🚀 go-pugleaf

Nonymous wrote:
> "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.

You lived over 6km from your job?  How did you manager? You probably
spent all your time going back and forth.

>  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.