Different lifestyles that can be had for 7K/yr/person? (1 J)

[TopHatFox]

If we can figure out how to configure all types of different lifestyles on 7k/yr/person, that would make barebones FI (7k/yr/person @ a variable 3% SWR, or ~250K) even more powerful, and the buffer (500K total) compound on itself even faster, all while living an ideal lifestyle.

Let's get to it: here's what I can think of (these are re-curring, non-disaster scenario costs with their relatively low up-front, one-time costs out of the way):

1. Thru-hiking the World's Trails
2. Bicycle Touring the World's Trails or Roads
3. Vanaboding the World (maybe small RV-ing)
4. Stationary Livin' in Apt./house w/ roommates
5. Homesteading Away on Tiny House Terms
6. Living Intentionally in a Commune/WOOFING
7. Sailing the World on a 30' sailboat/volunteering on a tall ship
8. Working/volunteering at a camp or national park
9. Expatriating where 7K USD is a lot
10. Living in a cave a la Daniel Suelo

Wow, there are actually plenty of lifestyles to be had for only 7k...sweet! Got any other suggestions?

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With so much variety in these lifestyles, why would we need to spend more? Fancier restaurants, galleries, museums, travelling, hotel stays, what? If all of these lifestyles can be had for so little, people are vastly over-paying to get a lesser-quality or the-same-quality lifestyle

[classical_Liberal]

bla

[TheWanderingScholar]

+1 That.
Until you hit your limit and can't do it anymore.

[Bobby McGee]

Caveman Bill did it. So can you.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/lisa-jacks ... 07570.html

[Kriegsspiel]

Don't forget house and pet sitting. If you can string together a couple sits, you can live without housing costs for a while.

[Did]

@Kriegsspiel Combine vagabonding with sits then you don't have to string them together eg living in a van while housesitting. We travelled Oz in a van for 8 months - best time in our lives, no doubt - and only discovered housesitting after. Would never not combine the two now. I hope to do the same around Europe and met an Australian couple doing the same when in France last year. You couldn't get the smile off their faces. They bought their van for 4k euro but could sell it back to same guy for 3k euro after their trip.

[Fish]

@Olaz: I realize you're asking a question about the practical/applied side of ERE, but wanted to point out that your constraints aren't really that limiting. It just means you can't extract more than 7k of value/year (net!) and you won't be owning any big capital assets to the extent that they're not depreciated, distressed or shared. However, who cares about ownership? It's the control of the assets that you're after... and using ownership as a means to gain control is very unimaginative and often inefficient.

Jacob's post on his sailing adventures comes to mind here. Expand your solution space by getting creative. Don't forget you can extract more than 7k in value (without spending more than 7k) by adding value to make up the difference. It doesn't need to feel like work. Add value in ways you find pleasant and you will be doubly rewarded!

[TopHatFox]

@Olaz: I realize you're asking a question about the practical/applied side of ERE, but wanted to point out that your constraints aren't really that limiting. It just means you can't extract more than 7k of value/year (net!) and you won't be owning any big capital assets to the extent that they're not depreciated, distressed or shared. However, who cares about ownership? It's the control of the assets that you're after... and using ownership as a means to gain control is very unimaginative and often inefficient.

Jacob's post on his sailing adventures comes to mind here. Expand your solution space by getting creative. Don't forget you can extract more than 7k in value (without spending more than 7k) by adding value to make up the difference. It doesn't need to feel like work. Add value in ways you find pleasant and you will be doubly rewarded!

Can you give some more examples? I'm having some trouble fully understanding the point you made, and I'd like to.

[Fish]

For example: you'd like to live in a house. The typical solution is either capital-intensive (buying the house) or results in operating expenses that offset the value you extract by living in it (renting).

However, you can live in the house for free if you can provide value to others who need it. Housesitting is one such solution. You're getting control of a capital asset (free rent) in exchange for adding value (watching the house when the owner can't be there physically).

