Not necessarily an easier life just much more simple.

Sometimes while in traffic driving to and from work I look around and I kind of feel like we're a bunch of cattle being herded along the asphalt prarie just doing what we're supposed to do.
We do it because the rent or mortgage is due, the phone, the electric, bills bills bills.

I owe I owe so off to work I go.

But to eliminate those bills......get rid of luxuries that we've come to accept as nesessities.....and just get away sounds nice sometimes.

Buy a plot of land in the woods somewhere put up a cabin and live off the land. Fish, hunt, garden, chop wood for the stove etc.

It would sure as hell be a lot of hard physical work, but to be that self sufficient could be satisfying in a way.

What do you all think?

I live as simple as possible.

Every day brother!!!



Travis

I wouldn't call my life simple by any means, but I do my best to keep it stress and worry free.

Think about it?
I'm working towards it, inasmuch as possible.

Unfortunately you need to be wealthy to do it because the very first step is to be completely debt free. So, I'm workin to save up money to buy some land and build a very efficient house all paid for. Once you have your land and house paid for, aint much else you need to worry about except keepin a part time job so you have cash to fill the propane tanks once a year and buy some Hersheys candy bars every once in a while.

Quoted: Not necessarily an easier life just much more simple. Sometimes while in traffic driving to and from work I look around and I kind of feel like we're a bunch of cattle being herded along the asphalt prarie just doing what we're supposed to do. We do it because the rent or mortgage is due, the phone, the electric, bills bills bills. I owe I owe so off to work I go. But to eliminate those bills......get rid of luxuries that we've come to accept as nesessities.....and just get away sounds nice sometimes. Buy a plot of land in the woods somewhere put up a cabin and live off the land. Fish, hunt, garden, chop wood for the stove etc. It would sure as hell be a lot of hard physical work, but to be that self sufficient could be satisfying in a way. What do you all think?

Well, I didn't go this far.  But if you want to give yourself a taste of what its like for a few months, don't use anything electronic.  No PC, no TV, no DVD, etc.  Lights are OK.  Stereo is OK.

Your electric bill should drop to under $10-20 per month depending on how you have your house heated.  Mine was about $5-10 per month (all I had was a stereo for a very long time).

When I lived like this it seemed I accomplished alot more in a given day.  I'd iron, liftweights, clean, read, write, whatever to keep myself busy.  It was quiet and uncomplicated.  I do miss it at times.

Quoted: Think about it? I'm working towards it, inasmuch as possible. Unfortunately you need to be wealthy to do it because the very first step is to be completely debt free. So, I'm workin to save up money to buy some land and build a very efficient house all paid for. Once you have your land and house paid for, aint much else you need to worry about except keepin a part time job so you have cash to fill the propane tanks once a year and buy some Hersheys candy bars every once in a while.

Don't forget property taxes.  

The real catch is .gov will have you keep paying taxes on your property so you will have to work enough  to pay taxes every year.  

Growing enough food to feed yourself reliably can be very stressful.   A hailstorm can destroy months of hard work, while sparing someone 1/2 mile away.

All the farmers I've known work much longer hours than a 9-5'er.   The hours start as soon as the sun will let you see enough to do stuff, and sooner if you're working inside a lit coop/barn.

Have thought about it many times, selling everything and moving out of this ratrace.
But I just    bought my place, so it wouldn't happen for at least a couple years...
But who knows, I might just say fuck it and move to the mountains or something.

... Think about it?

... Hell, I'm making direct plans with a scheduled time-frame to cut ties with this high-tech rat-race.

... Although I thoroughly enjoy my profession and career, it can be very stressful at times. I am very much looking forward to an early retirement.

... Within eight to ten years, I will have abandoned the Valley here and will have moved to the hills. Just me and my hounds. Building a nice, but simple, mountain cabin just a couple hundred yards from Tonto Creek. I'll have a large workshop for the gas-powered toys, a built-in BBQ, huge deck w/hammock and an ice-cold kegarator stocked with Guinness.

... Fishing, ATV, growing grapes, chasing the local single ladies around the woods, wrenching in my mini-machine shop, hunting in the Tonto Forest and Mogollon Rim will be the only things occupying my days.

