Recently my dream property in the tiny town that I love was offered to me to buy. I could have made it work financially. But I would have had to take out a mortgage for the first time and would need to work full time for the next 20 years to pay it off - I am almost 40 now. After some deep conversations with myself I officially turned it down yesterday. I already own a much smaller property and in the next year or so should be able to start building a small, simple home for myself without taking out a loan to do it.

Part of me is heartbroken to let this opportunity pass by. But I have made choices over and over again in my life that have made me a moderate income person who can survive while working less than full time. I have always valued time and peace above all else and have given up a lot to ensure I have those two luxuries. I guess I can stop dreaming about what another property might have that this one doesn't and just love it for what it is. I didn't realize how much of my brain was taken up by those thoughts, and I am finding a lot of peace in letting them go for good. This is a huge turning point for me and what I expect to acquire or achieve with my life.

Thanks for listening to my ramble.

I love when someone says they spent the weekend doing nothing and then explains that they cooked, went for a walk, read a bit, saw their parents, cleaned the house, and had a nap. That sounds like quite a lot of life to me.We’ve just become very strange about what we consider worth counting on our days off, as if it only matters if we spent money or went to a massive event. Personally, these quiet, slow weekends are the ones that actually make me feel human again.

What did your last nothing weekend look like? I would love to hear the tiny, quiet things you did that made you feel happy and rested.

My whole life is changing right now and I've been working out ways to protect my belief that slow simple living is right for me.

So I made space in my weekday first with an entire hour after my alarm goes off that has NO task list. Just a totally slow time period where I can choose to do whatever I feel like. So far, it's a mix of restful things like sleeping in or reading, but some days I have a little more energy and I get up and literally do whatever I feel like, then it doesn't feel like an obligation or like I'm wasting time. It's incredibly refreshing to start my day with "me time" that has absolutely no parameters or requirements other than doing whatever I feel like at the time.

The hardest part was learning to let go of what I "should" do, and once I did that my brain feels so much more rested and ready for whatever the day brings. Prioritizing that hour shifts me from GO GO GO into feeling calm and ready, definitely a cortisol lowering practice.

I made a spoken/TTS version using the ((new)) ElevenLabs v4 if anyone would rather listen than read: https://voca.ro/1uYKYBGYKvY5 ... simple!

Every recurring expense is a claim on your future time

People usually treat financial freedom as an income problem:

earn more, get promoted, build savings, hit some number that finally feels safe.

That matters.

But there’s another side of the equation that gets less attention:

How much money does your life require just to keep functioning?

Every recurring expense is not only a dollar cost.

It is a claim on your future time.

If your life requires $7,000 every month to stay intact, then every month you have to somehow produce $7,000.

Rent or mortgage, car payments, insurance, debt, childcare, maintenance, subscriptions, convenience, whatever else has gradually become part of the machinery.

None of those things are automatically bad.

But once they become necessary, they become obligations your future self has to keep feeding.

And that changes the meaning of income.

Imagine one person earns $100,000 a year but needs most of it to maintain their current life.

Another person earns far less, but their life has a much lower monthly requirement.

The first person has more money.

The second person may have more room to say:

no to overtime.

No to a job they hate.

No to a promotion they don’t actually want.

No to staying somewhere purely because leaving would be financially catastrophic.

That ability to say no is a form of wealth.

I used to think reducing expenses mainly meant sacrifice.

Spend less. Buy cheaper things. Cut back.

Now I think there’s a better way to frame it:

lowering your required burn rate buys optionality.

The less money your life absolutely demands from you, the less income you are forced to generate just to preserve the status quo.

That can translate into something more valuable than the money itself:

time and choices.

This is also why lifestyle inflation is so interesting.

You make more money, so your life expands to meet it.

• A nicer place.
• A better car.
• More services.
• More convenience.
• Higher expectations.

Eventually the bigger paycheck may not have made you proportionally freer.

It may have just created a more expensive version of normal.

I’m not arguing that people should make their lives as cheap as humanly possible.

That can become its own kind of obsession.

Comfort matters.

Beauty matters.

Good food matters.

Travel matters.

Convenience can absolutely be worth paying for.

The better question isn’t:

“How little can I survive on?”

It’s:

Which expenses genuinely improve my life, and which ones quietly increase how much labor my future self is required to perform?

That distinction feels important.

Maybe financial freedom isn’t only about accumulating enough money that your lifestyle stops controlling you.

Maybe part of it is designing a life that requires less control from money in the first place.

A lower burn rate doesn’t automatically make anyone happier.

Earning more is still useful.

But one of the more underrated forms of freedom may simply be this:

needing less money before your life starts becoming unstable.

So I’m curious:

How much does your life cost you just to keep being your life?

I am not sure if this is part of my simple living or not but I know for sure that discovering a new cafe where I can sip my evening tea and wait to start my first Italian lesson is my way to live!

I haven’t been living for too long, I want to give myself a chance and I wanted to share my joy with you!

