EvanR wrote:SVreX wrote: Well, not $50k, but it is only $84k. No snow, no winter clothes, no heat bills, no snow tires, no salt on the roads (and therefore no rust), etc. Costs are much less.Drifting off topic... but where is this place? I'd like to retire to someplace with cheap housing and decent weather!
Albany, GA
SVreX wrote:GameboyRMH wrote: Conversely, I've heard an argument that being poor isn't bad if the Joneses are also poor. Never from anyone in the position to know first-hand however. I disagree with it.I've been in the position to know first hand. There is SOME truth to it.
I suppose it's less saddening, in the same sense that it's less sadenning to be sick at a hospital than at a beach party. It doesn't make the sickness itself suck any less.
No, that's not it at all.
Poverty is not a sickness, or even a condition that necessarily needs to be fixed.
It just means you don't have much money.
It is an issue of contentment. I have had much, and I have had little. I try to exercise contentment in all things.
Honestly, I find it easier to be content with little.
SVreX wrote: Honestly, I find it easier to be content with little.
There is a lot of truth to this statement. I have been seriously considering slowing way the hell down and getting by with less of everything. Life was so much simpler when I was broke.
SVreX wrote: Honestly, I find it easier to be content with little.
As do I, but that isn't what poverty is. Poverty is when you can not afford that little in which you would be content with in the first place.
basically, the difference between poverty and poor …. poor = you can get by, just not as well as you might like …
poverty = you're missing out of things you actually need as opposed to want
I've been poor, but never went without the essentials … which to me means not poverty
This thread just makes me want to figure out how to telecommute from Podunk, GA. Sounds nice, and cheap.
Toyman01 wrote:SVreX wrote: Honestly, I find it easier to be content with little.There is a lot of truth to this statement. I have been seriously considering slowing way the hell down and getting by with less of everything. Life was so much simpler when I was broke.
I don't get this sentiment. Life is way easier now that my wife and I make a comfortable middle class living, but live like we have an average income for OK.
Then again, I grew up with divorced parents living in a trailer park so I remember what it was like to be BROKE.
I need spurts of decent income to pay off bills, purchase much needed new stuff (bicycles, used cars, camping gear), but in general I really enjoyed having free time of working multiple part-time jobs or working a YMCA adventure camp.
Once I pay off my school debt I'll be debt free and probably won't be so concerned about income as long as I can put money towards the house fund.
I grew up in poverty. Life is much much much much much better now that I make above the median income for my area. I don't claim to know anyone else's personal experiences, but I don't see how anyone that has been truly poor could be content with that lifestyle. I like having things like electricity that is always on, running water, air conditioning, something other than a wood stove to keep warm, pest control, not eating beans for lunch and dinner until the pot is empty, reliable transportation, etc. Being poor sucks.
rotard wrote: I grew up in poverty. Life is much much much much much better now that I make above the median income for my area. I don't claim to know anyone else's personal experiences, but I don't see how anyone that has been truly poor could be content with that lifestyle. I like having things like electricity that is always on, running water, air conditioning, something other than a wood stove to keep warm, pest control, not eating beans for lunch and dinner until the pot is empty, reliable transportation, etc. Being poor sucks.
Yep, basically this. I would never want to to back to being a broke college student (who still did a ton of fun stuff even then). Every year for me keeps getting better and better. Nicer places to live, better garages to work on cars, more racing, more vacation.
Those who regret earning more are clearly doing it wrong imo. I am content with what I have at any point in time, but strive to do better. If I didn't... Might as well get it over with now and find a bridge (is what I would do anyways).
It all depends what your happy with. I don't need a new car or huge tv or consumerist BS ideas of "nice".
If anything I'm more pissed at corporate America's fear of giving anyone flexiblity or free time. It seems like our country is very much stuck in the 40 hour work week, 2 weeks vacation that pretty much robs us of any life experience.
Having a 40 hour work week doesn't really rob you of time to have life experiences. You just have to be motivated enough to make time for them. If anything, it allows me the flexibility to be able to afford to do what I want.
It depends what the life experiences are, doesn't it?
My boss doesn't particularly care for the idea of 4x10s. I want more 3-day weekends.
I'd also like to spend some time out west on trips longer than 2 weeks. Difficult to do when I can't work remotely (even though technically I could).
I think in America we still have this attachment to "staycations", where people only go a few hours away for a weekend and call it a vacation. We still think life experiences are having kids, cars, cats, dogs and houses. The only industries where people get more than a month off works are teachers and seasonal construction and service workers.
Everybody else just assumed you want $50,000k and 2-weeks. I'd be fine with $35k and a month off. Yea...that'd be pretty damn awesome.
You can work your way up to having more vacation time. You could also request a leave of absence, which, understandably, your employer isn't under any obligation to give. You could always quit your job, take your trip, then try to find another one. Why not be a teacher if you want a teacher's schedule?
Kenny_McCormic wrote:SVreX wrote: Honestly, I find it easier to be content with little.As do I, but that isn't what poverty is. Poverty is when you can not afford that little in which you would be content with in the first place.
That definition presupposes that there is a quantity of stuff that defines the state of being contented. Untrue.
