Life is supposed to be simple, isn't it? We are born, we grow up, learn, go to school, graduate (or not), go to college and/or university and then go out into the world and make a living for ourselves and families and live our lives.
Simple, right?
Well, not really. So many things can get in the way, happen and screw up those plans we make for ourselves in the early parts of our lives that we don't realise exactly how complex our lives can become.
In between our health, work, family and paying the bills to keep the roof over our heads, our lives should be a lot simpler than it seems. Many people have made their lives complicated by taking on a lot more than they can handle; and it's really not that hard to be in the world now and still live simply.
Okay that sounds a bit backwards, but it's not.
For a lot of you, you know me as a blogger, a reader, a collector of handbags, vinyls books and a gardener. I love to cook and have a major medical condition - Epilepsy - and yet, I live very simply in this world of complex things. I live from week to week on a Disability Pension - which I manage to put away around 1/3 of each fortnight into 4 savings accounts. With these accounts, I'm saving for different things, but it doesn't mean I'm dipping into them all the time.
I don't have a credit card. I once did when I traveled to the UK, but I filled it up with money and used what was on it. When I got home, I tried it out as a credit card, but found I couldn't work out the payments, so I had my bank get rid of it and to never send me another - and they haven't. To date, I have no debt. I pay all my bills on time, I pay in cash or eph-poss and if I don't have the money, and I want something expensive, I work out a payment plan. I have been working this way for almost a decade, and it works.
There's other things that I do to make my life easy. I cook at home, don't eat takeaway food and, seeing I have my own music collection, I have a huge array of music to entertain myself. Having my own dvd collection also helps in being able to watch what I want when I want... my movie collection has paid itself off many times over when I've wanted to have a movie marathon over a weekend; and it's been lots of fun.
My life is a lot simpler than most people's. I'm an artist too, so when I want to do something for somebody's birthday or for them at Christmas, I can find the right things for them in the right places, or I can easily make the thing I want to give them.
My life never used to be this simple. I had a lot of stress in it and I found it difficult to live. But when I organised myself and figured out how to get the movies I wanted to get, figured out what food I wanted to eat and have in my pantry, when I learned to cook different meals for myself, I found that life became easier. I still struggle with things from time to time, but my life has gotten a lot easier; even though it's taken me a while to get into knowing how to work within my own boundaries and money too.
So, how do you make your life simpler? As you all know, I have been cleaning out my townhouse. This is another way to keep my life in perspective too, and to keep myself from hoarding. So, even though my house may be messy, everything has a place when I have to clean up... and that's a good thing. At least I have come this far with my house. Anyway, until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm and remember, I'm always here.
Simple, right?
Well, not really. So many things can get in the way, happen and screw up those plans we make for ourselves in the early parts of our lives that we don't realise exactly how complex our lives can become.
In between our health, work, family and paying the bills to keep the roof over our heads, our lives should be a lot simpler than it seems. Many people have made their lives complicated by taking on a lot more than they can handle; and it's really not that hard to be in the world now and still live simply.
Okay that sounds a bit backwards, but it's not.
For a lot of you, you know me as a blogger, a reader, a collector of handbags, vinyls books and a gardener. I love to cook and have a major medical condition - Epilepsy - and yet, I live very simply in this world of complex things. I live from week to week on a Disability Pension - which I manage to put away around 1/3 of each fortnight into 4 savings accounts. With these accounts, I'm saving for different things, but it doesn't mean I'm dipping into them all the time.
I don't have a credit card. I once did when I traveled to the UK, but I filled it up with money and used what was on it. When I got home, I tried it out as a credit card, but found I couldn't work out the payments, so I had my bank get rid of it and to never send me another - and they haven't. To date, I have no debt. I pay all my bills on time, I pay in cash or eph-poss and if I don't have the money, and I want something expensive, I work out a payment plan. I have been working this way for almost a decade, and it works.
There's other things that I do to make my life easy. I cook at home, don't eat takeaway food and, seeing I have my own music collection, I have a huge array of music to entertain myself. Having my own dvd collection also helps in being able to watch what I want when I want... my movie collection has paid itself off many times over when I've wanted to have a movie marathon over a weekend; and it's been lots of fun.
My life is a lot simpler than most people's. I'm an artist too, so when I want to do something for somebody's birthday or for them at Christmas, I can find the right things for them in the right places, or I can easily make the thing I want to give them.
My life never used to be this simple. I had a lot of stress in it and I found it difficult to live. But when I organised myself and figured out how to get the movies I wanted to get, figured out what food I wanted to eat and have in my pantry, when I learned to cook different meals for myself, I found that life became easier. I still struggle with things from time to time, but my life has gotten a lot easier; even though it's taken me a while to get into knowing how to work within my own boundaries and money too.
So, how do you make your life simpler? As you all know, I have been cleaning out my townhouse. This is another way to keep my life in perspective too, and to keep myself from hoarding. So, even though my house may be messy, everything has a place when I have to clean up... and that's a good thing. At least I have come this far with my house. Anyway, until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm and remember, I'm always here.
A single person's lifestyle compared to a person who's in any living form of relationship with a partner and/or has a young family is somewhat different with expenses of living.
ReplyDeleteNot entirely. I don't live the regular single person's life. With a major medical condition like mine, I'd love to have an easier life, but I don't. I'd love to be able to get a job - any job - where I can just go out and work, however it's not possible not with my inability to work with numbers.
DeleteThe disability pension really doesn't allow for much in the way of flexibility either. I don't go out, don't buy thing that's brand new (unless I really save for it) and I don't have that many luxuries in my life. There's a lot of waiting for me.
I don't have a simple life because it's not simple... I don't think anyone's life is simple no matter how you look at it.
And I wasn't comparing my single life to anyone else' life.