This is a mini-series on the topic, “How little do you need?”
Having been in Thailand for 3 years I’ve found that I need SO little to be happy. And actually, as I had less and less I realized more and more happiness. I’ll try to explain in this series as I reveal how little I need here in Thailand, but also how you can make changes for yourself wherever you are, the USA? Canada? Europe?
If you missed the first in the series you will find it here, “How LITTLE do you Need?”
Your home is probably the single biggest expense you have right now. Or, during any time in your whole life your home is likely to be the most costly ‘thing’ you own. Being such, it is also the main expense you can cut down.
How little house do you need?
I showed you in my last post a short video about where I live in Thailand. I’m living quite small and yet I could live MUCH smaller and be happy. If you looked at my home in the video you saw that I have a porch, a small living area about 3 meters by 4 meters where we eat and sleep. In that small space is where we spend 90% of all our time. The other 10% is spent in the shower area or outside on the porch.
Like you probably aren’t, we’re not home much of the time. On a typical weekday we spend about 11 hours at home and another 13 hours away from home. I figure we sleep 8 hours, eat dinner at home maybe twice per week (it’s cheaper to eat out here) and we get ready to leave the house, showering, dressing and cleaning for about 1.5 hours per day. Sometimes we read a book or newspaper or use the internet from home. Sometimes we watch a VCD (like a DVD) movie on the computer before we sleep. So, we average about 11 hours at home during the weekdays. On the weekends maybe we average about the same since my girlfriend either works or we go somewhere for the day.
What about you? How much time is actually spent at home? Is it similar to ours? I’m guessing that even though we’re living 5,000 to 15,000 miles away from you in a completely different culture than you – we probably have similar hours spent at home. Differing slightly of course, but generally people spend 10-13 hours at home per day.
How much space do you actually use in your house? For us we don’t even use the two bedrooms we have. We don’t use the back porch much at all either. We literally use the small space in the front of the unit for everything except showers and restroom. That is how much space we USE. We have more, but we only need that much. How much space do you have in your home? 1800 square feet? 3000? 6000? What are you doing with all that house? In Florida I had a house that was 1900 sq ft. I then had a townhome that was 1400 sq ft.
When I moved back to Hawaii I moved into what amounted to about 400 square feet of space – a studio. I adjusted to having my bed in the livingroom but you know, I was embarrased a bit when people came over.
I realized it’s just societal expectations “shoulding” on me. Making me think – man, Vern you SHOULD have a bigger place, at LEAST a one-bedroom condo. What do people think as they come in and see your bed? Are people comfortable being there?
Those thoughts went through my mind a lot. Never mind that I had a nice view of the Pacific ocean and western Waikiki. I worried about the inside of the apartment as much as where it was located. In America we think about these things. Why? Society expects us to uphold an image.
This “society” that I’m talking about is largely in your own head. Society means all the people. But, what YOU consider society depends on what image you’re trying to project for yourself. If you think you are high society then you are always striving to present the BEST personal image to others. You are suffering a great deal so you can present yourself in a better light than others. You think of yourself as the top of the society… so you think in your mind that you need to get a home that reflects that. I did.
Now I’m living in less than 200 square feet and very happy. How is that possible?
Number 1, I’m in Thailand where they seem to put little emphasis on the idea that a big house means big society and big worth as an individual. Number 2, I’ve just done it for so long now that it’s second nature. I see anything bigger than where I live as a waste of money and going against common sense.
If I were to move back to Florida or Hawaii at this point I know I could survive happily in a studio apartment. I know it. I’ve dropped the idea of conforming to the silly societal expectations I used to have. Common sense has prevailed. I know I’m smarter than the fool society wants me to play. I know you are too. I know I don’t want to play the stupid games as a pawn of society anymore. I don’t know you, but I don’t want you to either!
There are games to play and games to let others play.
I don’t care that I have friends that are or are not part of ‘high society’. I don’t care that I don’t live in the nicest part of town anymore. I think that’s all silly now. My mind has made serious adjustments about common sense. I see so clearly now that where I live and in what kind of place I live has nothing to do with my worth as a person.
Imagine coming to that realization for yourself in the next couple minutes.
If there are coworkers or potential friends that won’t associate with me because of where I live or the lack of size of my home or the lack of anything about my home – I would laugh first and dismiss them quickly. Who needs others to be critical of where I live? Not me. Who is smarter? The high society wannabes that are spending $200K+ for their condo in plush “North Tampa”? Or me, that lives in a safe condo studio with 300 square feet that I’ll pay off and own in 5 years?
Who is smarter… two brothers that decide they should move in together to save some cash while they are going to college or the brothers that live in separate apartments running up student loans and credit card debt to appear as high society as they attend school?
American society has a sickness. It’s perhaps the most materialistic and money driven society that exists on the planet and it’s getting worse every day. I saw it and I bailed out as soon as I could.
FEW are those that can change their entire lifestyle to ignore the society they live in. Really. If you can do it then you are one of the smartest persons on the entire planet. If you can ignore society and what others are telling you and maybe even more importantly, thinking about you, then you have the power to change the outcome of your entire life for the better. Not only better monetarily, as contradictory as that may sound, but also you can find more happiness… more peace… more time for yourself all while living “small”.
