DISQUS

Nomadic Matt · 1 year ago

They do these studies of native tribes in the amazon and found that for all their "primitiveness," they only work like 10 hours a week to hunt and gather and what needs to be done. They spend the rest of their time telling stories and hanging out.

Not too bad..

Nomadic Matts last blog post..The Skills You Need

Nomadic Matt · 1 year ago

It also makes me think of the quote I have in my email: "be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are, when you realize nothing is lacking, the whole work belongs to you"- Lau Tzu

Nomadic Matts last blog post..The Skills You Need

Chad @ Sentient Money · 1 year ago

If that guy sold his badass cars, plane, house, etc. and invested that money he might actually be able to buy that stuff back in 10 years and have time to enjoy it. Think about it this way, if I offered to give you all that stuff, but I wanted 10 years of your life in return would you do it? Of course not, but if you spread it out over 50-60 years, as our society does, most people don't realize they are giving that much of their life away.

This post hits home with me.

Chad @ Sentient Moneys last blog post..Financing a Start-up

Gillian · 1 year ago

Lately, we've been looking at everything with new eyes. The first thought before purchasing anything now is 'will it fit in your backpack'? The second thought is 'how many days in Thailand/Chile/Turkey will this pay for'? These thoughts have certainly curtailed our spending dramatically.

I'm looking forward to coming home after our year away and seeing how else our consuming habits have changed. One thing I know is that, quite likely, we now live in the nicest home we will ever have...only b/c I don't think I will ever be willing again to have such a mortgage debt. It's not that time is money, but that money really is time - if I can live on less money, I can spend less time working.

Interesting point Matt, about the native tribes. I have always thought that we work because we always have ('we' being humans). Now we work for companies to make money to survive, whereas before we 'hunted and gathered' as work to survive. I wonder where the 40 (or 50, or 60) hour work week evolved from.

I think the goal is to be like Julie (from the previous post's comments) who seems to have managed to combine her passions and her work so that it is seamless. I'm not against working, but I would rather work for myself doing something I love - now I just have to figure that out!!

Julie · 1 year ago

Gillian-

I was just reading Christine's post and thinking how I calculate my expenses in terms of pages written or edited (the job that pays the bills). When I'm about to buy something--anything--I really do stop and think: How many pages is this going to cost me? At about four or five pages an hour (a formula my husband figured out)... well, you do the math.

But it's funny... when I had a "real" job, I never calculated anything (except the money being taken out of my check each week). I had a colleague, though, who had a better degree than all the rest of us and was also paid less than the rest of us. He was justifiably pissed abou the situation, and so he sat down to calculate how much his work was worth. He decided he was really getting paid for about two hours of work. So he led one group therapy session for patients a day and then he went into his office, shut the door, surfed the Internet, and played video games for the rest of the day. I'm not saying that's right, but I am saying that no one is going to value you the way you think you should be valued and sometimes you have to figure your out your own worth, which, as Christine says so well here, is about money. And also not.

Julies last blog post..Discover Lovely Long Island City!

Kyle · 1 year ago

Ditto to Julie. As a professional blogger, I calculate cost for everything in terms of, "How many stories do I need to write to pay for this?"

It makes life much simpler. I write for the money I need and the rest of the time I hang out and enjoy my life :)

Kyles last blog post..Filtering Chileans

Amber · 1 year ago

Its funny. In college, when I was paid hourly for jobs like waitressing or working at a bookstore, I would totally calculate out how many hours I would have to work to pay for something. Sure I want that new $50 sweater, but that means that I worked 5.714 hours to pay for it. Hmm.... I'll pass.

However, since I've had a salary, the money=time connection has ceased to exist for me. It doesn't matter how much I work... the amount of money is still the same. Therefore, it doesn't matter how much the consumables cost... they just add up to some equally nebulous figure.

Thanks for making me think about this. Now I'm going to figure out how much money I make an hour. I'm quite curious. :)

Ambers last blog post..Finding things

Julie · 1 year ago

Oh, Amber, don't do it. You're likely to be very depressed! ;) That's what sent my friend into a calculation frenzy... and then left the rest of us picking up the work he decided he'd no longer do because his salary really only paid him for two hours a day!

Julies last blog post..Discover Lovely Long Island City!

Lori · 1 year ago

Great post! Something I've learned to put in perspective (in addition to the amount of time I have) is that I will make $X in my entire lifetime. I will only make that number... and every time I spend on something, I'm giving away a little bit of $X. When I think about it like that, I really do rethink what I'm spending the money on. Not to make a Sex and the City reference... but does anyone really want to be Carrie, sitting in a shoe store realizing they have $40K worth of shoes, but nowhere to live. I know that I don't.

It's great to read about your experience... and the decisions you've had to make along the way. All good reminders.

Tanya · 1 year ago

You can use the time/money logic when people ask you why you would spend so much money to travel. Before leaving for France everyone was like "It's so expensive, why would you go there! You're not going to be able to do anything!" My answer was always "Why would I give up an amazing life experience that I will remember forever just because of a poor exchange rate?" Some people just look at the negative in every situation. They can stay at home with their dollars in a safe place, I'll go check out France, thank you very much!

Tanyas last blog post..

Kirsty · 1 year ago

Gillian I don't think people are working to survive anymore. Well, lots of people are, but many are working to consume things they don't need. I think the key is figuring out what you actually need to survive and then figure out the things you want and see what that costs you. Some people want stuff, some want travel. The key is finding something you love to do to get the money to survive and that bit extra to enjoy life. It helps if you're still enjoying life while you're working rather than dreading every second you spend there.

Christine I spent some time picking fruit in Australia and New Zealand and trust me, when you start thinking of things in terms of bins, spending falls drastically. We got about $25 per bin of apples, pears or whatever and those bins were MASSIVE and took a lot of effort to fill. The 425 suddenly has new meaning when you think of the sweat it took to earn it.

Kirstys last blog post..Addicted to Tim Ferriss (Four Hour Work Week Guy)