52 Weeks to a Simpler Life – Tip #30 – Buy Used and Save Money

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Buy used? You mean buy someone else's problems? How does that make my life simple. And, how will I save money? I'll end up spending a lot of money on parts and repairs.

Yes! I'm saying buy used. Certainly, there are some things it doesn't make sense to buy used, especially if they are low cost items and the difference between buying new and buying used is not significant. I usually figure I'll buy anything under $100 new. Especially, if the seller of a used item want's $50.00 to $75.00 for a used version, I'll buy the item new.

However, when you're talking about higher priced items, buying used will often save hundreds to thousands of dollars. Yes! I'm even including items that may need repairs. I've found when I'm looking for cars, professional recording & video equipment (my profession) and many other household appliances, I have probably saved way into the six figures over my lifetime. That includes any repairs I may have had to make. 

Have I ever been stuck with a lemon? Yep! However, I've owned six new vehicles out of about 24 vehicles total during my lifetime. I've had significant problems with four of the six new vehicles. Even with warranty service, they cost me both time and money. That's the nature of almost anything.

52 Weeks to a Simpler Life – Tip #18 – Simplify Your Eating Habits

Eating! It's another of the necessities of life. We require food for the energy to operate our bodies and water to keep us hydrated and lubricated. At our most basic level, we are animals and have the same basic survival requirements as any other animal. The difference is, through some miracle, and I'm not going into that here, the human animal has evolved and developed our brains far beyond the basic instinctual level of all other forms of animals on the planet. We are blessed and gifted. However, in some ways, this ability to think, create and reason may actually be detrimental.

Most people love food and love to eat. The room in most homes where the most socializing goes on is, you guessed it, the kitchen. A hundred thousand years ago, or so, there were no fast food restaurants, no five star gourmet restaurants, no “wing shacks” no supermarkets, no convenience stores or even corner markets or general stores. Humans went shopping with clubs, spears, eventually bows and arrows, hooks, nets and similar instruments. Humans also were called gatherers (as in hunter-gatherers). Some members of the tiny nomadic bands would gather berries, fruits and whatever other kinds of edible vegetation was at hand. Food was simple, basic, usually raw (eventually simply cooked). The menu was simple. Life was simple.

52 Weeks to a Simpler Life – Tip #16 – Pare Down Your Credit Cards

Let's face it! Many, and possibly a majority of the people in the U.S., and probably the other developed nations around the world, don't actually own most of their most valuable possessions.

Say what? I bought my house/condo. I bought my car/SUV. I bought my boat. I bought my RV. I bought my wife's/fiance's diamond engagement ring. I bought my kids' educations. I bought all those Christmas presents. I bought these designer clothes. I can go on and on with this list, but I'm sure you get the picture.

Yes! You did buy all those things and much more. But, and this is a big “BUT,” did you actually PAY for all this stuff? Ah! There's the rub. According to research readily available on the Internet, approximately 66% of all the “owned” homes in the U.S. have a mortgage. As of 2013, approximately 85% of all private vehicles are financed. The same holds true for the other items I listed.

52 Weeks to a Simpler Life – Tip #14 – Drink Water

This week's tip is actually very simple. Make water your drink of preference. Many people I know have already made this switch. There are several very good reasons for applying this tip to your life. But, I must give you a warning. As easy as this sounds, it may be a bit more complicated than you think.

Reason #1: Health

First and foremost, the only liquid we need to sustain life is . . . drum roll, please . . . WATER! This is an absolute fact. Another absolute fact is that virtually everything we drink is water based. Think about it. What is the primary ingredient in coffee, tea, soft drinks, juice, milk – even alcoholic beverages (though decreasing the amount of water in alcoholic beverages increases the alcohol content and thus the strength of the drink)? WATER!

