Living Uh, SMALL-er- The NEW Lifestyle!
Yes, it is 4:48 a.m. in the morning! However, I am WIDE awake-keeping vampire hours! Let me not digress! To those of you who had high powered and highly lucrative jobs/careers and either had been laid off, terminated, retired either forcibly or otherwise, how are you surviving such events? Do you feel that you have to sacrifice your standard of lifestyle and living or are you worth MORE in your current status than you were in your past employment status? Are you coming to terms with your new status?
When you get down to the basics we will have to lower our standards to compete with the other economies of this open market world system. Yeah sure that furniture or blanket is so much more affordable now that it is made in China or Pakistan but since we can only get a job at Walmart how can we afford to buy it? Eventually the prices will come down even father but what economic freedom will we have at that time?
Although I didn't have a three figure salary,I did live large.
After leaving I did have to make quite an adjustment to my newer humble lifestyle.
Overall I am glad for the less stressful ,simpler way of living.Good for you! Even though I am retired, I find out that I am actually worth more and live better than when I was employed..............go figure that!
That actually makes a lot of sense gmwilliams - outside of monetary, but in terms of not having to live the grinding rat race every day, waking up to a blaring radio to get up, dressed, rushing out the door commuting in traffic to sit in an office 9 hours a day. Then you go home and you are too tired to do anything else.
When you are retired the pace is yours and how you want it. You get to spend your time the way you want to and not have to be a wage slave. You get to pursue other interests and activities that make you happy.
I hate to say this but it's true -- I know there are a few overworked, underpaid, frazzled, doing-the-work-of-3-people types who do have jobs and have no time for "life" may envy those who don't.
If anyone out there is unemployed right now -- please don't get depressed. Keep trying of course but look around you -- there are many things you could do to enrich yourself until you find another job.
I live fine on almost nothing. I live in luxury compared to more than half of the world.
GM, I was forced to retire 10 years ago, and "living rich" is certainly the way that I live right now. I felt so guilty for not working and bringing home a pay check, so I kept looking for work when I really didn't have to. I later figured out that it wasn't the money that I missed, but the process of working and seeing a visible pay check for my work. With my pension, I didn't get used the idea of getting the money just because I was retired. As for the past lifestyle? It wasn't worth it. The more money you make, the more chance you are going to spend and waste. Finally, I have come to a place in life where I certainly want to be. By being forced to retire, I dumped a lot of habits in my life that I considered excess baggage--my now ex-husband who used to back his Brinks truck into my banks and accounts, mindless shopping, grazing in expensive restaurants, etc. When you look hard at your life, you will make the necessary changes. You will simplify. The biggest joy that I've found is the fact that I am a spiritual person who can be happy anywhere and anytime. So, I keep downsizing my material things. When you break it all down, it comes to the relationships--not the money and the material wealth that a lot of people are after.
Oh yes! When I was making much much more, I shopped constantly and did not save. Now that I have retired, I am saving more money. However, I do find that I am living much better. I do quality shopping now instead of quantitative shopping. Okay, my weakness is amazon.com- I just love them!
In retirement, I am actually saving money, too! And why wouldn't a person be able to save? Going to work means paying for transportation, clothing, meals out, etc. Since I don't have this huge chunk of change to spend on work, my major luxury these days is a good read. With Amazon.com, you don't even need to leave the house!
