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Thread: What do you consider your biggest simple living success?

  1. #11
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    Moving to Phoenix for a job that doubled my income, and then not buying a house to match the income but instead living like I did before, was the key in my life.

    There is a certain level of income needed to be able to have enough resources and energy to make the good long term financial decisions. Prior to that, I did my best, but now I succeed. It takes a lot of energy to live poor by necessity.

  2. #12
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tammy View Post

    There is a certain level of income needed to be able to have enough resources and energy to make the good long term financial decisions. Prior to that, I did my best, but now I succeed. It takes a lot of energy to live poor by necessity.
    Yes it does. I saw a TED talk yesterday where the speaker said "People aren't poor because they make bad financial decisions--they make bad financial decisions because they're poor." Meaning the need to attend to the crisis du jour and deal with the chronic stress that comes with living that way. BTDT, too, Tammy. And similarly surprised myself by going for a job I was totally unqualified for, and getting it. That changed everything.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  3. #13
    Senior Member HappyHiker's Avatar
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    Doing enough inner work to reduce my "wants" to a feather. Well, maybe some cute undies once in a while.
    peaceful, easy feeling

  4. #14
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    Not only did we set the goal of being debt-free by age 50, we bought a cabin in the mountains at 42yo and still were debt free 4m early

    I work for gravy on top of our well-funded retirement accounts. And there is great joy in knowing I can quit any day I wish. (we are 57 now).

  5. #15
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tammy View Post
    It takes a lot of energy to live poor by necessity.
    Not to derail this thread, but it's awfully expensive to be poor in America.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  6. #16
    Tea
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    Neither of these is necessarily my biggest success (I will post that later if I think of it/decide what it is) but two that come to mind:

    1. I have gotten my household's combined trash down to a single shopping bag full per month, and very little of that is mine personally. (This does not include waste that is recycled or composted, but even that is fairly minimal compared to most American households.)

    2. I have never had any debt, own my home & land, and have savings in the bank. Which, even though I am very "poor" in terms of annual income, makes me much more financially comfortable than many who are earning far more. Credit goes to my grandparents and mother for teaching me financial responsibility from a young age.

  7. #17
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    I've just muddled along, making lots of missteps on the way, but I managed to end up with a house, a pension, and a decent quality of life on one income, along with retiring before I was 50.

  8. #18
    Senior Member herbgeek's Avatar
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    My biggest success was probably marrying someone who was even cheaper than me when it comes to consumer goods/wants.

    We've done ok, mostly muddling along with a few financial mistakes along the way - like the condo we bought that looked so inexpensive compared to where we were living, but was highly overpriced for the area it was in. I guess the fact it couldn't get a local banker on it should have been a tip off but I was young and stupid.

    I will be retiring in a few months at 58, which is kinda terrifying when you don't have a pension/dependable and steady income, but on paper, we should be fine.

  9. #19
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    Bidding farewell to an extremely stressful engineering career to take a (much lower salaried) job that I love. This would not have been possible without the years of saving and developing frugal muscles.

  10. #20
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Herb? Rosemary? We have two female engineers here, soon retiring or simplifying jobs? Good for you!

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