Have any of you transitioned to a minimalist lifestyle?

[Lloyd the redneck]

Lake girl , my wife and I were discussing the same things yesterday on our 5 hour drive home from the inlaws. I agree with you 100%

 

[Lake Girl]

Is it minimalism you are shooting for or distinct separation between home life/work life?

Since your type of work at your location is fairly solitary, the other part of that thought ... are you OK working solo or do you miss the physical presence of colleagues?

 

[peakbagger]

I never thought in my prior career that I had the option of working from home but lucked out 8 years ago when I got my current job which is work from a home office up in the woods. Prior to this job I did a short stint in "cube farm" engineering office and don't think I would have survived it much longer if the company hadn't gone bankrupt. Even with headphones and constant tunes playing I still heard other folks and trying to have phone conversation was hopeless unless I could borrow an unoccupied office. I don't think I could ever go back to an office environment again and luckily I wont ever have to due to my simple lifestyle (supported by high tech internet and telecons).

I do replace the socializing around the coffee machine with posting on web forums like these. Not the same as face to face but it does help. Note I am single no kids and no animals underfoot. My boss actually rents an office rather than work at home as he had all three and couldn't get work done due to constant interruptions.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Depends on who you marry and how flexible you are in living with others ... 30 years, 6 children later and we still like each other Chances are the "nutjobs" were always "nutjobs" but in cognito. If one is rigid in their expectations, you may have a problem...

Our house is just under 2000 sq foot and housed 8 people. The bedrooms are not huge but, besides Hubby and I, the twins were the only ones that had to share a room. Once the oldest went to university, they got their own rooms too. I have been decluttering the house lately but there are some items from their childhood that will not go away ... the wall of books, the legos, some dolls and the boardgames will remain for when grandkids come to visit and need something to do on a rainy day.

Living out in the boonies has it's challenges... no grocery store around the corner so you have to become organized in your meal planning, know your consumption and have storage. The usual with children ... the school, doctor, dentist, after school activities become more time consuming with a 1/2 hour to hour drive time one way. We minimized on the activities to one at a time ... our girls took ballet/dance for about 12 years; some of the boys did tae kwon do for many years with a few soccer/baseball seasons thrown in. We also stayed away from the big ticket sports ... hockey locally ... with price tags on gear and then travel for games away. With the dance and tae kwon do, travel to competitive events was once or twice a year. There are some children who have so many activities, they have no time to just be ... or dream. Friends were always welcome and actually reduced the sibling fights!

Living at the lake has involved water toys ... simple noodles to boats. Again, expectations and realities can be managed. When the kids were little, a good chunk of time was spent on beach duty. Some of the kids would go off for hours in the canoe to explore (life jackets and let me know what general direction though!) Winter time - snow shoes, skis, sleds are far cheaper than snowmachines, excellent physical health promoters. Yes we do have the snowmachines but they are the oldies but goodies. Neighbour who bought a pontoon boat only goes out once or twice a year. Big investment for little return...

The children have seen first-hand why quality of items is more important than quantity ... They each have a dresser that was a hand-me-down made from real wood from their great grandparents' households (some were pretty sad when they got here and needed some TLC). The desks or bookcases that were bought for short term need are long gone due to the particle board content. You may pay more initially but it is bought once and done. We bought they oldest boys a bunk bed for our old house ... metal frame that lasted about 4 years before noticing cracks, etc. For the twins, I built a wood bunk bed that is in storage waiting for the next round.

Bottom line ... choices and planning.

As to your job, is it one that never truly gives you a break? On call 24/7? Do you work from one specific room in your home or anywhere/everywhere? Is it minimalism you are shooting for or distinct separation between home life/work life?

I am always in awe of folks who can manage large families and successful relationships, marriage included. I can barely keep it together for myself! I am shocked it took so long for anyone to reply to that provacative post.I totally agree that rigid expectations are a major problem.