... I will only work a few hours a week - if I want to.

... Here's the spot I will call home:

Quoted: The real catch is .gov will have you keep paying taxes on your property so you will have to work enough  to pay taxes every year.

Yeah that's the real catch there. Nobody actually owns any property. Sure, it's yours on paper, but if you don't pony up to the tax man it belongs to the gov.

Is there anyplace left left in this country without property taxes?

I was born 50 years too late.  I could have been a simple peasant farmer in Hungary.

Quoted: Growing enough food to feed yourself reliably can be very stressful.   A hailstorm can destroy months of hard work, while sparing someone 1/2 mile away. All the farmers I've known work much longer hours than a 9-5'er.   The hours start as soon as the sun will let you see enough to do stuff, and sooner if you're working inside a lit coop/barn.

It depends on how much they farm. We only farm about 500 acres now and its really just a part time gig with winters off. Cant beat that.
Back when we had near 2000 acres and cows, whole new ballgame.

You HAVE to buy or rent a documentary called "Alone In the Wilderness". It is about a guy that does just that. He takes off for Alaska and lives there in a cabin he built by hand(including the hinges for doors which are also made from wood). He left for alaska when he was about 50 years old to do this. He finally left his cabin in alaska after being there for 30 years by himself. He documented his life there with a film camera he had brought with him. GREAT movie!!!

Quoted: You HAVE to buy or rent a documentary called "Alone In the Wilderness". It is about a guy that does just that. He takes off for Alaska and lives there in a cabin he built by hand(including the hinges for doors which are also made from wood). He left for alaska when he was about 50 years old to do this. He finally left his cabin in alaska after being there for 30 years by himself. He documented his life there with a film camera he had brought with him. GREAT movie!!!

Not on Netflix.

Do you have it?

Quoted: You HAVE to buy or rent a documentary called "Alone In the Wilderness". It is about a guy that does just that. He takes off for Alaska and lives there in a cabin he built by hand(including the hinges for doors which are also made from wood). He left for alaska when he was about 50 years old to do this. He finally left his cabin in alaska after being there for 30 years by himself. He documented his life there with a film camera he had brought with him. GREAT movie!!!

I'll have to see that. Actually my boss has told me about a couple of people like that when he grew up in northern MN. There was a guy named Sumner Purvis who lived in a cabin way off the beaten path. A lot of people were afraid of him because he didn't like trespassers on his land and was a great shot with a rifle.

Another was a woman named Dorothy Molter who lived on what used to be a small resort in the boundary waters. It was on a island in a lake near the Canada border. She used to sell homemade root beer to visiters. Now there is some kind of memorial to her up there in Ely MN i think.

Yeah, I saw that movie......How 'bout that fireplace he built??? Pretty neat stuff. A great movie and an eye opener for those of you who want to get back to the simple life. Its very hard work indeed but probably worth all the effort.

GhostCat

Was on PBS alot last winter.Basedon a book,but couldn't find either when I searched for it.
We're living fairly simple.No cells,no satelite TV.Raise most of our meat and hunt.Fish,canning,etcSimple tastes.It's doable IF you want to.
Check out an older book called "Possum Living".You can do it ANYWHERE.
Start now,and get your skills/expeience.

Yes.  I would love to live a simpler life.

Personally, I think buying food at the grocery store, and buying electric power off the grid IS the simple life - compared to growing my own food, and generating my own heat/power.


I know that's not what you mean - but much of the modern conveniences are all about making lifef simpler.  I don't mind sitting in traffic once in a while (in a comfortable, air-conditioned car, listening to pleasant music) as a price to pay for my simple and pleasant life.

Has anyone else here thought about or considered living a simpler life?.........

Thought about it, considered it and am doing it, loving it.
 

Not a chance in hell. Yes, my job can get to me sometimes. Sure, every now and again it seems that various bills and problems all seem to hit at once. But I like my HDTV and X-Box and PC and Starbucks Lattes and large selection of restaurants and EBRs and all of the other pleasures of life. To trade that in for a life of rooting for grubs and berries? Fuck no.

