When did the idea of wanting to live a less complicated life hit you? What built up to it?

submitted by forgottenpasswordguy from self.simpleliving

Just a quick generic starter post that may or may not invite some discussion

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[–]runtis 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Good starter post!

I worked too much, but had nothing to show for my money because I had no time to do figure out what with it. So I just spent it on stuff. I was overweight, alcoholic, my personal life was in shambles. All my friends were work friends, or drinking friends.

I had stopped liking my job. I certainly hated my life. In short - I just had enough of it.

So I gave away all the stuff in my apartment. Did not have much anyway because I was hardly in it. And I left the country I was working in. I stopped working for about a year. I stopped spending money on stuff I don't need.

I finally watched TV and films I never had the time to see.

I bought a piece of shit boat that eats up my money but gives me projects to work on and something outside of my career industry to do.

I have a garden. I grow herbs, flowers, and some stuff for food. In the summer I had tomatoes and blueberries. My winter garden is struggling a little because it has been warmer. But everyday I have fresh rocket, lettuce, spinach, chives, basil etc. We just had a frost so I can pick some oranges.

I used to only read things for work. Now I have time to read, though I spent a lot of time on Reddit. But I don't spend a lot of time there now because of their censorship and "wokeness". I am part of the LGB community, and female, and not white - but the woke have become too intolerant. Now I look for my own sources and post here if I enjoyed something.

I eat healthy. I go to the gym (have been open for a few weeks now). Though I fell off the bandwagon during corona isolation I am getting back into the swing of things, and back into form.

I actually have time to see family. Though sometimes I prefer not too. Can't pick them...

I am working again, but have a better approach to balancing that now. But now I am saving money instead of buying all the things.

What about you?

[–]forgottenpasswordguy[S] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

Heck yeah, welcome! I'm in my mid 20s and while it wasn't such a huge transformation and breaking point like yours, I simply started to realize that I am always trying to bite off more than I can chew. I wanted to dive into so many different hobbies, watch or read every single interesting thing that I came across, take on every project that I could, work out, be a student, work many hours, etc. I was half-assing every category in life and wasting time burnt out, all because I wanted to take on so many different things.

Half of those videos in my watch later playlist weren't that interesting, I don't need to tinker with my daily driver and my project car, I need to stop telling my friends that it has been a busy year, etc. I don't have it figured out yet, but I do think I'm heading in a better direction!

The gardening sounds great, I'd love to get into that when I have a place of my own. I've finally started getting consistent with the gym too, it has always been a phase that came and went every 3 or 4 months, I hope to keep nailing it and become my ideal self.

[–]runtis 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I just garden in pots and containers mostly. The oitrus trees were already here. You can start a garden!

I am the same, i start books that I never finish because I want to read something else. I have trouble watching movies because I want to go do something else. There's so much to see and do, it can be overwhelming.

I'm older than you and I'm still working on my ideal self. I'm glad you made this sub.

[–]forgottenpasswordguy[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'll get to the gardening thing for sure one day! And yep, there is too much to do. Anyways I'm glad you like the sub and hope you stick around. It was one of my favorites from the other site, so one of the first ones for me to copy as time permits.

[–]yayblueberries 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

When I finally left my parents house and had to gather up all of my accumulated belongings. Although, my grandparents and my parents were all pack rats, which drove me nuts over the years. Every time we moved it became a multi-day PITA because of so much junk having to be moved because nothing but actual trash ever seemed to get tossed. And every single room in the house felt cluttered no matter what was done with the "stuff" in those rooms. Who the hell needs knick-knacks all over?

I reached breaking point when I was moving out. I piled up all my belongings in the one room that had decent floor space and couldn't believe how much stuff there was. I told my packrat mother, who was mostly the reason why I still had most of that stuff ("Can't throw anything away you might need it someday!") that anything I left behind at that moment was hers to deal with. And I left MOST of everything that wasn't of practical use or truly cherished. I've never looked back and have continually pared down my belongings over time to mostly only the necessary and those needed for continued activities I enjoy.

[–]forgottenpasswordguy[S] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

I feel you on that for sure. I'm a hobbies guy, and hobbies often require stuff. There are a lot of things I only do a handful of times a season and it makes me wonder what's worth keeping around. I'm also big on self sufficiency, so there are even more things laying around that only get used a few times a year. When one of my good friends moved he had a tv, a couple bags of clothes, his phone, and an xbox-it was something to think about.

I still have most of my stuff, but generally it's everything I "need" and nothing I don't. I've gotten rid of a lot this year, and what I do have is quality, repairable, functional, etc-I don't have to think about upgrading or replacing things at least. Another sub I want to recreate here is buyitforlife

[–]yayblueberries 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I just thought about it and realized that most of my belongings that aren't practical everyday things definitely are for my hobbies (I like cooking when I have the appliances to do so, so I have a lot of kitchen stuff, and I have a lot of pens, pencils, and markers and papers for drawing)! What's funny is that they don't bother me, but the amount of space clothing and other fabrics (such as bedding) does, despite that those things are totally necessary. I enjoy people like your friend who can enjoy having just those few objects. Although, I did figure out all my stuff fits into a 5' x 10' storage unit with space to spare.

Having things that are quality, repairable, and functional is definitely super important! We live in such a throwaway culture, especially since there are so many cheaply made products that break in only a few years, that I think that sub would be a fantastic addition.

[–]kallyr 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I've been kept on a tight leash my entire life - so when I went off to college (free in my country if you have decent grades) my parents controlled me by threatening to cut off my spending money (food and dorm rent) every time I wouldn't do what they wanted. It wasn't much but it was definitely a control thing. A year in, I got a job and told myself that I'll never allow anyone to control me with money again. I learned a lot from frugal, simpleliving, eatcheapandhealthy and have trained myself to only buy what I really need or really want. It wasn't difficult since I started this lifestyle right when I got my first paycheck. I track my spending and plan my "fun" money. During the summer I have two months where I don't plan to save anything, I just travel cheaply.

This shit started again, but now it was my job that tried to control me. A few months ago, I quit a downright abusive job on the spot in the middle of one of the most severe lockdowns in the world. I had nothing else lined up and I could have never done that if I hadn't been habitually saving up for years. Everyone acted like I was completely insane and ungrateful because people were being fired left and right, but I was pretty relaxed since I knew I had enough in my bank for food and bills for almost a year. I think this is an underrated aspect of simple living - nobody can control you by dangling your livelihood in front of you

[–]forgottenpasswordguy[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I bet quitting on the spot felt amazing, that's something that will stick with you. Overall I love my job but there are times I feel like I'm being a pushover. My manager thinks there is no possible way he could be wrong and will cut people off mid sentence merely because he is the manager and has been there a while. It doesn't really effect anyone, I just let him "win" to get it out of the way go about my day as usual. Maybe when I'm ready to go though I'll say what needs to be said! Someone on the other websites version of this sub shared this website which has a great article on what you are talking about https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/05/26/guest-posting-financial-independence-23-years-later/