Learn to Live with Less: It’s Liberating
When Sara and I retired, our lives changed dramatically. We wanted to travel, not just a little, but a lot. We intended to spend a whole year in Europe. We would begin by hiking the 500 mile Camino Frances, and then travel all around Europe.
We are not wealthy. Our retirement income is secure enough, but we couldn’t afford to maintain our suburban home in Port Orange, Florida and to travel the world. We wanted to hike and to travel lightly, preferably living out of our backpacks. No need for our home, our two cars, or for all the “stuff” we had accumulated over the years.
So, in the summer of 2019 we sold the house. We gave the Prius to our son, Brendan. We gave the Mazda Tribute to Amanda, a single mother who had worked with Sara on her magazines. And we set out to give away just about everything we owned.
I was Chair of the English Department at Daytona State College. My personal library was in my office: six bookshelves, six-feet tall, and full of books. Imagine how hard it is for an English professor to get rid of books. Oddly enough, in this digital age, even libraries no longer want books. I found homes for some among my grateful colleagues. For the rest, I put some bookshelves in the hallway with a “FREE BOOKS” sign.
We donated lots of stuff to the annual rummage sales at church. Cleaning out the garage, we sent a truckload of tools and assorted stuff for sale.
We learned that giving away our “stuff” was actually great fun. We didn’t want to throw things away, so we made a real effort to find someone who would want and value each item.
Did we give away everything? Not quite. Our friends Linda & Michael are enjoying some of our furniture and a big-screen TV that we may reclaim when we finally settle down again. Friends and family are storing my guitars and music, along with a few boxes of clothing and personal “stuff.”
So we no longer own a home or a car: No mortgage, no property taxes, no car insurance, no lawn to mow, no upkeep projects, and no unexpected house repairs. Just imagine how much money that frees up for other things, like seeing the rest of the world!
So what have we learned from this? An illustrative example. Our home in Florida had a pool. I had always wanted a pool, so this was quite a treat. And we used it — sometimes. When family visited, it was great, and the grandchildren loved it. After mowing the lawn in 95 degree Florida heat, I truly enjoyed a swim to re-adjust my body temperature. But I never want to own a pool again. It demanded weekly maintenance and occasional repairs, and we seldom used it. Perhaps five days out of a hundred. Like so many other possessions, the pool was another burden, making demands on our time and our finances.
Living with Less is Liberating. Now that we’ve given away all that stuff, we actually feel more free, less burdened, no longer slaves to our jobs, no longer slaves to our possessions. We really don’t need all that stuff.
- I gave away my library of books, but now I have a Kindle that fits in my backpack and can hold any texts I want to read.
- We carry a small ROKU device that can plug into most TV’s, in America and abroad, giving us access to plenty of news and entertainment.
- Like most Americans, we relied on our cars for daily travel. Now we seek lodging in cities large and small. In many European towns, we can easily walk for all of our daily needs and use their great public transportation for our adventures.
- We wanted a big house with extra bedrooms and room for a large dining table – all so we could accommodate family and guests, perhaps twenty days out of a given year. Now we need only room for ourselves. We can live quite comfortably in a small apartment, maybe even in a “Tiny House.”
Sara and I now enjoy a kind of freedom we never imagined in our previous, work-a-day lives. We glimpsed it when our youngest left home, and we came to appreciate our “empty nest.” Now that we’ve retired and left “the nest” ourselves, we’re free to travel the world and enjoy life. For the time being, we will rent rather than buy and continue living out of our backpacks. Later, when we want to settle down, we will opt for smaller space and a lot less “stuff.” We really need very little. Rather than financing our accumulated possessions, we’re free to spend our retirement just enjoying life.
And yes indeed, Life is Good!
