This is an overview and discussion of a sane personal economy.
budget
125 shelter 125 food ($4/day) 30 other: clothing, transportation, communication, art 80 self-insurance 40 savings/investment ___ 400/month 4800/yr 70% expenses 20% emergency 10% savings
income
$100/wk 5-10 hrs/wk @ $10-20/hr 48 wks/yr work 4 wks vacation $436 each month you work
For a fuller description of this economy, see darkroomretreat.com/other-writings/tribal-housing. The context is group residence. But the essential ideas work with non-group residences, too. The Tiny House movement has shown this.
budget explained
- shelter
- our main expense. It determines the scale of one’s economy.
- round, small, non-toxic, portable
- simple, functional, comfortable. For example, download this infographic
- an essay on our culture’s basic economic myth: darkroomretreat.com/other-writings/mechanics-mass-slavery
- food: whole, homemade, some homegrown
- other
- clothing: thrift stores, of course :)
- transportation: used road bike ($100-200) + occasional bus & plane fares. 700cc x 21-25mm 120psi tires on bike make a shocking difference in speed
- communication: phone (Red Pocket, 2.50/month!), library email/wifi, stamps
- art: books, museums, guitar strings, dancing, and dollar movies
- self-insurance: rainy day fund/personal bank. Study hygiene to eliminate health concerns and costs
- savings: invest in income-producing asset (real estate, precious metal, crypto, stock, etc)
work
- nearly any kind of honest work is enjoyable 5-10 hrs/week. And with so little pressure to make money, you can be pickier about how you make it. Cool, marginal opportunities become enough.
- until you know your particular purpose in the world, your purpose is to find your purpose. Study, experiment, confer, travel. Be persistent. It can take years, even decades.
- let your standard for work be meaningfulness rather than enjoyment. Meaningful work calls us during good times and bad. Meaning is rational. Enjoyment comes and goes. Anyway, real joy doesn’t come from action but from being whole.
principles
- reduce expenses rather than increase income
- learn and lead activities for free rather than pay to follow in them
- replace having with doing, and doing with being
- being is renewed through profound rest: solitude, silence, fasting, and/or darkness. See my homepage