I have lived in third world countries. I have known contented people who had no stuff.
I have also known many, many discontented people with plenty of stuff.
Stuff and contentment are not actually connected, except that we choose to make them that way.
PHeller wrote: Everybody else just assumed you want $50,000k and 2-weeks. I'd be fine with $35k and a month off. Yea...that'd be pretty damn awesome.
So teach?
PHeller wrote: It depends what the life experiences are, doesn't it? My boss doesn't particularly care for the idea of 4x10s. I want more 3-day weekends. I'd also like to spend some time out west on trips longer than 2 weeks. Difficult to do when I can't work remotely (even though technically I could). I think in America we still have this attachment to "staycations", where people only go a few hours away for a weekend and call it a vacation. We still think life experiences are having kids, cars, cats, dogs and houses. The only industries where people get more than a month off works are teachers and seasonal construction and service workers. Everybody else just assumed you want $50,000k and 2-weeks. I'd be fine with $35k and a month off. Yea...that'd be pretty damn awesome.
I totally agree. Plus European countries have more vacation and free time, generally work less but there isn't a huge gap in worker productivity. 10 days is nothing, in Germany or UK starting at 25 days is common.
93EXCivic wrote:PHeller wrote: Everybody else just assumed you want $50,000k and 2-weeks. I'd be fine with $35k and a month off. Yea...that'd be pretty damn awesome.So teach?
It may come to that.
SVreX wrote:Kenny_McCormic wrote:That definition presupposes that there is a quantity of stuff that defines the state of being contented. Untrue. I have lived in third world countries. I have known contented people who had no stuff. I have also known many, many discontented people with plenty of stuff. Stuff and contentment are not actually connected, except that we choose to make them that way.SVreX wrote: Honestly, I find it easier to be content with little.As do I, but that isn't what poverty is. Poverty is when you can not afford that little in which you would be content with in the first place.
Well........that's what the definition IS, regardless if YOU choose to redefine it to fit your world view.
PHeller wrote: Everybody else just assumed you want $50,000k and 2-weeks.
Tis a bit hard to take you seriously with how much you daydream about changing jobs constantly.
The people who get the time off are the ones with 1) Experience and 2) Time put in with the company. Because they have earned it. You haven't. Not trying to be harsh, but over the past two years, this has become apparent with you. Not everything in life is free, you have to earn that extra time or go find a job that gives it to you right off the bat.
And what a snotty thing to say:
PHeller wrote: It all depends what your happy with. I don't need a new car or huge tv or consumerist BS ideas of "nice".
You don't need a reliable vehicle to get to work? You don't need a decent house to raise kids in?
Its not consumerist or being happy with items. Its recognizing the things you need in life to be comfortable. You might be comfortable in a rats nest with bed bugs; most people are not. Congratulations on being "above" everyone who wants to live in a comfortable manner, and go do some fun things (those $5k europe trips to "find yourself" and "experience the world" don't pay for themselves).
What's a reliable car? What's a decent house?
Experience grants vacation time. Wow, who knew? You know what else experience, IE age gets you? Closer to death. Can't really enjoy all those years of experience when your dead.
No, I'll be snotty little brat and want my instant gratification right now. It may not be a fancy new car, a huge house, or huge screen TV, but it'll be something I can't buy. Time.
If I told you that I had an inoperable brain tumor that would kill me in 5 years, would you fault for me wanting to live my life?
Nothing is stopping you from taking your time now. You'll just have to deal with the complications that come with it.
PHeller wrote: If I told you that I had an inoperable brain tumor that would kill me in 5 years, would you fault for me wanting to live my life?
I would fault you for not recognizing a fairly easy to understand human condition. Time is money dude. You give up your time so you can do the things you want with the time you don't give up.
My response to you wouldn't change if you had a brain tumor. You still have to live within the confines of reality, this isn't a "theoretical" discussion we are having. If "living" for you is having the time to be carefree and wander around while thinking, thats great, do that! (I wholeheartedly approve!) Me? I'm going to earn money so I can go race cars and travel to amazing places in the world with my awesome girlfriend, sans bedbugs, and maybe eventually settle down in a clean, cozy house to raise a kid or two in (thats a long time off) 
Different strokes, I get that. But talking IN GENERAL, most of the population doesn't think 4 walls and a dirt floor is comfortable. Because it really isn't, and I've slept on my fair share of floors. (sleeping on the beach in mexico after 16 hours of racing was not NEARLY as awesome as you'd think it would be. It was cold, windy, and the wasps were brutal in the little semi-beachhuts). The sunrise was amazing, but I didn't have to die like I did in order to see that :p
...but do you think your current opinions are based on your ability to have already experienced things that I have not already? Maybe you moved around a lot as a kid. Maybe because of your job and chosen career or education you have been able to do lots of things you wanted to do that I have not.
I'm not advocating for every company out there to give us all one months vacation, but it would sure be awesome if here in the land of the free we were given more options on what kind of "compensation" we were offered.
If you want as much salary as you can get an only 3-weeks vacation, great, but what if I'm comfortable sleeping on the dirt floor? Why can't I have a job/career and live life my way, too?
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