Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Realistically, we all need a 40 hour per week job in order to truly live comfortably. By "comfortably," I mean having health insurance, a 1 bd apartment in good condition, reasonably updated, nice, up to date clothes, a decent car with continuous attention to maintenance, and the ability to eat healthy, sufficient food. And not in a ghetto neighborhood. And some extra money to spend on leisure activities or items. I don't believe in living by the bare necessities. What good is that? Here in Connecticut, someone needs to make at LEAST $60K minimum to live by that standard as a single householder. I live here and make $70K on my own so I'm able to live comfortably. The only catch is that I'll likely be renting until I'm 50 years old. But I don't mind that at all. Now I'm 32.
Good question. I have many possible interests. And the reality is, I'll still be working a fair amount doing that which I choose to devote my time. But the important thing is I will be working more on my own time and at my own speed and less on someone else's time and speed. I never again wish to work a typical 40-hour work week. I mean, that's a huge chunk of time devoted to simply earning money (and that does not include commute times). Currently I'm doing a few different side gigs which combined probably add up to maybe 25 or 30 hours a week, and most of those hours are spent working more or less at my own speed, without supervision, and with a lot of work schedule flexibility. I'm also exploring ways to maximize my personal savings and minimize my personal expenditures, which has turned out to be both fun and challenging. But a positive result is I have become much more frugal and have greatly reduced my cash outflow, which will speed up my goal of eventually having to work less permanently while, hopefully, having a few residual income streams coming in.
And I am seriously considering relocating to a cheaper cost of living area, as where I live (Southern California) the rent and real estate prices are very high, not to mention the price of gas, insurance, and various state and local taxes.
Bottom line is I value freedom more than money or prestige, so I care little about working a 'normal' professional job with a fancy job title, set hours, a dress code, etc. And it's easy for me to take that position since I view work and working as only a means to an end; that is, it's a means to make money. That's it. I have no desire to pursue a certain line of work or obtain a particular career in order to impress anybody or to gleam some type of social benefit.
Interesting goals and I wish you luck with them. I second the idea of getting out of California. It's expensive. I lived in Portland, OR for nearly thirty years and was pretty much priced out when I retired. I didn't want to spend all my savings and SS on rent and food with nothing left over for anything else. So I made a move back to the Midwest where I lived before Portland and I have enough to live on comfortably with all the free time I want.
Actually, during my working career when I was young, I would work at a full time job for maybe a year or two, save up and then quit to spend another year or two just doing whatever I wanted to do. Of course, that's when jobs were way more plentiful.
Interesting goals and I wish you luck with them. I second the idea of getting out of California. It's expensive. I lived in Portland, OR for nearly thirty years and was pretty much priced out when I retired. I didn't want to spend all my savings and SS on rent and food with nothing left over for anything else. So I made a move back to the Midwest where I lived before Portland and I have enough to live on comfortably with all the free time I want.
Actually, during my working career when I was young, I would work at a full time job for maybe a year or two, save up and then quit to spend another year or two just doing whatever I wanted to do. Of course, that's when jobs were way more plentiful.
How do you like Ohio ( that is where you live?)? I haven't experienced much of the Midwest, but I have been researching real estate prices and cost of living indexes for various Midwestern states, and I like what I see. Obviously, the cheaper living would come at a price: more extreme weather, less big-city amenities (possibly), and less traditional job opportunities compared to a large metro like So. Cal. But since I have no desire to work a traditional job, and since I feel confident that I will be able to work enough and live well enough in a cheaper area, moving to somewhere in the Midwest or even Northeast or South seems a real possibility (although the South would not be ideal due to heat and humidity).
Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Indiana are states on my radar, as are even parts of New York, Arkansas, and Missouri. I wouldn't mind Colorado, either, but CO is no longer that cheap.
I have family in Colorado and in Oklahoma. Both states are nice. Oklahoma gets too hot and humid for my taste though.
Like you, I am an adventurous sort, so I would love to possibly live temporarily in various locations before deciding on a permanent location.
I am single with no kids, so I don't have a family to worry about.