52 Weeks to a Simpler Life – Tip #8 – One Way To Control Your Food Intake – Meal Splitting

Don't we all, well, at least most of us, love going to our favorite restaurant and partaking in the wonderful variety of foods offered on their menu. I've been to some restaurants where the menu is so extensive it can take 15 or 20 minutes to get through it and hopefully be able to decide on a selection. Diners, especially those often referred to as Greek Diners like the places to be found all over northern New Jersey, my home state, often have such menus. And, of course, most of the time, the food is very good.

Eating out was a treat when I was a kid growing up. Today, for a variety of reasons, one being people seem to be working and commuting longer hours, more people patronize restaurants, diners and fast food places. On the plus side, there is the convenience and the variety of foods. On the negative side, eating out is costly and most restaurants serve meals with quantities designed for “The Incredible Hulk.” And, as an additional negative, the food is prepared to taste good, but isn't necessarily (and usually not) the best nutritionally or for weight control and health maintenance.

Meet My 'A' Teams: Team #1 Dr. Eva Urena's Dental Office

Earlier this year, I, like thousands of other U.S. and Canadian "snowbirds" (folks who travel south for the winter in RV's, vans, other vehicles and those who rent or own their own properties) visit the small border town of Los Algodones, Mexico. This little Mexican town is primarily known for it's specialty . . . dental services. In fact, though I haven't been able to find an exact number, it's estimated there are 350 certified dentists, many, if not most, trained fully or partially in the U.S.

A typical street in the four square block downtown of Algodones

Algodones, as it's known by most people who've been there, is on the Mexican and U.S. border a few miles from Winterhaven, California and Yuma, Arizona. It is the northern most city in Mexico in Baja. This little town of about 5,500 offers the dental work I spoke of as well as medical, optical and pharmacy products and services all within a four square block downtown area. You'll also find some really good restaurants, street food and shopping, too.

Border crossing back into the U.S., foot traffic is to the right.

Buy! Buy! Buy! The War Cry of the Consumer Society

Buy! Buy! BUY! That's the theme on HSN, the Home Shopping Network, today. For those few people (and I'm sure it's very few) who are not familiar with HSN, it's one of the two major television and on-line selling networks. They do nothing on these networks except Sell! Sell! Sell! That's all they do 24/7/365. How do I know? My friend, where my eastern base camp is located in West Virginia is, I'll use the term, semi-addicted. Either HSN or QVC, the second major selling network, are on her television much of the waking hours of her day.

What Do They Sell?

Everything (just about)! The primary target audience is women. Does that surprise you? In the 1st World, developed, nations headed by the U.S. and western Europe, most women seem to be groomed from infancy through adulthood to "shop til you drop."

Go to any major (or even discount) department store and do a visual measurement of the square footage allocated to women's clothes, shoes, cosmetics/toiletries, household furnishings, the kitchen and bathroom. Compare that with the amount of space allocated to men's clothing, shoes, tools/hardware, automotive things (you won't find either of those two categories in high end department stores) and sporting goods. Typically it will be 2:1 to 3:1 in favor of the women. The second largest space is often the children's department including clothes, shoes, toys and games.

Here are a few simple examples. Compare the women's underwear/lingerie section to the men's. Compare the women's bathing suit section to the men's. Compare the women's toiletries including make-up and anti-aging, wrinkle removing agents to men's. Need I go on?

Selling Pencils

I once listened to an interview with a former home shopping network host. I don't recall which of the two major networks he said he worked for. During the dialogue the former host said he went for an audition for a host job on the particular network he ended up employed by. For his audition, the interviewer (probably a program producer) handed him a standard, #2, yellow pencil with the typical pink eraser on the one end. He was then told to talk about the features and benefits of that pencil for ten minutes, non-stop, without being redundant.

If you have never, but have the gumption to watch one of these networks, you will notice a few interesting things. Everyone of the hosts is very personable and becomes intimate (not that way) with viewers on as personal a level as possible. It's like she (mainly) or he has been your friend since childhood. You'd feel comfortable revealing your most intimate secrets to them. Second, they talk incessantly. I mean, I don't think they breathe sometimes. They go on and on and on and on and on. Third, they use the word "only" very freely when referring to the prices. It may be the second most powerful marketing word next to "free."