And, I think your point about work is spot on. My admin at work refuses to download the app on her phone that would allow her to do work stuff, just so she keeps a healthy separation b/t work and personal. I don't have a choice, so I'm always just one tab away from work, even when I'm here maxin and relaxin on Hearth. I think this new state of affairs is going to cause an early end to many of us.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Kind of a vicious cycle ... new & shiny that you can't repair and are at the mercy of the dealership on costs or old & reliable that with some time and a few parts do their job. The Kubota we bought had to have the dash replaced by year 2 due to a buildup of condensation under the glass that corroded the ignition ... an outside piece of equipment that couldn't handle being outside. New and still needed repair Dash barely on warranty but either had to do-it-ourselves or trailer it in to the dealer 1/2 hour away. Lost time either way ....

We just bought a new washer and dryer not long ago. The washer made it through 10 loads before it gave up the ghost. The warranty repair guy came out, and it was the "board" whatever that means (computer chips and stuff that controls everything, I believe). So the company refunded our money + $100 for the trouble. The nice repair guy told us that he sees this frequently with the new stuff, unfixable. He said the old stuff runs forever, and can be repaired.

So, now we have another new washer, and I have a bunch of sheet metal, a stainless steel tub with holes in it, a practically new electric motor, and a solenoid valve or two to play with.

 

[Lloyd the redneck]

The wash tubs make great patio fireplaces

 

[georgepds]

I have a house.. which,imo, is far from minimalist

In my early 30s I sold everything and took a job in Paris. When I returned I had no place to stay so I couch surfed.

Couch surfing is ok, but I recommend the house

 

[georgepds]

That said.. I live on the shore. Had a motor boat for awhile and was a slave to the motor. Have a kayak now and see more of the basin than I ever did in the motorboat


I'm a firm believer in the adage you don't own things.. things own you.

I'm a kayak minimalist

 

[Jags]

You and the old owner of this place would get along quite nicely. Durn hippies...

 

[Lake Girl]

That said.. I live on the shore. Had a motor boat for awhile and was a slave to the motor. Have a kayak now and see more of the basin than I ever did in the motorboat


I'm a firm believer in the adage you don't own things.. things own you.

I'm a kayak minimalist

We're definitely not minimalists here ...3 kayaks, 2 canoes, 3 aluminum skiffs w/motors. Since we had 6 kids, multiple skiffs were necessary if we were spending the day on the lake. Could have gone with a bigger boat but like the flexibility of the smaller ones in terms of where we can go, how many are going and how we get there. The canoes have been lonely lately but the one made an excellent beverage cooler when filled with ice! Backyard wedding a couple of years ago and wanted to have the beverages self service.

 

[Ashful]

We're definitely not minimalists here ...Since we had 6 kids

'nuff said.

 

[HisTreeNut]

We have 7 by God's grace...and number 8 is due in about 1 month and 3 days. God has quite the sense of humor.
Can't say we're minimalists but simplists...because simple is better and we really do not have much of a choice.

 

[Lake Girl]

It pays if you have a sense of humour too ... can't sweat the small stuff with a large family.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

It pays if you have a sense of humour too ... can't sweat the small stuff with a large family.

Wonderful advice, even if no family at all!

 

[georgepds]

Don't know if "it counts".. but when I got out of college I hiked the bottom half of the AT. All I owned was on my back.. roughly 15 pounds of gear and 15 pounds of food per week. Hiked the entire summer of '73 and made it from Springer Mt, Ga to Harpers Ferry W Va

My hiking partner and I ran out of cash at Perrisburg Va. She got a job plucking chickens, I got a job working a road crew. We did this for two weeks and then got back on the trail. Made friends with a road crew guy called Squirrel.. who was on parole for murder. He took a shine to me because I did not curse ( to be honest I was afraid to offend, at the time I was 130 pounds soaking wet, most of it leg muscle). We went to to a couple of revivals with his family out in the back woods, trying to find the right path for Squirrel

I remember my friend David looking at my pack and saying.. that's all you need

Minimalist.. you can do it, but it's lot easier when you are young. As a card carrying geezer I really like a roof over my head. Back in the day it was fun waking to a foot of snow on my sleeping bag, and my boots chewed out by porcupines... but my idea of fun, or at least comfort, has changed


Have any of you read a Kippling story called "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat".. It's about a high ranking Indian minister who, at the end of life, takes up the beggars bowl and finds peace among the animals .. A sort of far east minimalist

