Let’s start with the why.
I have no family, and, as of the time of writing, no university degree either. This means that were I to be fired from my current job, I’d have a hard time (probably, I don’t really know) finding a new one, and that I’d have no where to go but the street. I could go to a friend’s, but I would not want to bother them like that.
Then, a few months ago I started seriously thinking about the role of AI in my area of work. I do not think AI can replace developers (I’ve seen it try and fail magnificently) but I am also aware of the fact that employers do think so, and, at least in my environment, have already started putting into action plans to cut personnel and replace humans with AI tools.
This led me to have a little crisis. I thought about switching careers and more extreme things as well. As of today, I no longer have these feelings. I love programming and I will continue doing it in whichever way I can. At the same time, I was thinking: what is it that I really need to have a “happy” life? For me, the answer is books, coffee and someplace I can walk in peace while listening to podcasts and stuff.
As you can see, I need barely any money for these things. And right now I am living in a city where I can do the latter. So, this realization led me to make a budget. Write down how much money I actually need in order to live. This resulted in a grand total of about 250 US dollars per month. Let’s break it down.
I spend around 120 USD a month in groceries, 20 USD in laundry, 8 for YouTube premium and … well, that’s it. I am excluding rent because I am in the process of moving, but I am aiming to go somewhere under 200 USD. Right now I am in a 500 USD apartment, but only because I took the first thing I found, since I came fleeing Guayaquil after being almost murdered in the street.
What did I do in order to achieve this?
First, groceries. I started really looking at the prices of stuff I was buying. I did not sacrifice quality for price. I found alternative products, and bought at cheaper replaces. I also set a hard rule of absolutely no eating out. Only in very special ocassions. You might try and gaslight yourself into believing that you need to eat out in order to socialize or whatever, but if you learned to cook well you could have friends at your house for dinner, for example. I say from the bottom of my heart that I like my food way more than a great deal of restaurants I’ve been to.
Next, I stopped smoking. This one is self-explanatory. Cigarrettes are freaking expensive.
The other thing is I started doing as much as I can online. So for example, books and classes for whatever are usually cheaper online. You don’t have to pay for delivery or transportation this way either.
Then, I started using the least amount of clothes possible. A week, I use 12 pieces of underwear, 6 shirts, 2 short and 1 sweater. Also, the cloth needs to be as lightweight as possible. So, no jeans. This way, I took my laundry cost from ~8USD a week to ~3USD. I live in a pretty cold city, but surprisingly I’ve found that my body has adapted pretty well. I barely feel any cold anymore.
That’s basically it. Pretty simple, but effective. I honestly think we’ve gotten too lazy and used to the comforts of modernity, which is exactly what our capitalistic society wants. They want us to cOnSOom.
I hope you got something useful from this, and I really encourage you to try and get out of the trap of consumerism. If you can afford it. And if you have a different perspective, please don’t hesitate to share it.