Here’s how this goes. I’m not quite free from the system but am working toward it every single day. Soon…very soon.
Person 1: “I hate my job. I sit in traffic every day, commuting to a cubicle which might as well be a prison cell.”
Person 2: “Why do you do that?”
Person 1: “I need money”
Person 2: “Why do you need money?”
Person 1: “Well obviously, I have bills to pay.”
Person 2: “Bills…? Explain.”
Person 1: “See, my wife and I drive two new cars so we have payments. We bought the most house we could afford because that’s what the Realtor told us to do, so we have a house payment. Education is necessary so we not only got our college degree but graduate degrees, so our student loan balances are ridiculous. Our bank said now was the time to take out a Home Equity Loan to do all those projects and reward ourselves, so we have to make that payment too.”
Person 2: “So you are a slave to your job, because you are a slave to debt.”
Person 1: “Well, I’ll be getting a promotion to Junior Vice President in a couple years which means more money coming in.”
Person 2: “And you’ll get a newer car, bigger house, not to mention throwing money at a Retirement Plan of which you have no control and no real idea how it works, other than everyone seems to think it is the right thing to do.”
Person 1: “Well, we all need a retirement plan.”
Person 2: “So giving someone you don’t know money to invest in something you have no control over, in hopes that someday you’ll be able to get a retirement and enjoy the good life at 65-70 years old. Isn’t that a bit like saying, if you practice hard all season long we’ll put you in during the last 2 minutes of the last game of the season?”
Person 1: “Retirement, save for college, corporate ladder, new car, mortgage, work hard play hard, middle class, sit in traffic, sit in cubicle….”
Person 2: “What? You don’t make sense”
Person 1: “Must……not…..deviate……from……system”
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99% correct, only thing is, Debt is not the only expenditures we have in life that makes some people “sheeple”. Even living by ones self there is still cost of many many things that don’t just go without paying. Fuel, foods (what we don’t grow), medical, Taxes (many different taxes), and so on. My point is yes we would all just LOVE to not work and “life off the land”, is it possible? sure I would think so, but probably not practical. Yes we can cut our expenditures way Way WAY down but, and here’s a HUGE but, we in this time and day have got to have some sort of income for those expenditures we do have, even if very small.
I understand the just of the article, and totally agree, “get rid of the friggen DEBT”!!! that 10-20% interest can pay those bills a LOT better than just giving your hard earned money to someone for NADA!!!!! Also downsize, do we really need that 5000 SqFt house? or that new $60KHummer BOV? How about that new swimming pool the wife & kids wants?
I did not think so.
NRP
Author
I echo the Maj on this and should clarify, installment and revolving credit (debt) should be eliminated if possible. Living expenses are another thing entirely and for the most part unavoidable, although they can be controlled.
Some debt is easier to cross off the list than others, smaller credit cards and even car payments can be whittled down over the span of a few years. The larger looming issue of student loans and a house can take considerable time. I know people that graduated college with 50k in debt and then went for a Master’s degree. Ouch.
See above post. I agree in spades!!! Chaining oneself to the murderous-cycle-of-debt, especially in THIS political climate is a recipe for disaster for your entire family. We started “downsizing” or going GREY some years ago. We do not want anyone paying attention to us. We choose our friends very carefully based on integrity, and have long indoctrinated our now adult children into the art of being grey.
If you advertise, someone or something(an entity) WILL answer your ad. You won’t like that at all.
NRP, I agree that there still has to be some type of income for most. However, going strictly cash for purchases is a possibility for most people if they can manage to get out of debt. I believe being debt free is the only true freedom anyone can experience any more. Also, when you get to that point, you will find the money actually goes further and spending on luxuries is a heck of a lot more noticeable – meaning you will be less likely to waste it. Yes, most will still need a debit card but if you only use it online it helps you to focus your money.
Very few actually manage to truly leave the grid but you can get close.
With the above comments, I totally agree 100%
As far as leaving the grid totally? I kinda like my grid ties, BUT I have backup to the backup and so on. Working on Solar so maybe I can sell that “grid” some and drop that cost. 🙂
NRP