Quoted: I was born 50 years too late.  I could have been a simple peasant farmer in Hungary.

Why not be a simple peasant farmer now ?

Quoted: Not a chance in hell. Yes, my job can get to me sometimes. Sure, every now and again it seems that various bills and problems all seem to hit at once. But I like my HDTV and X-Box and PC and Starbucks Lattes and large selection of restaurants and EBRs and all of the other pleasures of life. To trade that in for a life of rooting for grubs and berries? Fuck no.

I understand where you're coming from. I love my surround sound, my cable tv, my reclining sofa with massage, my microwave, and of course I always want more EBRs.

But I was thinking more along the lines of being locked into a never ending cycle of ever increasing cable bills, heating bills etc.

Hell, if I could eliminate some of these luxuries maybe I'd have more money for new guns!

Even if I'm not in the woods, I can get rid of cable use the savings to buy another EBR!

But that means giving up skinemax......hmmmm

I think the thing to realize is you dont have to go "Boone n Crockett" to have a simpler life.
Grow a garden. Remodel the home to be more energy efficient. Those two steps alone would be a huge gain in a "simpler" life as well as giving you a taste of what the real deal would be like.
Its nice to know when it hails outside I can still go to the store and get tomatoes. Its nice to know if my cow gets sick I can still go to the store and have fresh cold milk. The list goes on.

And, its nice to know if *I* get sick my crops wont rot on the vine.

My version of a simpler life is just being a bit more self sufficient but not going all the way. Have a good energy efficient house with some solar panels and wood stove (Or corn) and have a nice garden. Still do the 9-5 everyday but having a bit more self sufficient lifestyle is more goal.

Quoted: Personally, I think buying food at the grocery store, and buying electric power off the grid IS the simple life

Yep. People are conflating "simple" with "primitive". The main objection seems to be owing money for all the houses and cars and gizmos. The solution to that is pretty straightforward: don't buy it. You can live a simple life with modern convieniences--antibiotics, electricity from the grid, UPS delivery of ammo, buying your food at Safeway. Try living on half your paycheck for a few months.

And farming is damn hard work, along with being fantastically boring.

I found a link for the Alone in the Wilderness DVD. Alaska Natural History Assoiciation Or here: Dick Proenneke.

Did anyone watch the PBS shows Frontier House and Pioneer Quest?

I loved all three of these shows. If I had the money, I'd move in a heartbeat.

GL

I just hired a maid. My life is much simpler now.

Quoted: Not necessarily an easier life just much more simple. Sometimes while in traffic driving to and from work I look around and I kind of feel like we're a bunch of cattle being herded along the asphalt prarie just doing what we're supposed to do. We do it because the rent or mortgage is due, the phone, the electric, bills bills bills. I owe I owe so off to work I go. But to eliminate those bills......get rid of luxuries that we've come to accept as nesessities.....and just get away sounds nice sometimes. Buy a plot of land in the woods somewhere put up a cabin and live off the land. Fish, hunt, garden, chop wood for the stove etc. It would sure as hell be a lot of hard physical work, but to be that self sufficient could be satisfying in a way. What do you all think?

I did it back in 1996, been building a house ever since, alone just me and my wife, with occasional help from others. I've never worked so hard in my life, it is constant, continual, and never ending. If it isn't close quarter combat with possums/foxes in the chicken coop in the middle of the night, it's our dogs messing with snakes, us getting cut, bruised, twisted ankles, you name it. And none of that includes the real work of building. But yes, I can hunt, shoot, fish, hike, do whatever I please (as long as the Mrs. don't get upset) and that makes up for all of the aggravations.

We've been through it all: Hurricane Floyd & two weeks with no power (and we didn't riot or loot either, we just made do and waited for power to come back on); Hurricane Isabel, again a week with no power, so what? We like camping anyway. We've been snowed in for two weeks with no cigarettes or beer or electricity and still we didn't loot or riot. I've had to go out in the middle of a blizzard at night to tend stuff and make sure pipes didn't freeze, I can't even tell you all the stuff that comes with a simple country life. But I can tell you this: Nothing we've ever had to endure out here even comes close to having to put up with sissyfied crybaby co-workers, and supervisors who should be committed to an asylum somewhere, and having to actually chain and lock your lawnmower to go in the house to take a leak in the city.

