final_identity

This topic came up in another thread, and it spurred me to mention it here. I wonder if people are interested in the ideas surrounding a fledgeling "movement," which often calls itself "voluntary simplicity."

There are "simplicity cafes" and "simplicity study groups" and things like that all over the web. (Unfortunately none in my area.) I'll post links a while later, after the discussion has got going (if it does).

The idea here is, basically, to reject the consumer culture, realize that with economic wellbeing comes an idea not only of "success" but also of "enough," and learn to manage your resources so that you LIVE a life rather than merely WORK all life long for toys you don't really need, or for dry-cleaning bills that wouldn't be necessary if you weren't working in the first place.

The bibles of this movement are, philosophically, Thoreau's "Walden," and more practically, the Penguin book by Dominguez and Robin entitled "Your Money or Your Life." The latter is a kind of complicated financial workbook in which you learn to master your spending and get out of working until you die. They have an elaborate plan, by which you equate time and energy spent, to something called "life energy," which can be accounted for in terms of units that you then compare to your desired expenditures. It's a sort of reverse-budgeting process, by which you allow your life-priorities to sort out where you WANT to spend your money, and then after-the-fact slowly build your spending habits to where they are in concert with your real goals.

I like it, because it's a smarter way to go about budgeting. Rather than saying, "I can't go out for dessert because I have to be good," which is generally the downfall of traditional ante-hoc budgeting, you end up saying something more like, "I really want to be able to afford piano lessons, and so I ended up going home, and only long after the fact did I realize that in other circumstances I probably would have accidentally gone out and spent too much on dessert." I dislike it because it's convolute and because it's never really fit my actual work style or life.

My life has been a hodgepodge of odd-jobs and poor employment. I am the typical impoverished gentry of America -- English major, brilliant and practical and always successful at any job he does, but also without long-term thrust to a career. I have no formal or certifiable training in any field (never thought I needed it; but then learned the hard way that it mattered more than intelligence or ability), and now am in the box of needing it but not being able to afford it. I have just started a job in publishing, which excites me, in that my smarts and worldly wide-ranging wisdom will actually be used and tangibly valued (as well as merely intangibly), and in that there is actually room for advancement. Which there wasn't, in academia in the medieval vernacular bibliography field, in poetry, in school teaching, in choral singing, in stage-managing, in the many other very skilled and very poorly paid jobs our society tends to deride with laughable salaries. (Edit: I'm of course being a bit offhand and hyperbolic about how brilliant I am. This is tongue-in-cheek, I hope you realize.)

I have to admit, as an aside (but not very tangential), it has always been a shock to me how poorly we pay those whom I personally most value, those whom I would say we SHOULD most value. I didn't really learn about the discrepancies between a lawyer's starting salary and a school-teacher's until well after my undergraduate career was over and I felt it "too late" to go straight to law school. Or any other "certification" course. I can, of course, always go as a "returning" student, but somehow it's not the same. It isn't a "calling."

So the voluntary simplicity movement attracts me because, foremost, of the manner in which my own thoughts tend to run counter to the free market's insistence that profitability is, in itself, an accurate guage of overall "truthful" value. I'd have to say, a market is only one indicator of value, and that economic value OUGHT to be given, in a just society, to things other than marketability. So, you see where I run afoul of the typical laissez-faire or libertarian arguments.

And voluntary simplicity appeals to me for other reasons. The chicks who actually accept those concepts tend to be hotter. Not necessarily skinnier or prettier or better dressed, just, more ... sexual. They aren't looking to their men to be providor / father figures, but instead exude this need for DICK. I like that. I'm of course being a bit flippant, but you get the point. I like voluntary simplicity because it reduces clutter, and I hate clutter in my life. Perhaps I am rebelling against my parents, who lead a very cluttered life -- children of the depression (barely, they were both born in 38) and the War, they simply accrete masses of things in their house. (As an only, I cringe at a mere THOUGHT of the eventual unaided cleaning up that will fall to me.)

And I'm moving into a new place, a place of my own (thanks to publishing! yay!) for the first time in almost 15 years. I wonder if I will genuinely clean up things. Do people have any suggestions as to how to eliminate clutter? How to go about living a "principle centered" life rather than a "free market centered" one? Anyone else attracted to voluntary simplicity? And, is Jackson Mississippi going to be a good place to do it ... :-P ...