They have absolutely no problem minimizing the value of money. "This little fanny pack is only a little $20.00 bill." "At less than $30.00 (actually $29.95), you'll love this top (blouse) and you'll want to have it in at least black and one or two other colors because it will be useful with so many different outfits."

Frankly, the home shopping networks and the (what now seems like, almost monthly) constant pledge drives by public TV and public radio stations are, to me, the most annoying uses of mass media (TV and radio). Don't get me wrong, I like both public TV and radio. But, the over priced "gifts" and the constant interruptions of the programs to listen to a 20 minute infomercial begging session drive me away from the stations. There is no begging on the shopping channels. It's just incessant babble and semi-high pressure sales methodology. If the viewers are addicted enough, a significant number of them will breakdown and buy something they really don't need and often don't really want.

It's kind of like the yard/garage/moving sale buyer mentality. I see this when I wander through those sales with my friend. I witnessed it first hand when people came to my nearly two month long moving sale toward the end of 2008. People will buy things they really don't need and weren't looking for. It's like they feel some form of guilt or obligation to buy something because they came and looked. I found this interesting at my sale. People bought some of the most inane items. I don't know why I even had the stuff or where it came from. They bypassed the really good, useful stuff. I guess they don't want to spend that much money (many won't try making an offer). So, they'll take some piece of crap home adding it to their collection of "useless stuff."

Cosmetics, Anti-aging/Wrinkle Removing Creams, Jewelry, Purses, Belts, Shoes, Kitchen Appliances, Cookware, Kitchen Aids, Computers, Laptops, Tablets (iPads), Large, Flat Screen, 3D, High Definition Televisions, Bose Wave Radios, Etc., Etc.

This is only a small list of the most popular items sold on shopping channels day in and day out, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Yes! We are talking about multi-billion dollar businesses and they don't even have retail stores and warehouses all over the U.S. with the massive overhead. How much or how many of any of these things does anyone need? Way! Way less than they buy from these shopping channels.

There is one, cute, pudgy German celebrity chef who has numerous restaurants. He's on one of the networks several times a year. He and the incessantly chattering host sell his own branded kitchen appliances, food preparation aids and accessory items most of us have done without and still eat good tasting, healthy and substantial food. I dare say he makes what Bill and Hillary Clinton make from their outrageously, over priced speaking engagements pale in comparison. I saw over $4,000,000.00 in sales in one day for a single item. He was selling multiple items for three days. Most of us could retire early and live a luxurious lifestyle off what he personally clears from one of his three day appearances.

How much jewelry does any woman need? Why are we, especially women, so afraid of growing old? Women will pay hundreds or maybe thousands of dollars each year buying way overpriced creams and goop to make them look younger. Here's a clue, YOU'RE NOT YOUNGER! If you're 50, you're 50. If you're 75, you're 75. Deal with it. It's reality.

The same applies to make-up. It's interesting. Men don't wear make-up, yet women are attracted to them. Women, hide behind a mask of goop. Is it because they might be afraid to be seen as who they really are. This seems to go along with the old phrase, "the honeymoon is over." That's when the mask comes off. I hate to say it, but we men, probably play a bigger part in this than we realize. We don't want the women in our lives to change. We want them to remain like they were when we met them.

Of course, I'm expressing personal views and opinions. Personally, the women who attract me the most are the ones who wear the least amount of make up and allow their true selves to show. When a woman is all made up, sure, she looks nice, maybe almost perfect. But, guess what? I've figured it out, she's wearing a mask. Who is really behind that mask? That's who I really want to know.

It's like some of the scanty clothes women wear these days. Itty bitty bikinis, skin tight pants or shorts, very revealing tops. They say it's the mystique, leaving something to the imagination. The other interesting thing is, the less cloth and the more exposed skin there is, the more expensive the items of clothing seem to be.

