Buy nothing but food for a month: Could you do it?

This is essentially what we've done after transitioning into new jobs. We told ourselves the one thing we weren't going to nickel-and-dime ourselves on was eating the way we like to. The other stuff, like road trips, extra levels on the cable, etc., that's what we've done away with.

 

I fail to see the point of this exercise. It's like purging instead of dieting -- odds are the effects won't last long.

 

I wouldn't be able to drive to work after about 10 days.

 

I did this for about three years out of college to quickly pay off student loans. A library card becomes a valuable possesssion at that point. I think I made about $15,000 a year out of college and lived on $7,000. When you're of German ancestry, something in you just enjoys being that efficient. I don't know if I could get down to that level ever again, but I could get somewhere close to it.

My wife on the other hand....

 

One more thing. Even if you don't work from home (and most reporters do, at least some of the time) your employer is very likely to require you to have Internet access at home if you have any kind of information industry gig, and that's just the industry I know. That costs.

 

I did both Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, so yeah, I've done this.

Now, though, it's probably more like two weeks at a stretch.

 

I'm not sure people who spend money on things and people who don't live much different lives anymore. Everyone is staring and poking at a screen for 12 hours a day. Some might be wearing nicer clothes while doing it, but I'm not sure material things have as much meaning when your entire life and worth are decided digitally.

 

Mrs. Whitman noted the other night the old saw that millennials "like to spend their money on experiences, not things." I quickly clarified that what they are really after are shareable pictures of experiences.

As noted, I'm taking Dick Jr. to a college basketball game on Saturday night. I'm really going to make an effort not to take any photos and just enjoy the experience.

 

Monthly recurring expenses have already been exempted.

 

My entire clothing expenditures last year consisted of a bag of socks, three pairs of underwear and a pair of shoes.

I haven't bought a CD or DVD in three years. I got one book for my birthday.

I got way too much "stuff." Boxes and boxes of "stuff." I'll essentially spend the rest of my life getting rid of my "stuff."

 

Does anybody still buy cds or dvd's?

 

I've mentioned elsewhere I'm getting a little sailboat ready for lake overnights this spring. Part of that "getting ready" is fixing my fuckups from last spring (different story ... will share that when I actually do my "I did it!" thread). In the process of doing that, I needed a table saw for about 10, 20 minutes. I could have rented one, for $65 for four hours. Or, I could buy one at Harbor Freight for about the same price. I wound up buying (there will be other projects for which it will be valuable), but I swear, the idea of having something else to fuck with had me deliberating over the rent vs. buy question way more than you'd think.