Saturday, February 2, 2008

The Debt Free Lifestyle

What is our goal? What would it look like? Could it be a life where we pay in cash, incur no long term debt? Perhaps credit cards would be stored somewhere in the house, in a safe place perhaps, rarely used, like a passport.

The only cards we would carry would be discount cards, like a safeway card, and we would pay groceries in thick wads of cash. We would be like the Amish, but more worldly. Sort of like if the Amish had hot tubs and drank Cristal. We would not use gas, and drive by those stations in our horse and buggy, and go to the liquor store, for some Dom. Then we would ride back to the farm, and enjoy a home grown organic meal. We would retire to the hot tub in back, and enjoy some world class bubbly.

4 comments:

Scott Lahti said...

One man's monthly budget:

Monthly gasoline: $25 (8 gallons/200 miles)
Food + personal hygiene + cleaning supplies: $100
Rent + utilities + phone + wi-fi internet + cable = $700
Long-distance calling card = $12.19
Cellphone: none
Auto insurance: $46
Auto maintenance: $25 (avg.)
Entertainment: public library
Total: $908/mo.

New World Man said...

wow. I've got to do a budget. I am at the chopping stages only at this time. Each expense chopped off feels good though.

Scott Lahti said...

"I learned early with Thoreau that a man is rich in proportion to the numbers of things he can afford to let alone; and in view of this I have always considered myself extremely well-to-do." - Albert Jay Nock

Scott Lahti said...

"Analysts say a shift toward thrift could have huge implications for an economy driven largely by consumer spending."

From the NYT Most E-Mailed list:

Economy Fitful, Americans Start to Pay as They Go

By PETER S. GOODMAN
Published: February 5, 2008

For more than half a century, Americans have proved staggeringly resourceful at finding new ways to spend money...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/business/05spend.html