But, that's okay. This is a game that's been played by "proper, civilized societies" for centuries. It just seems like an awfully expensive game, with the cost of women's clothes, make up and jewelry, to put on a mask and hide the real person. I guess as a person who has finally discovered the error in his ways, I see things through my own simplistic viewer. I don't need filters or masks for me to be attracted to someone of the opposite gender. I'm more attracted to a woman who is as confident and comfortable in her skin in a pair of jeans and tee shirt, or shorts or simple skirt or dress, clean and (simply) groomed. Then I can focus on who she actually is rather than who she wants me to think she is.

Of course, if women (mainly), but certainly there are plenty of men who hide behind masks and facades, too, would turn off the shopping channels (as one source of expending endless amounts of money on fantasy lives), our economy would slide down the drain. We are a society that exists mainly to consume stuff, all kinds of stuff and in huge quantities, often without rhyme or reason for any of it.

From a time 400 to 250 years ago we were a very simple, self-reliant society. We've evolved to become the largest consuming nation in the world. Good? Bad? That judgment is above my pay grade. I just know where my values are and what I like and need. Regardless of what I say or think, the HSNs, QVCs, Amazons, Walmarts, Macys, Kohls, Buy.coms, etc. will continue with their "war cry" "Buy! Buy! BUY!"    

California, Here I Am!

Yes, I am in sunny, warm (finally) southern California. But, not without challenges getting here. I'll recap the travels in another post devoted just to the mostly uneventful trip other than my eight day stay in Cherokee Village, Arkansas. But, this is the view from where I am composing this article today.

This is from the small yard, but adequate for my son, Pete's, (and currently, my) needs in the city of Hawthorne, California, one of the cities that makes up what most people call Los Angeles, the "City of Angels." His small house is actually a guest house located behind the small main house that faces the street. It's actually very quiet and secluded back here. I can't see anyone and no one can see me. . . READ MORE

January 1, 2015 - The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

My very best wishes for a

Happy, Healthy, Abundant
and

Free Living
2015!

It is New Years Day 2015 as I compose this article. It's a great time to reevaluate your life and plans for the future. I don't make New Years resolutions. I find that they are useless for me. But, if you go back to my December 29, 2012 article title, "How Do You Eat An Elephant?"  you can read or reread about the "elephants" in our lives.

There is a lot going on in our world. While I'm very optimistic about my personal life and lifestyle, I don't hold that same optimistic outlook toward most of our society (mainly the U.S., but even that of other countries around the world). If you have questions about your own future then, perhaps, now is a good time to consider adopting, modifying or expanding a living free philosophy for yourself and your partner/spouse and family.

The "12 Steps for Living Free" that I introduced a little over three years ago and revised in the spring of 2012 is a great place to start. . . READ MORE

The Apparent Demise of Millenicom

Boy, wasn't that a shocker about Millenicom? Something very unsettling there. I used the word "apparent" in the title of this article because no one knows what really is going on and if Millenicom might move in a new direction.

Since Millenicom is a no contract wireless data reseller, there is no guarantee that any or all of Millenicom's customers will stay with Verizon and for those who do, will they be bullied by Verizon? I guess we'll find out the answers in due time. Millenicom is pretty silent on the whole thing though I've heard (hearsay) they've let their staff go. So, I guess they don't have enough business left to sustain full-scale operations.

I am still with AT&T, so I'm not personally impacted by this change, though I could have been had I followed through on my plan to set up a Millenicom data account. Here's the story and the rationale I used for staying with AT&T. . . READ MORE

Why We Buy More Stuff Than We Need

My Front Porch during my massive uncluttering and downsizing in 2008. 
Why did I even own this stuff? But, wait! There's more.  

