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How I live on $7,000 per year

earlyretirementextreme.com

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Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#211

Post by sliverstorm »

Muzza wrote: post #207
sliverstorm wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is a former physicist? Good god, the waste... He attended a public school for free. I wonder if he has factored in the price his government paid for only 10 years of physiking out of him... Companies allegedly don't recoup the cost of hiring you for at least a year. Public schools are offered because it is seen as a worthwhile investment in the future, and graduates help pay for the next generation's schooling. In…

> He is a former physicist? Good god, the waste... He attended a public school for free. I wonder if he has factored in the price his government paid for only 10 years of physiking out of him... So let me get this straight. The government builds "free" schools. The government then forces people - under threat of violence - to attend these schools. Therefore people owe the government a lifetime of work. I'm appalled t…

I am impressed at just how much you have managed to warp what I said. Please point to the part where governments threaten you with violence if you don't attend college.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#212

Post by georgieporgie »

rorrr wrote: post #21
erejacob wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like living in the US. We bought our home in cash. Our home is currently an RV---bear with me here. The cost of it was $16k. We pay a combined $6000/year in rent (half of which is my half). You need $200k in investments to support such a cash flow (which I have). So the total cost or asset base or our current living situation is about $216,000 (not counting repairs which I can mostly do myself). We're seriously thi…

Living in an RV is like living in a tiny tiny shitty studio, plus you have to pump your own shit and piss regularly. Yeah, I can live in a tent and hunt for food. Zero dollars per year. Sorry, but fuck that. None of these stories are inspiring.

plus you have to pump your own shit and piss regularly.

In every RV park I've seen, people normally use the shared facilities toilet and shower facilities. Same thing with live-aboard slips at marinas. It's more like living in a dormitory than a studio.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#213

Post by erejacob »

georgieporgie wrote: post #212
rorrr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Living in an RV is like living in a tiny tiny shitty studio, plus you have to pump your own shit and piss regularly. Yeah, I can live in a tent and hunt for food. Zero dollars per year. Sorry, but fuck that. None of these stories are inspiring.

plus you have to pump your own shit and piss regularly. In every RV park I've seen, people normally use the shared facilities toilet and shower facilities. Same thing with live-aboard slips at marinas. It's more like living in a dormitory than a studio.

Those common facilities are mainly intended for tourists and weekenders who would rather not have to clean their shower, toilet or deal with the pump-out station after they go home again.

Permanent residents (like we are) will have their own sewer hookup (a hose coming out of the RV which is tied into a receptacle in the septic or city sewer system), electricity, and water. So it's more like living in a small house that could technically be driven away. Every few days I have to empty the tanks which, since everything is permanently hooked up, means pulling two levers that flush the tanks into the sewer. It takes about five minutes to empty them and I can go and collect my mail while that happens.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#214

Post by jholman »

erejacob wrote: post #187
ohashi wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are examples which cannot be done free as far as I know. For example, I love to go paintballing. To make it cost less, you can buy your own paint and own your own equipment. But it still costs money because I don't own a giant plot of land or have 100 friends with their own gear. Then I have to buy the paint itself on top of that. Can you find me a non-paid version that matches that experience? I suspect most p…

Have you considered airsoft or reballing? I used to play airsoft, never played paintball. The land/playing area would usually be provided by someone one of the players knew, private forests, empty barns, junk lots, etc. We all had our own guns. We usually managed to scrape together 5-10 people for our games. Not sure about 100. That sounds rather ambitious for a game(?) The general trick to owning expensive equipment…

Just to clarify the details of the paintballing example...

Land is a serious problem except once it's no problem at all. If you don't know anyone who has land that they'll let you use, how do you find someone? Everyone I've met that plays paintball cheaply just plays illegally on land that they do not own, which may or may not seem unethical to other people. In my opinion, access to legal land actually is a significant hurdle for many people.

Now, in practice, paint is the main cost. Perfectly good paint costs less than $0.05/ball (maybe $0.03 is a bit low-end), which is usually marked up 100% or more if you're playing on a paid field (this is their main revenue). The problem is, many players are accustomed to a play-style where they burn thousands of rounds ($50+) a day. If everyone agrees to use pump-action guns (cheaper!), you can have nearly the same experience at 1/20 the paint cost. If everyone around you is using semi-auto and burning paint, it's a lot harder to go pump (some people like the asymmetric challenge, but most do not).