Can you imagine the amount of money you could SAVE and the amount of stress that would go away if you didn’t have to worry about a big mortgage every month for the next 15, 20 or 30 years? Why do we do it to ourselves? You know WHY? It was considered the ‘norm’ for so long that we never questioned it. This is what people did for 50 years before I was born… they indebted themselves and guaranteed major stress in their lives for the next 30 years so they could have the ‘American Dream’. My parents did it. Yours probably did. I was told all through growing up that this was the process to follow to lead to a good and successful life.
You know, I don’t believe it anymore. Why not buy some land and get your friends (and some hired experts) to help you build a home? What happened to that idea? In the 1800′s that’s what people did. They built their OWN home and it didn’t take them 30 years to pay off the materials either. Have you ever watched “Little House on the Prairie”? Did those adults look STRESSED OUT to you? Me neither!
I’m all for bringing back the 1800′s. Why not build your own house and own it much quicker than you would otherwise. Build a small house. Three hundred square feet for each person in the house. How’s that? Seriously, you have make some serious adjustments in your housing situation if you are attempting to resolve your money problems… or, if you’d like to lessen the stress in your life.
I’m living on less than $10 per day. Oh, that’s for 2 people… myself and my girlfriend. How much do you think you could live on in the USA if you tried? I’m guessing you could live on $35 to $50 per day. Sound absurd?
Actually, FORGET about money, just focus on eliminating most of the stress in your life. If you can follow some of the tips from this series you’ll notice PROFOUND changes in your stress levels. You’ll find more happiness everyday… more time… more smiles and more money.
Are you up to it?
Ways to live small:
1. Realize you can live in a one room studio apartment. If you have kids, you ALL can live in a one room studio apartment. You can, you choose not to. Realize that.
2. Realize that you are playing society’s silly game, but you never signed on… nope, you were just recruited into it. By default, we all were. Wherever we grew up – that’s the game we were drafted into. We never made a choice. NOW we can make a choice. We can choose EVERYTHING as adults. Start making choices.
3. Ask yourself how many high society people you bring back to your home each year. Then, ask yourself would a 5 star restaurant dinner be a better atmosphere for your guests or would your home? Keep in mind, your magnificient home needs paid for and maintained for the whole year. Ask yourself, which idea is a better idea? Which would bring less stress?
4. Build a small home on some land outside the city. You don’t need a basement and an upstairs. You don’t NEED it, so you can choose not to have it.
5. Go very basic on the cupboards and furniture inside your house and for the materials used on the outside. Buy materials, furniture that will last but that is not extravagant.
6. Only invite people to your home that don’t CARE about where you live or how you live. These will be people that are more worth knowing anyway.
7. You write it for yourself…
8. You write it for yourself…
9. You write it for yourself…
10. You write it for yourself…
If you missed the first in the series you will find it here,
How Little Do You NEED? (a series) (your home, your vehicle, your possessions)
Best of Life!
Vern
Related posts:
i want a list of things that i really need to buy,cause im moving in my own house thanks
Hi Rinatta,
You want a list of what to buy?
A mat to sleep on. A fan if it’s hot where you live. A cup, a bowl, and since you’re Thai – just a spoon and knife. No fork needed! Uhm, you’ll want to buy some soap and one of those bowls to splash water on your undercarriage if you don’t have a dishwater squirter like we have to squirt your stuff off after doing your business.
I can’t think of anything else that’s necessary. Good luck with your new home! Vern
This article was so good, It made me recheck my motives and goals for our family, we have a family with nine people and I realized a couple of years ago right after we built our monster dream home, that this was not for me, we are always trying to get away from this type of living, we love being close together as a family, we have five sons and they all love sharing a room, I love
being simple with my family, we travel to Mexico in our van and rigged beds all through the van, we like eating on the side of the road, sleeping together in tents, getting away from all of our things, so now we are moving to Kauai, we’re renting over there and are getting rid of most of our furniture and things,
My family lived in a school bus and tents for my entire childhood, and we still had stuff everywhere, it can drive you mad.
Thanks for this article.
Wow – that’s amazing… hindsight does it to ya. I can’t count the times I’ve “done” something… and then later examined it. I did it to start with because society fed me the goals, the “be all you can be, according to this set of criteria and standards that are for all Americans.”
When I moved to Thailand – wow – everything was challenged. Now I sleep on a 2.5 inch thick pad on the tile floor. My back has never felt better. Now I have only a fan in the room – never air conditioning… my sinuses – never better. Now I drink soy milk and water… coconut juice… again, sinuses much better… stomach – awesome – no “gas” ;) and so many other changes… Living in a $100 per month room instead of a $1000 a month house like my friends here – is so comfy. Not concerned about anything going wrong… house burning down.
Kauai is an amazing island – visited it a few times. I’d rank it as my 2nd favorite Hawaiian island… Maui, Kauai, Oahu. I never made big island… next time perhaps if I ever swing back that way.
Thanks for writing!
One of the most interesting and refreshing articles I’ve read in a long time. I have an old house (over 100 years) in WV. When we moved we had to “rough it”, no bathroom, only a mini-fridge, stove top worked but oven didn’t and so on.
It really does give you so much gratitude and appreciation for the “little things” in life. So many people take their appliances, cars, bedrooms, TV’s, etc for granted. Being without will really open your eyes.
I totally agree with your smiles idea. That’s why I started my blog. I think this world is too serious. We all need more laughter in our lives.
P.S. I used to live in the Tampa Bay area too. What a small world. :0)
Dear Sir
I prefer to live in thailand How can I buy a little house ( about 10000 us$) Please send your advice
Pubudu