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Don't know if "it counts".. but when I got out of college I hiked the bottom half of the AT. All I owned was on my back.. roughly 15 pounds of gear and 15 pounds of food per week. Hiked the entire summer of '73 and made it from Springer Mt, Ga to Harpers Ferry W Va

My hiking partner and I ran out of cash at Perrisburg Va. She got a job plucking chickens, I got a job working a road crew. We did this for two weeks and then got back on the trail. Made friends with a road crew guy called Squirrel.. who was on parole for murder. He took a shine to me because I did not curse ( to be honest I was afraid to offend, at the time I was 130 pounds soaking wet, most of it leg muscle). We went to to a couple of revivals with his family out in the back woods, trying to find the right path for Squirrel

I remember my friend David looking at my pack and saying.. that's all you need

Minimalist.. you can do it, but it's lot easier when you are young. As a card carrying geezer I really like a roof over my head. Back in the day it was fun waking to a foot of snow on my sleeping bag, and my boots chewed out by porcupines... but my idea of fun, or at least comfort, has changed


Have any of you read a Kippling story called "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat".. It's about a high ranking Indian minister who, at the end of life, takes up the beggars bowl and finds peace among the animals .. A sort of far east minimalist

Sounds like a life well lived to me.

Someone once gave me the advice to maintain the lifestyle that I'd grown accustomed to as a college student. As I was doubtful that happiness had much more room to blossom from my college days, I've more or less followed that advice.

Still regret not hiking one of the great trails, or backpacking Europe when I was younger.

 

[Ashful]

Sounds like a life well lived to me.

Someone once gave me the advice to maintain the lifestyle that I'd grown accustomed to as a college student. As I was doubtful that happiness had much more room to blossom from my college days, I've more or less followed that advice.

Still regret not hiking one of the great trails, or backpacking Europe when I was younger.

I don't know about that. Two of my greatest pleasures are fast cars and fast boats, both things I could not afford as a college student, or for at least a decade after.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I don't know about that. Two of my greatest pleasures are fast cars and fast boats, both things I could not afford as a college student, or for at least a decade after.

Yep, it's definitely not for everyone.

I have friends with fast boats and cars, taking a ride with them once in a while has been enough for me. I'd like to take a Tesla out to see how it is at some point, but I'd probably even drive that slow. I even got rid of my motorcycle a long time ago and haven't looked back.

 

[peakbagger]

I just got my copy of the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report (No I don't own A shares, wish I did have a few at close to $250,000 each, but I do have a few B shares) and forgot how good his annual letters are. http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2016ltr.pdf. These are definitely worth a read as he lays out fairly complex financial concepts in fairly simple to understand language. Note his reference to John C Bogle and how investing in index mutual funds are the way to go. If I was going to buy a child a stock for the long term I would buy a Berkshire B share.

This applies to minimalist lifestyle for many in that if they do live under their means and save a lot, the logical next thing to do is invest their savings so they will grow. Sure everyone needs an emergency fund in the bank for short term emergencies but its a losers game to just keep your savings for a future retirement (more than five years out) in anything but a mix of equities and bonds. I realize a lot of folks think the local Edward Jones rep is their best buddy but he gets a commission on everything they buy and sell. When he calls you up and does you a favor by suggesting you move out of one fund into an other because the market has changed that's money in his pocket on both transactions. If you stick with Bogle's and Buffett's suggestion, you buy an index fund or two from Vanguard and let them sit for the long term. The reason I mention Vanguard is that unlike any other investment firm they are run as a real mutual company, they have no stockholders to send profits to, all their profits go to reducing the cost of their funds. They consistently have the lowest expense ratio (frequently 80% less) which is the way to go for long term investing. Some of the big stockholder owned firms try to match Vanguard expense ratios on occasion as they don't have choice but somehow somewhere they are going to extract a profit out of you.

Note I used Edwards Jones as an example as they specialize in recruiting local good old boys that have good contacts with the local financially challenged population (like former factory workers who end up with IRAs and lump sum distributions), and then train the guy to use his contacts to service those folks. They aren't crooks, they just charge fees where in most cases there are far better ways to invest at lower costs. Other brokers target other parts of the population. If you haven't seen the Wolf on Wall Street its worth a watch (be aware it has the record for the most number of expletives of any main stream movie, definitely not kid friendly!).