We have the same dream lol. You could here in the northeastern part of Indiana, also probably possible in Tucson AZ .This is assuming you have a studio apartment or rent a room, have a cheap phone, no cable etc.Health insurance would be the biggest problem/expense. Entertainment is easy IMO, library, hiking,biking, volunteering, movies from Redbox, hanging with friends, gardening in a community garden, etc is all cheap or free.
How do you like Ohio ( that is where you live?)? I haven't experienced much of the Midwest, but I have been researching real estate prices and cost of living indexes for various Midwestern states, and I like what I see. Obviously, the cheaper living would come at a price: more extreme weather, less big-city amenities (possibly), and less traditional job opportunities compared to a large metro like So. Cal. But since I have no desire to work a traditional job, and since I feel confident that I will be able to work enough and live well enough in a cheaper area, moving to somewhere in the Midwest or even Northeast or South seems a real possibility (although the South would not be ideal due to heat and humidity).
Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Indiana are states on my radar, as are even parts of New York, Arkansas, and Missouri. I wouldn't mind Colorado, either, but CO is no longer that cheap.
I have family in Colorado and in Oklahoma. Both states are nice. Oklahoma gets too hot and humid for my taste though.
Like you, I am an adventurous sort, so I would love to possibly live temporarily in various locations before deciding on a permanent location.
I am single with no kids, so I don't have a family to worry about.
I moved to Cleveland Heights, a suburb of Cleveland two years ago. I moved last month to Lakewood, OH. Both suburbs are inner ring 'burbs and just across the border from Cleveland itself. Both have lots to offer as does the city of Cleveland itself.
You're right about the weather because we definitely have four seasons but there is absolutely nothing here you can't find on the West Coast as far as amenities and the job situation is improving all the time. There are a lot of temp agencies for both manual labor and office work. That might be of interest to you for just working at temp jobs. I'm retired but I think it's probably easier to find a job here than on the West Coast these days. And the COL compared to the West Coast is ridiculously low.
Cleveland is a great city. It's been underrated but that's changing as well it should.
I lived on $11 per hour at 25-35 hours per week my first 2 years out of college. I rented a decent apartment with a rooommate (my part of the rent was only $350 of the $850 because he took the master bedroom; fine by me I still had my own bathroom), my car was the one I'd had since I was 16 that had no payment but was still in decent condition, and I was mindful of my budget when shopping for groceries and going out.
Granted I also had a decent amount in savings (I worked at an overnight summer camp every summer of college where you had no expenses for 3 months and then got a $3000 check at the end of the summer...the best way to bulk up a savings account at that age) so that took some of the pressure off. I rarely had to dip into my savings though. Maybe once every few months.
Also worth note is that this part-time job was essentially working my way up to the full-time director job that I have now with salary, health insurance, and retirement. I wouldn't and probably couldn't have sustained that life long-term or with no goal in site.
...this was in Chapel Hill, NC
Last edited by TarHeelNick; 07-07-2016 at 07:18 PM..
Some people in Portland do or they try. One reason is because there are not many full time jobs to be had so they will double up on part time jobs. It is not uncommon to find four or five people living in a two bedroom apartment but as I understand it, landlords are now starting to crack down on how many adults are being allowed to rent an apartment depending upon the number of bedrooms in the apartment.
Not the best way to exist in my opinion.
Anyway, here is an article recently printed in our local paper that sort of addresses this topic although not quite.
What a shame. And what allows the landlords to do that? Other than greed, I suppose?
I personally think this can only happen in rural areas. I'm sure some of the small towns here in Arizona this is doable.
Having been a renter in Portland for nearly thirty years I can tell you it has a lot to do with greed but there is also the situation where everything is so costly, landlords have to include their expenses in their rent increases.
My previous landlord in Portland was like that. For incumbent tenants, rent increases were minimal but when someone moved, the rent on the same apartment would be raised considerably. He didn't overcharge but the new rents were still pretty steep.
There are no rent ceilings or control so the sky's the limit and banking on the popularity of Portland, many have made a killing on owning rental property.
Man, a lot of negativity in this thread. If you own your home outright and can afford the taxes and energy/water bills, you can live on part time employment.
Millions of Americans do it. Most of them are over 62. They call their situation, "retirement".
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
