Comment by sshine | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sshine | Hacker News Reader

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> Money buys me a lot of things that lead to my happiness - the ability to tell my wife that she could stop working in 2020 when she was 44 and I was 46 and we could travel post Covid and she could pursue her passions.

I told my wife the same. I'm currently on a $97k/year salary as a CS teacher with very few hours; I make about half of what I normally do, so I can have a lot of time with our firstborn. We're not pressed for money, but we also save less than $1500/mo. We spend most money on food, and second-most on travelling to my wife's home country.

I'm 39, and she's 32. My point is that you don't have to be very well off to make that choice.

> We threw away or gave away everything but the clothes we actually wear and our electronic devices

Wow. Just wow.

That sounds so liberating, but I could never do it.

I have a laser printer that I use a few times a year. I have two kind of belt sanders, even though I hardly do woodwork, because I imagine that I will, and I don't think I'm wrong. I have fitness equipment for a dozen sports. I have a collection of wires so that friends and family can ask for any kind of wire, and I can give it to them. My wife has three moving boxes of shoes that I've never seen her wear. I really wish it didn't take up so much space in our tiny apartment, but I wouldn't want to lose any of it.

> That sounds so liberating, but I could never do it.

I did that. Few years ago work was getting tough (new boss) and owner sold our rental right when second child was born. So we decided to move back from NZ to LT. Spent nearly a year living in Japan, Fiji and Tenerife and LT. Turned out to be mistake as work was hard to come by and it turns out I don't really like my country anymore. Kids need to go to daycare/school and form their friendships.

We went back to NZ, sourced some decent contract work and in like 6 months I was able to get mortgage. Life is stable and nice.

I get to spend money on improving house - got some tools and DIY a solar, heat recovery ventilation systems. Install Japanese toilet seats and get decent beds. Induction cooktop and some cooking tools. Ebike, kayaks and camping gear. Home assistant and robot vacuum. It's definitely reaching saturation point tho.

Hardest part is with third child on a way any sort of travel across the world is at least $10k in flights, $20k lost while not working and another 5k on vacant house.

Big hope is to save enough on a sailboat big enough for weekend trips. Otherwise grind another 5-10 years, sell everything and go around the world for a proper catamaran.

I mentioned earlier that I own a unit in a condotel. It’s basically your standard condo style resort that you find in tourist hotspots. It’s not a time share. Anyone can come in and reserve a room just like any hotel and the owner of the unit gets half of the money when your unit is rented out.

That also means we have outsourced a lot for $800 a month (not including a mortgage) - that takes care of all of the utilities, maintenance, access to multiple pools, a gym that is literally downstairs and one that is a block away. I use to have my own cardio equipment setup. They come in our condo every other day and take the trash out and will clean our unit for $80.

As far as the printer? We use the one in the business office that all guests can use when we occasionally need to print something.

When we leave for extended stays, we pack our suitcase and put our unit in the rental pool and money gets put in our account.

This isn’t my bragging about money. Our total fixed bills now are slightly less than when we were living in the burbs in Atlanta 5 years ago. Our fixed expenses are ridiculously low.

> This isn’t my bragging about money.

I get it. Simple living. Don’t own things you can borrow for free or rent cheap. I really see how that makes for quality of life. My brother lives simply but more luxuriously. He owns less and spends more on experiences. I see that saving things you can use in 5 years isn’t really maximising total wealth or convenience, so it’s just a deep affection for a ton of crab.

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