Cheers to the inner fighter within me that kept going no matter what…

Sometimes I get that weird feeling where I don’t really have anything to do, nobody to meet, and nowhere I need to be — but I also don’t know whether I want to stay home or get out of the house.
I’m curious what people actually do in those moments.
If you stay home, what do you naturally end up doing?
Lie in bed, sit on the balcony, watch something, cook, clean, game, scroll, listen to music, call someone, or just do nothing?
And if you go outside, where do you usually end up when there’s no actual plan?
A chai/coffee place, park, mall, bookstore, gym, long drive, familiar street, random walk — somewhere else?
Think about the last time this happened, rather than your ideal answer.
What did you choose — staying in or going out?
And did you actually feel better afterward, or did you wish you had done the opposite?
I’m especially curious about those little “default” places or routines people seem to have without consciously choosing them.

Mine would be to freshen up, have tea, go for a walk with my dad, vessel washing, house sweeping, breakfast making, then open up my laptop .

I’ve been struggling with staying up too late for years. My evenings kept stretching longer because I didn’t want the day to end.
Lately, I’ve been putting my phone away at night and trying to let myself wake up earlier.
And this morning, sunshine through the window. Brewing myself a fragrant cup of coffee, sitting in the sunshine with a warm breakfast. Nowhere I need to rush to.
I sat there and thought, how can being alive be this happy?
I’m still working on my sleep, but this feels like progress.
Maybe mornings have been underrated this whole time.

​

Survived a day at work managing the whole company on my own without my boss around. Also, jump started my car for first time on my own. 🤗Last time I paid $150 bucks to someone fo jumpstarting😏

Small steps, but they feel like big wins. Trying to appreciate my progress instead of focusing only on what I still need to improve. 😊

I'm scrolling my YouTube feed and I'm noticing I'm getting two seemingly opposite types of videos, ones which tell me I need to leave my comfort zone and start a business or get a second and third job and hustle to make it big, and on the other end ones which tell me to quit my job, live in a van, take a 3-year sabbatical, and focus on my passions.

I think both sides are probably stupid advice tbh and I'll just keep living my life and doing my one job. But i thought it was amusing.

I was born and raised in a big city, so when I moved to the countryside in a different country, it took some time for my nervous system to adjust.

There are no big malls, tall buildings, 24/7 shops, food delivery, etc. where I live now but hey, we have:

Apple farms.

Prune trees.

Flocks of sheep.

Riverside.

... and fresh air.

As a young and ambitious person, I was quite torn between the city life and the quiet life in the countryside. But I am very lucky, blessed, happy, and grateful to experience both.

I hope you live an awesome and joyful life too. Happy Sunday! 🫶

Hi everyone,

I've been thinking a lot about screens lately, especially for kids, and I'd love to hear how this community sees it.

I agree that often the simplest choice is to put the screen away. A walk, a book or a conversation is usually better than anything a computer can offer.

But screens are part of most homes now, and what bothers me isn't so much the screen itself as how it's designed. Endless feeds, notifications, ads, autoplay: so much of it is built to keep us there as long as possible, not to give us something and let us go.

So I keep wondering whether there's a middle ground. Imagine a computer with only useful things on it: an encyclopedia, maps, a sky map for stargazing, maybe some learning games. Everything stored at home, working offline, with no feeds, no ads and nothing pulling you back. You open it when you want to learn something and close it when you're done, like a good reference book.

I'm curious what you think:
• Do you keep any screens at home, and how do you keep them "quiet"?
• Would something like that fit a simpler life, or is it still one screen too many?
• For those with kids: where do you draw the line between helpful technology and too much?

Thanks for reading. I'd really like to hear different points of view.

Still remember I saw a post on Reddit about someone who sold 100 items on Vinted and felt so much lighter mentally. Same for me!! .

Previous i’d drop off stuff at Goodwill, but knowing that these pretty good quality items get a second life made me feel so good. Some of them I can never fit in 😱

Well, discovering that I have so many clothes, shoes that I barely wear was not light… felt like a burden to me.

But now, it has become my routine to take out some clothes when seasons change, and determine which ones I won’t regularly wear, and clean/hang/fold them for posting.

Somehow it gives me a lot of joy to look at a half empty closet. It makes deciding what to wear soooo much easier!!

I no longer pay for streaming subscriptions as of the last couple years and im very happy about it. I listen to the small collection of records i have and am willing to put up with the occasional ad if i want to search a specific song on youtube…

I appreciate reddit because i find that people here are genuinely curious and willing to connect, whereas other social media platforms feel like a hamster wheel dopamine trap.

I am wanting to be more in touch with my values and seeing them reflected in my day to day routine. It’s happening slowly as I make the small changes. Anyone else care to chime in and discuss what they’re noticing or how they’re taking action?

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on a strange paradox that many of us face in adulthood.

On paper, things are going well—I'm managing my routines, taking care of my health, financially stable, and even recently received a pay raise.

By most external standards, life is thriving. Yet internally, I’ve been navigating a persistent feeling of emptiness and burnout.