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#215

Post by ohashi »

jholman wrote: post #214
erejacob wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you considered airsoft or reballing? I used to play airsoft, never played paintball. The land/playing area would usually be provided by someone one of the players knew, private forests, empty barns, junk lots, etc. We all had our own guns. We usually managed to scrape together 5-10 people for our games. Not sure about 100. That sounds rather ambitious for a game(?) The general trick to owning expensive equipment…

Just to clarify the details of the paintballing example... Land is a serious problem except once it's no problem at all. If you don't know anyone who has land that they'll let you use, how do you find someone? Everyone I've met that plays paintball cheaply just plays illegally on land that they do not own, which may or may not seem unethical to other people. In my opinion, access to legal land actually is a significa…

Especially living in a city. You also need to travel there (it's almost certainly not accessible by public transport). Paint is the main cost, I do own my on equipment, and most places require field paint. Also, I love walk on paintball with 50-100 people in a giant game. You're going semi-auto and burning a lot of paint, that's part of the game play.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#216

Post by kragen »

stfu wrote: post #162
fennecfoxen wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In San Francisco, you can go to a place like Greenburger's and get yourself a really fine burger with fries, and it will run you about $11. In North Carolina, you can go down to the Steak and Shake, get an okay burger with fries and a shake for around $3.

Eating out on the cheap is really often overlooked. I eat out every single day and spend a maximum of $10 - most of the time even organic food. You just have to figure out when restaurants have happy hours, take out discounts, etc. With the right strategy eating out is much cheaper than doing it yourself. Even in a worst case scenario I would prefer much more writing a stupid online marketing article for one of the f…

Can you explain this "happy hour" thing? I thought "happy hour" was when restaurants or bars set their drink prices lower so that people will get drunk ("happy"), and as such I always avoided them. Is there another kind of "happy hour" that enables you to eat cheaply?

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#217

Post by westicle »

ahsanhilal wrote: post #181
nirvana wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry you feel demeaned by my advice to read Hazlitt's book in order to learn some basic economics. I didn't think that it would be appropriate to advocate that everyone should go to a university to learn economics, especially given, as as you later made clear, that some universities don't even teach economics to those who get degrees in it. You have no theoretical base. You are regurgitating a political ideology…

If you really want to have this argument with me: lets do it privately, my email address is in the profile. I will even invite some economists into the midst for some discussions, and you are welcome to invite whoever you want. I always appreciate counter points, and counter arguments. So I think it will be a very interesting debate. Lets keep it civil.

I think I've heard this one before...

How many economists does it take to change an ideology?

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#218

Post by westicle »

ahsanhilal wrote: post #33
erejacob wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, not to worry, most people won't make "the sacrifice". Maybe if we transitioned to a production based economy but producing only quality items we needed. That way we wouldn't have to work so much. Unemployment would go down because people weren't scrambling for the the ability to consume. Concepts like planned obsolescence would go away. A lot of what we refer to as "growth" is just an indicator that the volume…

Well you have a point, and this model of an alternative economy based on self-sustenance, producing what we need is something that is being tested by a philosopher Frithjof Bergmann. Unlike most (read all) philosophers, Bergmann actually practices his ideas which are detailed in his book, "on Being Free". He talks about such an economy based on producing little and necessary items within communes and trading them amo…

I don't think implosion means what you think it means.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#219

Post by dcotton »

kragen wrote: post #216
stfu wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating out on the cheap is really often overlooked. I eat out every single day and spend a maximum of $10 - most of the time even organic food. You just have to figure out when restaurants have happy hours, take out discounts, etc. With the right strategy eating out is much cheaper than doing it yourself. Even in a worst case scenario I would prefer much more writing a stupid online marketing article for one of the f…

Can you explain this "happy hour" thing? I thought "happy hour" was when restaurants or bars set their drink prices lower so that people will get drunk ("happy"), and as such I always avoided them. Is there another kind of "happy hour" that enables you to eat cheaply?

Happy hour means if you buy a drink, you get cheap food. I don't go to places like that much, but if I do it means I can buy a Coke or whatever and get a $4 plate that would be $8 usually. It is intended for alcoholic drinks, but applies to other drinks as well where I've gone.

Re: How I live on $7,000 per year

#220

Post by kragen »

dcotton wrote: post #219
kragen wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain this "happy hour" thing? I thought "happy hour" was when restaurants or bars set their drink prices lower so that people will get drunk ("happy"), and as such I always avoided them. Is there another kind of "happy hour" that enables you to eat cheaply?

Happy hour means if you buy a drink, you get cheap food. I don't go to places like that much, but if I do it means I can buy a Coke or whatever and get a $4 plate that would be $8 usually. It is intended for alcoholic drinks, but applies to other drinks as well where I've gone.

I see. Thank you!

I rarely find restaurant food to be a good buy, but I guess if you'd be buying a restaurant Coke anyway...

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