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The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. Friedrich Nietzsche

Cynthetiq

while I've never read those books, nor pushed myself into anticonsumerism.

I have looked at the simple reality that there are some needs and there are some wants. Needs come first and foremost and needs are NOT negotiable.

Wants are.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

lurkette

I think it's kind of funny that a movement that decries consumerism has cafes, books, and magazines all about simplifying and consuming less. It's become just another persona to adopt, another identity to consume by not consuming, or consuming in a particular way. You can't really escape.

That said, I think there's a lot to be said for just buying less crap. Most of it is stuff we don't need, don't use, or could do without. You buy less crap, you have more room so you can live in a smaller house. You don't need so much money, so you could be a little choosier about your job and work closer to home, eliminating the need to drive so much, or even drive at all. You have more time to spend with family and friends. All in all, seems like a good idea.

I just object to the "movement" aspect of it.

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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."

- Anatole France

ARTelevision

Reminds me of that commercial where the two college guys are hitching a ride and the one says he intends to major in ceramics and live off the grid in 10 years. Then they get picked up by a svelte fashionable family in a luxury SUV. They look around inside at the plush surroundings and the guy says "... maybe I can minor in ceramics."

heh heh

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Cynthetiq

i have one friend that really believes in nothingness.

she has nothing and she's very content with it. I don't get it but she's happy as a clam with just a simple bed and handmedown stuff.

more power to her... but that's too eXtreme for me.

__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Rodney

To me, money is not about buying things; it's about having options. The more money you have, the more latitude that you have to do the things you want, avoid crises, face them head-on, or simpy be yourself without kow-towing to others.

My wife and I have done well, but we drive 12- and 13-year-old cars. Traveling's not that important, so we don't take expensive vacations, either. We've paid off our house instead. We still worry about the future, but if worse came to worse and we lost our jobs and insurance -- we'd have plenty of time to retrain into something else. I've been off work for 18 months, retraining for another career, and we've barely felt it.

Now that's worth a lot more to me than the latest consumer trinkets or a giant SUV with OnStar. And it is true -- the more stuff you own, the more it all owns you.

final_identity

The idea of money giving you options -- sometimes that's the case, but quite often the quest for money LIMITS your options instead. At least, occupies so much of your time, that you don't have the freedom to exercise or consider all those options that you can afford. It's an odd balancing act.

And to me, travel is VERY important ... not that "go to the condominium on the beach" type of travel so many folks do as tourists, but rather that deep "experience the soul of the people" type that you can only do by means of extended stays in places. Which takes a type of wealth or logistical arrangement I haven't worked out, yet. I'd love to move somewhere for nine months, and then come back and write about it. Even if I lost significant cash in the process. But my problem is, there wouldn't be a job waiting for me upon my return, and so the departure (and the hiatus in my resume) would be too much of a detriment. It isn't the travel or the expense or the lack of income that's the risk, it's the actual not-working.

We Americans put LOTS of stock in the idea of continually slaving. If you don't, you don't fit the mold, and you might find you won't be let back in.

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The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. Friedrich Nietzsche

Esco

I have to agree with Rodney. Money gives me the option to do the little things for myself and my family. I'm not concerned about having the latest toy or fanciest fashions. There's a few simple things that we enjoy together and I have absolutely no regrets about spending money on these things.

Rodney

Of course, everybody's values are different. You might choose to structure your life so that travel is a priority, but skimp on material possessions or buying a permanent residence to balance things out. I think the key in the whole argument is to use money to shape your life, not simply to buy baubles and possessions.

Cynthetiq

To the wife and I we love to travel also. It's the most important thing for us. It is what we work for. It's our form of fun.

That said, options is the money factor for us. At one point in time we could afford to eat at expensive restaurants every night. We could afford designer clothes, expensive cars, etc. Those things weren't important to us. To us they are fleeting. We still weren't any happier.