Instead of merely thinking of housesitting as a brilliant life hack, recognize the pattern and devise similar solutions to other problems.

[trailblazer]

This is a great list! In my mind I immediately started rating each item 1 to 10 with 10 meaning I would be highly likely to do it (tried to insert below). A fun exercise. Actually all could be at least an 8 with the right equipment and skill set.

If we can figure out how to configure all types of different lifestyles on 7k/yr/person, that would make barebones FI (7k/yr/person @ a variable 3% SWR, or ~250K) even more powerful, and the buffer (500K total) compound on itself even faster, all while living an ideal lifestyle.

Let's get to it: here's what I can think of (these are re-curring, non-disaster scenario costs with their relatively low up-front, one-time costs out of the way):

1. Thru-hiking the World's Trails [10]
2. Bicycle Touring the World's Trails or Roads [2 - dont really bike]
3. Vanaboding the World (maybe small RV-ing) [6 - would be higher if already had van or rv]
4. Stationary Livin' in Apt./house w/ roommates [8 - might try for cheap studio and thus skip the roommates]
5. Homesteading Away on Tiny House Terms [6 - would need to learn many skills]
6. Living Intentionally in a Commune/WOOFING [2 - but it gets me thinking that some sort of monastic retreat could be worthwhile]
7. Sailing the World on a 30' sailboat/volunteering on a tall ship [3]
8. Working/volunteering at a camp or national park [6]
9. Expatriating where 7K USD is a lot [7]
10. Living in a cave a la Daniel [2 - but if I found a good cave . . .]

Wow, there are actually plenty of lifestyles to be had for only 7k...sweet! Got any other suggestions?

---------

With so much variety in these lifestyles, why would we need to spend more? Fancier restaurants, galleries, museums, travelling, hotel stays, what? If all of these lifestyles can be had for so little, people are vastly over-paying to get a lesser-quality or the-same-quality lifestyle

[Stahlmann]

You somehow stole my topic I mean you better descibed what I wanted to say (there: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8511)

Any other ideas?

[Lucky C]

I have some ideas which may not be quite what you're looking for...

- Homemaker / stay-at-home parent
- Multi-generational living a.k.a. living in your parents' basement
- Parking RV on BLM land
- Abandoned buildings, catching a freight train old-school-hobo-style, and other criminal living arrangements
- Living out of a storage container / shipping container / dumpster
- Couchsurfing indefinitely
- Renting a 24hr internet cafe stall in Tokyo and sleeping there
- Being homeless
- Becoming a world-class investor such that starting with $250k invested affords a comfortable lifestyle
- Living in your own business - restaurant, B&B, etc. - yes this requires work, but often it's not very profitable so you still need to live on < $7k

...but some of these may work as temporary solutions!

[Fish]

What about living paycheck to paycheck(*) working any job of choice while avoiding all forms of debt? These various work-living situations could be temporary to semi-permanent. As Jacob hinted in the ERE book, this is evading the lock-in to live ON the economy instead of IN the economy. I imagine working 3-6 months at a time, part to full time while maintaining low expenses would result in a very robust FIRE where after ~5-10 years where you will have accumulated so many job connections and various living skills that you won't need to depend at all on the portfolio for living expenses. It's kind of unfortunate that mainstream FIRE tends more towards frontloading all the work in a full-time job instead of a flow-oriented approach where value is constantly being given and taken. Maybe you could even write the book on this!

(*)Or with a savings rate if you insist. In either event it requires very low capital, don't even need to be FI to start.

Is your goal to live a certain "lifestyle because 7k" or to spend "7k because lifestyle?" The former attitude seems somewhat limiting even though there is still a lot of design space.

[jacob]

@Fish - Such a book has already been written: https://www.amazon.com/How-Survive-With ... 1895629683

[TopHatFox]

@Fish, are we the non-mainstream FIRE forum

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My goal is to see how much life can be had on what me, Jacob, and a few others have semi-arbitrarily established as a baseline annual expense level in North countries.