 

[Lloyd the redneck]

Stock markets are a joke. For one I'm ignorant and don't understand that stuff. I prefer a solid investment. Things you can hold in your hand. Real estate , collector cars&tractors. That sort of thing. And my pocket money investing has yielded me much better than the stock market.

 

[Ashful]

Stock markets are a joke. For one I'm ignorant and don't understand that stuff. I prefer a solid investment. Things you can hold in your hand. Real estate , collector cars&tractors. That sort of thing. And my pocket money investing has yielded me much better than the stock market.

There's nothing wrong with investing in what you know, Lloyd. The trouble is that, for the average person, building a retirement's saving in tractors is going to require quite a bit of space. You could have one very, very expensive collector car, I suppose... but that's hardly a diversified or protected asset.

If you follow typical guides of having 8x your annual salary in retirement savings by age 65, that could mean a ship load of tractors, or a small fleet of relatively expensive autos. You also better hope that the autos you have chosen don't fall out of popularity at the time you need to sell them, as we know these things have limited cycles of popularity and worth.

 

[peakbagger]

Generally assets are liquid or illiquid, liquid means there is ready market where if you need the cash there is someone willing to pay you for it. Illiquid assets don't have a good market. If things get tight the market drops out and if you can find a buyer you are going to take a significant hit. There is also the possibility that during storage the illiquid assets get damaged. I have seen two car collections seriously damaged with roofs collapsed. Overnight the values plummeted and in both cases there was no insurance.

Generally anyone who has bad things to say about the stock market is making fundamental mistakes (as Mr Buffet and Mr Bogle point out), Most folks buy high and sell low. They buy stocks on a whim (or from hot tip) but they really are gambling, the average small investor really shouldn't be in individual stocks until they really understand the game and even then they are gambling. Berkshire Hathaway is a stock but because of its size portfolio and governance it actually is closer to a balanced mutual fund. I own two company stocks, Verizon that I bought when I was a teen and Berkshire that I bought a couple of years ago. If both go to zero its not going to kill me.

Gamblers always will tell you about their winnings but rarely about their losses. Just like a broken clock reads correctly twice a day, a stock advisor is bound to get lucky occasionally and when they don't, they disappear for a few years and then come back like Robert Kiyosaki (who eventually admitted he made up the rich dad). If someone invests for the long haul, which is generally defined by a minimum period of 5 years in a balanced portfolio of stocks like an index fund, the vast majority of the time they will make more money in equities than any alternative.

 

[georgepds]

Stock markets are a joke. For one I'm ignorant and don't understand that stuff. I prefer a solid investment. Things you can hold in your hand. Real estate , collector cars&tractors. That sort of thing. And my pocket money investing has yielded me much better than the stock market.

Not to be a wise guy.. but what is your rate of return ? My best guess is it's really hard to answer for collectibles, and probably depends a whole lot on how you value the stuff you have not sold.

That said, it's your money and you should keep it where you are comfortable. Probably wont feed you in old age, but if you learn to repair them, that'll help. I agree with others that the stock market is best for increasing capital.. but seeing a third of your worth disappear in a couple of days is not for everyone. It happened in the crash of 89, the dot com bust of 2001, and the more recent financial crisis of 2008.

Doesn't bother me, I've seen it go down and come back up , but it's definitely not for everyone. There's where religious training really comes in handy. If you can loose a third of your worth and say to yourself it's just a means, and not an end ( or maybe it's just a distraction from things that really matter) then you're well on your way to being a candidate for the market.

If, OTOH, it winds your guts up in knots and you loose sleep over it, I say stick to tractors.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

DON'T COME TO THIS SITE FOR ADVICE ON HOW TO MANAGE YOUR ASSETS.

Other than your heating assets.

 

[velvetfoot]

Would this be a more Amish-type lifestyle? If so, you pellet and boiler people, and yea, insert people are OUT.
Do they really cut wood with hand saws? Fuggedaboudit.