I can actually get drunk out in my shed and leave it unlocked. I've gotten tired of carrying packs and guns in the fields and just leave them and come back later with my truck. I've left rifles in my truck unlocked for weeks. This is getting too long here... I better wind this up.  

I quit my babysitting job (some call it teaching) and have never been happier. I love it out here and the only way I'm ever going back to the urban blight cesspool corrupted filthy city is over my cold dead body, on a slab! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Oh yes, there is one big major drawback. In the old days when I got paychecks I'd just stop in my favorite gunshop and get whatever I felt like getting, rifles, pistols, knives, etc. Now, being a "loafer" I have to figure out how I'm gonna get something and I have to really need it, not just want it.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Quoted: I was born 50 years too late.  I could have been a simple peasant farmer in Hungary.

And living under the boot of mother Russia!!!

I don't know when you were born, but the timeline in eastern Europe in the twentieth century could be a problem.

ETA under my current plan I will take an early retirement in about 5-7 years (at 90% pay rate + annual cost of living increases). I will take a buncha' cash and move on out of here, to somewhere where the locals won't lynch me because I'm from California. I'm having a little trouble finding that spot though. Pay cash for the property, not too close to town, but I am not a farmer, I like grocery stores and movie theaters. I've done enough hard work to know how to do it and that I am capable of doing it, but only want to do it if required. They don't call it retirement for nothing. So a simpler life but not to the extent that some of ya'll want.

"Buy a plot of land in the woods somewhere put up a cabin and live off the land. Fish, hunt, garden, chop wood for the stove etc."

Absolutely, as a last resort, but it's not an unconsidered scenario for me. Regardless my ideal lifestyle would be to get away from a lot of society.

jeremiah johnson makes me think I was born in the wrong times sometimes. I'm convinced I'm a fish out of water in this modern society. Watching commercials also does that.

Quoted: You HAVE to buy or rent a documentary called "Alone In the Wilderness". It is about a guy that does just that. He takes off for Alaska and lives there in a cabin he built by hand(including the hinges for doors which are also made from wood). He left for alaska when he was about 50 years old to do this. He finally left his cabin in alaska after being there for 30 years by himself. He documented his life there with a film camera he had brought with him. GREAT movie!!!

That was one of the best films i have seen.

My dream has always been a really big piece of land where few people wanna live. Id either build a cabin on it or drag an old trailer onto it. Id grow and hunt all my own food. I would live there happily ever after untill the gov and its thugs came to take it from me because I didnt pay them any property taxes, then my own personal war would begin..... in earnest.  

Quoted: Not necessarily an easier life just much more simple. Sometimes while in traffic driving to and from work I look around and I kind of feel like we're a bunch of cattle being herded along the asphalt prarie just doing what we're supposed to do. We do it because the rent or mortgage is due, the phone, the electric, bills bills bills. I owe I owe so off to work I go. But to eliminate those bills......get rid of luxuries that we've come to accept as nesessities.....and just get away sounds nice sometimes. Buy a plot of land in the woods somewhere put up a cabin and live off the land. Fish, hunt, garden, chop wood for the stove etc. It would sure as hell be a lot of hard physical work, but to be that self sufficient could be satisfying in a way. What do you all think?

You are only stuck in the rat race as much as YOU want to be.  Turn on, tune in, drop out.

Yup, parts of Alaska.  Delta Junction is famous for folks not wanting to incorporate to avoid a property tax.

Of course, they want their kids educated, roads plowed, unemployment checks.  Hipocrites just want someone else to pay for it.

I would give up everything I own to live on an Island like the people in this movie (minus all the bad stuff that happens of course)

I'm kind of on my way to that life now, but it's gonna be a while until I'm ready to go.  I figure I'll be there in five years for sure, maybe in three, and if everything breaks just right, maybe in nine months.  

I'm getting a good skill together to use, though, before I go.  

