from Asia to Kiwano Melons from Africa, if it can grow here and I can eat it, then I want to. A lot of plants are already started, and the goal is just one giant food forest that could feed a small army. Plus, the animals!
I plan on eventually doing a series called "BUS BOY ADVENTURES." It is a long story, but basically we were a shaggy group of potheads who lived on a bus and traveled around Wisconsin. I was enjoyable and thankfully things never got too bad.
Your plan sounds really good. Hopefully everything goes well with that. True sustainability.
This is a great idea, though I like being close to the city where I can have a more direct impact on the world. You can do that on the internet, but I like to do it in the flesh. If this steemit thing works I hope it can provide lots of travel money so maybe I can live like you but still spend lots of time in other places.
I am glad that more and more people are realizing what you just wrote. It is not easy job to do so though, but at some point along with persistence, you will be able to get your van and do what you want to do, and be your own boss one day! Voted up, and thumbs up for being brave!
It may not be easy but from what I've endured for the last 2 years I'm ready. Thanks for understanding.
What a brave and admirable decision. Thanks for sharing it with us. Life is NOW, you are absolutely right! We're here to find our own purpose and not the one someone else has designed for us...
Best of luck for this great journey and new chapter of life 🍀
Resteemed
Thanks the support! Your posts are always encouraging as well.
Thank you 😌
Great plan, live your dream and enjoy every moment. You've caught a wave. Ride it with more inspiration such as: We sold it all, and never looked back @markwhittam, from 3 days ago :) resteemed
Yes I definitely feel this sense of just letting it all go.
That's awesome-- I wish you an amazing journey!
Reminds me of something I was told by an older gentleman, some 25+ years ago, shortly after I got out of college: "Retirement is actually better enjoyed while you're young!"
His point being that we tend to get trapped by grind, boredom and routine while we're young and strong... and by the time we finally have the freedom to go out and play, we're older, possibly tired... and more likely to be content sitting on a pier somewhere with a fishing pole... rather than exploring what the world has to offer.
That same man said of material accumulation and many people's obsession with it: "Shrouds have no pockets."
So many gems here. I will hold on to these. Thanks for your support and always providing such amazing content