🚀 go-pugleaf

"mike wilcox" <appraisers@sympatico.ca> wrote in message 
news:uZG_e.6912$cq2.724465@news20.bellglobal.com...
> Neon John wrote:
>> So you're happy with lots of money just kinda passing through your
>> hands on its way to others while your time just kinda leaks away?
>> That's what happens when you work in the "big city" and live in the
>> 'burbs.  BTDT.
>>
>> I gave up the mid six figure lifestyle about 12 years ago when I
>> escaped the big city.  I made all that money but I never seemed to
>> have time nor the money to do anything.  Any meaningful saving was
>> impossible, as there was nothing left at the end of the month after
>> all the bills were paid.  I was always exhausted and was always very
>> stressed out even though my company (obviously) was doing quite well.
>>
>> I now operate a small restaurant and live in a nice apartment in the
>> other part of the building I own free and clear.  I've probably never
>> made more than $30k a year in this biz.  Yet somehow I'm living better
>> than I ever have.  I have more toys AND the time to play with them.
>> Instead of arriving home exhausted after fighting the traffic and
>> after fighting the clients and employees at work, I close my doors at
>> quitting time, walk to my apartment and start having fun.
>>
>> It's 4 minutes after three in the afternoon right now.  I closed for
>> the day 4 minutes ago.  In another 10 I'll have closed up the place
>> and will have started my leisure time.  I'm thinking I might drive up
>> to the Ocoee River and have a cookout.  What will you be doing?  I'll
>> come back up to the restaurant at 10:30 in the morning after having
>> awakened 15 minutes earlier.   How many hours will you have been awake
>> by then?
>>
>> I filled the tank on my car about 3 weeks ago right before the
>> hurricane and it's still on F.  I commute around my area on an
>> electric scooter when the weather is nice and in my little electric
>> car (about $2k, paid for) when it's not.  Because I put under 5kmiles
>> a year on everything except my motorhome, my insurance is very cheap.
>> I have 5 vehicles including a commercial deliver truck, comprehensive
>> on the newer ones and my total bill is under $1k a year.
>>
>> I've owned my main car about 5 years now (bought used for cash) and it
>> still has the tires it came with.  How many tires have you bought in
>> the last 5 years?  I change the oil once a year whether it needs it or
>> not.  Notice I mentioned a motorhome?  I bought it used for cash about 6
>> years ago.  I have the time to use it almost every weekend.  Because I
>> don't have to commute and can set my own hours, and because I have
>> sufficient disposable income, I can usually stay over an extra night
>> and amble in just in time to open up the restaurant at 11 AM.
>>
>> Oh, did I mention the cabin in the mountains?  I built it years ago
>> but I literally never used it until I downscaled.  Now I time-share
>> between it and my motorhome, one or the other every weekend just
>> about.
>>
>> In Atlanta the property tax on my home was almost $6k/yr. Here, my
>> 6800 sq ft building in downtown Cleveland costs me less than $1k.
>> That's 5k more I have for toys or retirement or investing right there.
>> Residential electricity was 11.6cent/kwh (much higher now) in Atlanta.
>> It's 5.2cents/kwh for commercial power here.  I have lower energy
>> costs for my entire building here than I had for just my house in
>> Atlanta.
>>
>> Right now I'm looking to move to an even smaller area.  I'll open
>> another restaurant that should net about the same money from a smaller
>> sales volume.  The reason is that property, taxes and energy are so
>> much cheaper there.  That means I'll have to work even less to
>> maintain my lifestyle.
>>
>> Or I might just retire again.  Because of the lack of commuting and
>> the low cost of living here, I've been able to tuck away enough money
>> so that as an early 50-something, I don't really have to work now.
>> OTOH, I love what I do, so can that be called work?
>>
>> I'm curious, do you have any debt?  I don't.  I just kinda thumb my
>> nose at the bank when I drive by.  Remember that I've never made more
>> than $30k a year in this business, a bunch less last year, so I'm not
>> some arrogant rich dude thumbing his nose at the masses.
>>
>> I'm REALLY glad there are so many people like you out there to
>> populate the big cities.  That keeps my area open and uncluttered for
>> the most part.  It is nice to drive to Atlanta or Knoxville every few
>> months to shop and to remind myself of what I'm missing!  With the
>> net, shopping has lost its allure so my trips have become pretty much
>> annual ones.
>>
>> Why don't you sit down and do an actual budget and a personal cash
>> flow analysis?  I bet you never have, or you wouldn't be fooling
>> yourself about your quality of life.  See just how much it is costing
>> you to live in one place and work in another.  You might just see the
>> light. Or not.
>>
>> John
>>
>> On Tue, 27 Sep 2005 08:54:27 -0400, "Ted B." <noway@nohow.not.ever>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>In many (most) areas of the U.S., the jobs that pay decent living wages 
>>>are NOWHERE NEAR areas that offer affordable housing.  Case in point . . 
>>>. if you live close to your job, you probably need to work multiple jobs 
>>>to make ends meet.  There is no simple solution like "move closer to your 
>>>job".  In most cases, the increased housing expense for such a move would 
>>>more than eat up any savings gained from a shorter commute.  If gas 
>>>prices go a lot higher than current levels, it just might make sense for 
>>>many people to buy a million-dollar condo so that they can have a shorter 
>>>drive to work.  For now though, to suggest that someone (anyone) move 
>>>closer to work is simply ignorant.  Most people live far from work as 
>>>that is where they can afford to live.  Or to look at it another way, 
>>>most people can not afford to WORK anywhere near where they are living. 
>>>The biggest employer within 15 miles of me is wally world.  Could I work 
>>>there?  Yes, if I wanted to take an 80% pay cut.  If I move significantly 
>>>closer to the employers who pay decent money, I'd need to buy a house 
>>>that costs 4-5 times as much as my current house, for a lot less land 
>>>with a smaller house on it.