With travelling, it's slightly different because we come back as a different person. Our outlook on life shifts because of what we experienced while away from our homeland. This year alone we are going to Iceland and Sedona, AZ. We've already planned our first trip for 2005 which is Madrid Spain and Gran Canaria Island. While it seems like we're spending alot of money there, we kind of aren't. Our trip to Spain and Canaria, airfare is free, and the housing we just have to pay for in Madrid, we traded our timeshare for Canaria.

Rodney has a few years on me, but his words are exactly on point. Money shapes our lives, not drives it or owns it.

macmanmike6100

"Simplify, simplify. 'Tis the mantra of those without ability for financial independence in the New World of Adam Smith."

That was my friend's response. I do think that "anti-consumerism" is a provocative idea! thanks for the post

Yakk

Money isn't that hard to have, if you ignore it. Making money is hard to do: you almost always have to put work into it, be it by managing investments, labour at a job, keeping track of the real estate market, or schmoozing with contacts.

Apparently you can get "working tourist" visas to some places, such as Japan. A friend of mine is on such a Visa as we speak. Amoung other things, he's thinking of visiting a village for a few months that his mother spent a few years in in her youth.

He is returning... sometime, no fixed date.

While I was in England, I spent some time with a colony of Kiwi's who are there on an "overseas experience". They are twenty-something, living 6 to 10 to a house, spending as little as possible, while racking up high-value British pounds. Some are saving up to move back to NZ and buy a house, some are thinking of staying in England, others have saved up money, bought a cheap old van, and are going to go ona tour of Europe for 6 months.

Arrange to visit countries where you can work while you are visiting. If anything, that will get you closer to the country than just being a tourist.

For me, money is really about options. The clutter comment made earlier is right on: I don't want to have to spend effort taking care of possessions. Having ownership of a thing is an obligation, not an asset, to me.

By maintaining a good earnings:spending ratio, it means work is stress-free: if I get fired, the company collapses, or anything else bad happens, it will just mean more free time. And the largest part of this is the low spending. I rent a 400$ room (that's 300 US$ or 160 BritLbs) in a friend's house, live ~8 km from work, drive a 13 year old car, and haven't bought a new computer in years. Most importantly, I cringe at reoccuring expenses: the only two big ones I have are my cell phone and my rent.

And I doubt I could be happier if I traded my finantial worry-free life for one of more luxuries.

As for the consumer trappings of the "movement" I apparently belong to (nobody tells me nothing, sheesh), I could see some justifications for it. It looks like a reduced-consumption movement, not an anti-consumption movement. People still eat. Having stores that sell things that cater to that, or magazines in which items of interest can be discussed or brought to light, isn't a contradiction. Personally, I'd never subscribe to it however.

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Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.

final_identity

But do you get laid?

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The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. Friedrich Nietzsche

bermuDa

step 1 to anti-consumerism: defenestrate your television.

Or you could just ignore what other people tell you that you need, and make your own decisions. It's possible to live within and integrate into a technologically oriented society and maintain a simple lifestyle. What you seem to be advocating is more anti-rat race than anti-commercialism though.

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ChrisJericho

I think it's important to step back and see things for what they are.

I am a college student and am fortunate that my parents saved enough money for my education. Hopefully with a college degree hopefully I can get a decent job that will allow me to do the things I enjoy and provide a secure future for any possible family. However, the reason I'm going to college is NOT so I can lease a new german automobile every 2 years or go out to expensive restaurants every night. Too many people work jobs in order to purchase objects or services that they do not need (yes, enter Fight Club references here).

A good example of this is one of my friends back home. He did not go to college and works two part time jobs, one at UPS the other arranging clothes at SEARS. He still lives with his parents. A few years ago he bought a truck during the 0% interest craze post 9/11. He has spent all his money during the last few years paying the truck off and now it's finally his. I talked to him a couple weeks ago and he mentions how he is thinking about getting a new truck pretty soon.... *sigh* Basically he is just working to buy a new truck every few years, while still living with his parents and working crappy jobs.

People need to examine for what reasons they work/ go to college. Are they exerting all this effort and energy in order to obtain material possesions that will ultimately crumble away? Or they investing this money in things that will fulfill them and last a lifetime?

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"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows us that faith proves nothing." - Friedrich Nietzsche