What do you consider your biggest simple living success?

In an effort shake off the winter blahs, let's face it. We've been simple livers for a while and now maybe we're getting a little complacent. So, I'd like to know, thinking back on your simple living journey, what do you consider your greatest personal success in living simply?

Mine is that even though I don't walk the walk as much as most of you and I still have a good bit of the mountain to climb, my kids think I'm a simple liver and they tell me that I've inspired them to live that way. And looking at what they value and how they live, they've been inspired to live simply by someone or something, so I'm happy about that.

How about you?

My success is that I can now freely spend money on whatever I want because I have trained myself over decades to truly understand what I want. And while I do still make kinda stupid purchases now and then, they are low dollar mistakes.

i wish I could say that I have inspired people, but I dont think I have.

I think my biggest success was, a few months after reading YMOYL, quitting my job and retiring, in my mid-30s, instead of staying in the cube another few decades.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by iris lilies

i wish I could say that I have inspired people, but I dont think I have.

---

Well, you and bae inspire me... you, for your financial prudence, discipline, and common sense, and bae for refusing to fall in line with the lifestyles of his comrades in the dot.com boom for a clearly superior life with meaning.

I'm hoping I haven't made my biggest simple living success yet, because if I have... I'm very disappointed.

Living simply enough to not have to get even a McJob when I closed my business. Pretty happy to be outside of the grind.

Like IL, I have trained myself to understand what motivates me and I know what I want. We were able to live simply and pay off our mortgage early. I saved and invested the better part of each paycheck. I was able to retire at 55 and can't imagine ever having to work for anything but the pure pleasure of it. We have worked at downsizing our parents as well as ourselves for the past 10 years. We have worked to get as much cash back on that as possible. We now have reasonable health, our time is our own and our finances are such that we don't have to think about what we buy. We travel and help out our friends and family. We feel extremely fortunate to be able to do so.

Investing simply but wisely in real estate and basic savings and never buying more than could be paid back by one salary if necessary. Not sure if that is easily possible these days. Both kids do that as well.

I have lived a life of thrift so long that I still buy stuff on discount. It helps motivate me to watch my spending so that when something really important comes along, I can afford it.

Raising a child essentially by myself on a nonprofessional income without taking government assistance.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yppej

Raising a child essentially by myself on a nonprofessional income without taking government assistance.

---

Kudos, Yppej. One of the things I most admire about my MIL was the fact that when her husband died unexpectedly with no life insurance in his mid-40s, she had 2 children, 12 and 3 years old. She didn't have a driver's license and this was in the 60s when women had very little earning power. She "made it work" to use Tim Gunn language, as a sales clerk in Macy's, never carried any debt, including a mortgage (I think she and her husband paid off their house in 5 years when they bought it), and managed a household by living simply. To the day she died she would carry tea bags in her purse when going to restaurants and then ask for hot water. Amazingly, most restaurants complied with her "take-in" free beverage.

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.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tammy

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.

Doing enough inner work to reduce my "wants" to a feather. Well, maybe some cute undies once in a while.

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:cool:

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).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tammy

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.

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.

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.

My biggest success was probably marrying someone who was even cheaper than me when it comes to consumer goods/wants. :D

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.

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.

Herb? Rosemary? We have two female engineers here, soon retiring or simplifying jobs? Good for you!

Quote:

---

Herb? Rosemary?

---

Ha that's funny Iris- that a couple of engineers both picked herbal names! I never put that together until you did.

Not using social media.

I suppose I would sum it up as enduring many ups and downs, failed marriages, single parenting, going back to school in my 40s, and coming through with no credit card debt for many years and currently, and an 800+ credit score.

Despite getting married and having kids young went to college at 31 and have 4 degrees.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry

Despite getting married and having kids young went to college at 31 and have 4 degrees.

---

I only have 2°. That seems simpler to me.


Just kidding you:~)

Funny! I got my second masters so I could change careers for a specific job that I loved. The last one I did a long distance learning degree for fun being newly divorced and in a strange town.