I have. I still think about moving to Hawaii or Puerto Rico or something, setting up a little art studio, and selling souvenirs to the haoles/turistas/what have you.

I'm working on it but it sure as hell doesn't involve chopping firewood, growing vegetables, raising chickens and calculating whether or not we have enough food/fuel/health to make it through the winter.

My idea of the simple life is getting the house paid off, having my investments do reasonably okay in the interim, continuing to add money to the portfolio in the interim and eventually moving from a high-cost area (metro Florida) to a low cost area (rural Alabama/Tennessee).

Keep this thread active and I'll check back in about 10 years and let you guys know how it worked out.

To each his own but living pioneer style isn't simple to me.

It's got an appeal

I would much prefer simply living on our ranch and doing little else. If I need money for clothing, food I can't grow or shoot myself, gas, etc. I just go in town and do some odd jobs. I really wouldn't mind living the quiet life with nothing to do but read, work in the outdoors, and shoot whenever I felt like it. The only thing I would miss is the internet, and I can get that if I spend enough money.

not me, I need my DVD player, big screen HDTV, 'puters, etc.  Makes life more complicated but fun

Quoted: ... Think about it? ... Hell, I'm making direct plans with a scheduled time-frame to cut ties with this high-tech rat-race. ... Although I thoroughly enjoy my profession and career, it can be very stressful at times. I am very much looking forward to an early retirement. ... Within eight to ten years, I will have abandoned the Valley here and will have moved to the hills. Just me and my hounds. Building a nice, but simple, mountain cabin just a couple hundred yards from Tonto Creek. I'll have a large workshop for the gas-powered toys, a built-in BBQ, huge deck w/hammock and an ice-cold kegarator stocked with Guinness. ... Fishing, ATV, growing grapes, chasing the local single ladies around the woods, wrenching in my mini-machine shop, hunting in the Tonto Forest and Mogollon Rim will be the only things occupying my days. ... I will only work a few hours a week - if I want to. ... Here's the spot I will call home: x1.putfile.com/9/26016123116.jpg x1.putfile.com/9/26016101892.jpg

Wolfy any good schools near by? Patty

Backwoods Home magazine.  

Quoted: You HAVE to buy or rent a documentary called "Alone In the Wilderness". It is about a guy that does just that. He takes off for Alaska and lives there in a cabin he built by hand(including the hinges for doors which are also made from wood). He left for alaska when he was about 50 years old to do this. He finally left his cabin in alaska after being there for 30 years by himself. He documented his life there with a film camera he had brought with him. GREAT movie!!!

I saw a portion of that but didn't get the title.  Thank you for helping. I'll look for it so I can see the entire film.


A big concern about a so called simple life is affording necessities including medical care.  Subsistance can be extraodinarily stressful.  

Winston W has enjoyed a professional career and now has a solid plan to spend an era of his life in the area of his choice.  That's cool.  

In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.

It is all i thought about growing up. I watched The Wilderness Family, and Grizzly Adams all the time as a kid. Everyone thought i was strange.

I also want to have a sail boat and sail around the world. Stopping in at all the interesting places. Of course this things have their potential failures and downsides.

If i decide to go for it and get the sail boat, i`ll be posting pics and documenting my travels. First stop, Wake island.

Quoted: People are conflating "simple" with "primitive". The main objection seems to be owing money for all the houses and cars and gizmos. The solution to that is pretty straightforward: don't buy it. You can live a simple life with modern convieniences--antibiotics, electricity from the grid, UPS delivery of ammo, buying your food at Safeway. Try living on half your paycheck for a few months.

Sadly, most folks HAVE to own cars that are no more than 3 years old...
and HAVE to make house payments that almost exceed their income...
and HAVE to subscribe to cable/satellite packages that suck half a thousand dollars out of their bank accounts every year...
and HAVE to own the latest, cutting-edge computers, boats, ATVs, Jet-Skis, snowmobiles, dirtbikes, home theater, satellite radio, iPods, cell phones, digital photography - the list of "essential" items goes on and on...

Suggested reading: "Your Money Or Your Life", by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin - This book helps define the difference between owning posessions and being owned by them.