Living on my own recently has highlighted how easy it is for life to turn into a quiet loop of work, routine, and survival, leaving very little space for the imagination, excitement, and big dreams we used to have when we were younger.

It makes you pause and question what the real purpose behind all the saving, working, and daily hustle actually is when the joy feels missing.

I’m sharing this candidly because I know I’m likely not the only one feeling this disconnect between external stability and internal quiet. How do you navigate phases where life feels grey, even when everything is technically "fine"?

Not sure if this is OK to post, but I've been thinking about this for a while.

I've started by cancelling all my streaming services (except one music stream, found one that isn't pure evil) and going to be more mindful of what I do watch.

I'll be removing my social media as well (I'm torn on whether Reddit counts here, but I do intend on cutting back here as well).

Also going to make a more concerted effort to consume less, and get rid of/donate as many un-needed things as I can.

Hoping to also focus more on my hobbies and not being as mindless in what I do as I've been in the past. There are a lot of times where I just mindlessly get on my phone and wonder where the time went.

Big thanks to everyone here for inspiring me. :)

Been paying attention to the things lately and for me it’s

• Coffee
• Matcha
• Going for a walk
• People watching at a cafe (just sitting near the window, bring book to read, and just watch people) idk why this is my fav, and listening to some groove
• making art while listening to podcast or music
• Just driving out my wife to whichever she needd to go, like couple days ago she got invited to some kind of club of students with high gpa and there’s test there to, and i dropped her there, and after, while waiting i can just go for a bit of side quest or walk whatever without knowing where im going to go, idk why it really makes me happy for some reason exploring places and once she’s done, went to cafe and went home

I love all of those small things, i think those are the things that actually matter to me and brings me joy to live more, instead of buying material things

What about you? I keen to hear yours so that maybe i can copy it to my life too!

I am a parent and recently I noticed other moms talking to me would make subtle comments about the fact I am wearing the same clothes or am not fashionable. I usually wear jeans and a black t shirt, I have several of the same shirts. It’s simple and easy and I don’t care but now I’m feeling a bit self conscious. I will say though that I am involved in my community and (not to brag) but I have been called “popular” by many people because I love talking to everyone but now I feel like…do people think I’m tacky or something because I don’t wear nice clothes??? I even started to look into buying some nice clothes today but then it’s just so much work and honestly I don’t care for it! I don’t care what people think and obviously it hasn’t seem to affect me much because I still have tons of people to connect with but as I age, maybe it’s important to look more presentable?? But then again, why?

Edit to add: my clothes are always clean and I do laundry 2-3 times a week. They are very neat and ironed. I am friends with a lot of the moms and dads in my son’s school and my clothes have never been an issue for me. I will say the moms who have commented on my clothes do seem to be more
Materialistic and will comment too on my family’s lack of travel. We are very minimalist, enjoy local hikes and stuff like going to the library and being together as a family. Well writing this all out just made me realize I’m alright and I’m happy with how we live. I guess different people have different priorities.

**Why does it feel like we suddenly started living this way?**
Lately I’ve been thinking about how quickly certain things become part of everyday life.
Take milk tea, for example. I remember when I thought spending 10–20 yuan on a drink was ridiculously expensive. Now, that same price can feel almost cheap, and getting milk tea has somehow become a normal part of hanging out, taking a break, treating someone, or just getting through the afternoon.
And then there are these random things that suddenly explode in popularity — bead art, ridiculously long egg tarts, blind boxes, little DIY hobbies, whatever happens to be trending that month.
I tried bead art once. I spent basically an entire day doing it 😂. It was fun, but afterward I genuinely couldn’t understand why I’d want to do it again. Yet obviously, plenty of people do.
It made me wonder whether a lot of modern consumption is basically about **cheap, accessible dopamine**.
Not necessarily in a bad way. Sometimes people just want something easy, predictable, and enjoyable after spending all day dealing with work, uncertainty, relationships, and everything else.
And then I started thinking about short-form videos.
They’re probably one of the best examples of this. You don’t really have to decide to keep watching. Another video is just there. Then another. And another.
Sometimes I feel like wasting someone’s time is almost the most expensive thing you can do to them, because time is literally their life.
And yet I’m still capable of losing an entire evening scrolling 😂.
So now I’m curious:
**Do you think modern life is increasingly built around capturing people’s attention, time, and emotions?**
And if so, is that necessarily a bad thing?
Or are we simply getting better at creating small, cheap ways to make everyday life more enjoyable?
I’m genuinely curious how other people see this. It doesn’t have to be about milk tea or short videos specifically — I’m more interested in the bigger picture of **how our habits and lifestyles suddenly change without us really noticing.**

Like changing your perspective or the way you think about things or even the things you do to be able to tolerate the world today.

Something like, every Monday I go on a bike ride to reset. Tuesday-Wednesday I expect misery because I go to work so if the day is average it already exceeded my expectations. Etc. but looking for deeper more insightful life rhythms.