| Why and How We Started Downsizing My husband has always been a hard worker. A self-starter, he was up very early nearly every day; it was not unusual for him to be found in his home office at 4am, before leaving to make sales calls and meet with clients. He would often work on Saturdays and Sundays as well. He was locked into a job that was literally killing him; his blood pressure was elevated, as was his cholesterol. He had packed on some weight. Sunday nights were the worst, as he would toss and turn all night, stressing about the upcoming week so bad that he could not sleep at all. This would make him even less able to cope with the stress he experienced at work and at home. “I’m going to work until I am 65, if I don’t from the stress first,” my Rich would often say, gloomily. I would try to ease his stress by doing more around the house and supporting his work decisions, but nothing seemed to work. All this for trying to build a fortune and keep up with the Joneses. We are a product of the ‘80’s; a generation of movies such as “Bright Lights, Big City” and “Wall Street.” To desire a life of anything less than 70 hour workweeks and McMansions was akin to wanting to live on the street. At the time, a new movement was sweeping across America, turning yuppies into hippies; a movement taking hold in middle and upper income households was creating buzzwords like “downsizing” and “simple living.” The mantra became “less is more”, replacing 80’s acronyms like DINK (Double Income No Kids). Just like the TV show “Green Acres”, people were trading in big city life and high paying jobs for lower cost condos and self-sustaining farms. I thought this was The Solution to everything plaguing my husband. About the same time, the Internet was becoming more easily available. We lived 15 minutes outside of a small town that had very limited entertainment options, and staying at home with small children further limited adult interaction, so the web was a nice distraction. From surfing the web, I soon learned more about the concept of living more simply, devouring books by Amy Dacyczyn, Larry Burkett, and Dave Ramsey. Becoming involved with an online community that is committed to living on less, I received many fabulous ideas for simplifying our lives. Probably the most important book that I read at the time was “Your Money or Your Life” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. I really recommend this book for the main concept, which is a 9-step plan to dramatically simplify your life. The book also tells of how Joe Dominguez went from being Wall Street broker to learning on how to live on a ridiculously small amount of money like $6000 per year. I’m not sure how much that would be in today’s dollars, but according to one online inflation calculator, it would be over $14,000. Anyway, it’s still not very much. This totally appealed to me; I have always pictured myself a modern-day Laura Ingalls Wilder. But with electricity and flush toilets. The only problem was selling the idea to my husband. He had graduated from an elite private college that produced oodles of overachievers that saw more of their work colleagues than their families, but of course this was (and still is) true of most of our culture that had a smattering of post-high school education. The opportunity to persuade him came during a week-long vacation to Maine. I purchased “Your Money or Your Life” audio tape course and workbook. We listened to Joe discuss the method his for learning to live on less in order to leave the field of the gainfully, yet miserable employed. We discussed how would we could apply the techniques to our lives. Rich made it clear, however, that there was no way he intended to make charts and graphs and track every cent, no matter how tested the method. We are firm believers that everything happens for a reason; there are no such things as “accidents”. Positive thought brings positive results. Yada Yada. One of the stops on our trip took us to Moosehead Lake, Maine. A beautiful and peaceful place far removed from the frenetic hustle and bustle of suburbia. Wildlife encounters there usually involve very large moose lumbering across roads. While there we stayed at a “sporting camp,” a type of lodging very popular in the north woods. Most sporting camps consist of several one- or two- room cabins with limited housekeeping services. Many camps are in scenic locations and off the beaten path, and cater to hunters and fishermen. This particular sporting camp was owned and managed by a young couple who was about our age with a baby of their own (at th time our daughter was 6 months old). We had several discussions with them about their day-to-day activities. What really struck us was how much time they spent together. There are couples in America who have breakfast, lunch, and dinner together 7 days a week? Moms and dads can take see their kids off to school together? And be there when they get off the bus? We were utterly floored by the entire idea. And inspired. This was our epiphany. We now had something to work for; a common goal other than working like a slave in order to make other people wealthy. We would give ourselves 10 years longer to work, getting rid of debt while increasing our wealth. We were not’t sure if a cabin business would be the perfect fit for our family, but if we worked hard to save and did not continue to keep up with the Joneses, we would probably do something other than the 9 to 5 ‘til 65. This was 10 years ago, and while we may not yet have the business of our dreams, we have definitely made a lot of progress toward our goals. We have also given into a few episodes of spending during the last 10 years. Specifically, the purchase of 3 Recreational Vehicles sure has not expedited our ultimate goal, but we sure have had fun in the process. In our quest to downsize, we have recently sold our house, and we are now renting while we discover the next journey life has in store for us. Now we are entertaining the idea of home schooling the girls and full-timing it in our RV for a year or so while they are still young enough to like us. When we discuss our plans with family and friends, we get a few comments and strange looks . However, most of the time others express their envy. We have finally redefined our idea of normal! |
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