>
> Very well put John, most people have no idea how much their job actually 
> cost them. I read "Your Money or Your Life" about 15 years ago and it 
> changed my life. My commute now is very short as well, one flight of 
> stairs, a right turn at the kitchen and I'm there. I commute to the bank, 
> library and shopping on my bike most of the time and it's rare I go 
> through a half tank of gas a week carting the kids about.


Points taken, but the "live close to where you work" idea also assumes 
you're job is stable, secure, and you're enjoying it enough now (and will 
still in the future) to want to keep it long term.  Who wants to go and move 
to be close to work just to be laid off a year later or to have the company 
go through so bad re-org causing you to now hate working there?

Until last summer, I was at a job for about a year and a half that was a 
mere 4 miles from my house.  It was great to be able to leave later in the 
morning to get there, to leave an be home minutes later, and to oftentimes 
go home for lunch. But the job itself sucked.  Boring as hell, work mates 
sort of unfriendly in an odd way, evil management getting worse by the day 
due to changes the company was going through, a worry of losing the job due 
to the ongoing consoldation of offices by the company.

I'm now working at a place that's 28 miles from home.  Average commute time 
is nearly an hour.  Yeah, the commmute bugs me, yeah I wish I wasn't 
spending so much on gas, etc.  But I love the job, love who I work with, and 
because of it I'm a happier person an have much more energy.

Since I like it, maybe I should move closer?  No way.  I see little things 
happening in the company such that I won't be surprised if I want to leave 
in 5-6 years, or if the company disbands my department in that time.  Who 
knows.  I could be wrong, but I'm not going to bet my dwelling on it, 
especially since I don't even like the housing and recreation options 
available around there.

Also, one thing I *didn't* like about the short commute last year was that I 
felt my entire world was confined to a 4 square mile area.  Seeing and going 
to the same places for lunch, to shop, day after day, both during the week 
and the weekend.  ugh.