I was sitting in my friend's 91 year old mother's living room the other evening engaging in some conversation with this delightful woman, older than my own mother would have been at this time. She was telling me she had decided to go through some of the closets, in her way too large a home for one widowed person of her age, to get rid of some "stuff." She pointed to her foot she held up prominently and said, "Ed, how do you like my new shoes?" I commented that they looked nice.

She then explained that she found this and another pair of new shoes, neither of which had ever been worn by her or the person who gave them to the Goodwill Store in town. She bought them, not because she actually needed them (of course, they were her size and fit properly), but because they were only $2.00 per pair. Who could pass up a deal like that. She didn't need the shoes and she wouldn't have bought these particular shoes in a shoe store if she actually needed shoes, but hey, who could afford to pass up a deal like that even if you don't need whatever it is? 
. . . READ MORE

If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me!

I love the simplicity of that ten word statement comprised totally of two letter words. There is a lot of power in those words. I haven't been able to find the true origin, but the first time I heard it was in the early 80's from Alexandra Armstrong, an accomplished and highly acclaimed Certified Financial Planner and investment professional from Washington, DC.

The ten words are often applied in a motivational context relating to career, professional and business success. However, the words can be applied to any facet of anyone's life. They certainly apply to making changes in your life to realize whatever dreams, goals and missions you have established for yourself including making whatever life changes you need to make to achieve your definition of living free. . . READ MORE

Can I Live Without This?

But Wait! Order Today and . . .

This is a simple question I ask myself every time I go into Costco, Walmart, Kohl's and other stores I patronize. I ask the same question as I read all the product "newsletters" I receive from Rakuten (Buy.com), New Egg, Sweetwater, B&H Photo, BSW (Broadcast Supply Warehouse), Kohl's, Ben's Bargains, etc. that I receive on line. The same question applies as I glance through numerous magazines and other periodicals from my various areas of interest. And, of course, there is the incessant pounding from the TV home shopping networks and the commercials and infomercials on most TV channels and even Sirius satellite radio channels.

"But, wait! Order today and we'll double your order and send you two chartreuse, endlessly expandable, unbreakable, lifetime warranty muffler bearings for your Formula Go Cart Racer just pay separate shipping and handling of $495.00 each.

Blah! Blah! Blah! It never stops. It's called sales. It's the action part of marketing. Yes! They are actually separate functions. You are being sold something constantly - even those, ever more, frequent pleading and begging pledge drives for public television and public radio is simply another form of selling. . . READ MORE

Do You Have A Round TUIT?

Do you have a "Round TUIT?"

I do! I was sorting through another box of "Stuff" the other day, in my ongoing quest to downsize and
minimize (yep - I'm still at the process that seems never ending). In the box, I found a brass, stamped, flat, coin shaped object with the capital letters "TUIT" debossed in one side. The other side of the coin shaped object is irrelevant.

  

So, it's shape is round and it says "TUIT" on the object - why, that makes it a "Round TUIT." So, what the heck is a "Round TUIT," anyway? I can't spend it. It's not heavy enough to be a paperweight (and I don't have much paper anyway). I haven't seen a lot of these, so my guess is that most people never get a round tuit. . . READ MORE

Enough Is Too Much

I'm sure you reached a point of frustration at some time during your life when you just threw your hands up and declared, "Enough is enough!" Everyone reaches that point at least once, if not multiple times during his or her life.

But, let me pose this question . . .

When does enough become too much? . . . READ MORE

Your Freedom

What would your life be like if you were able to enjoy completely living free?

The catalyst for this post was a comment I received from one of the many professionals I know and continue to interact with from my varied professional career. Here is the comment and I quote it, "Quite the life you're leading, Ed.  I'm envious of your freedom."

I appreciate the comment, but I wonder why so many people are "envious" of my freedom. I honestly haven't done anything all that unique, courageous or heroic. I simply reached a point in my life when I made a conscious choice, a decision to change my lifestyle. Life is all about choices. We've been making them ever since we were infants. You probably don't remember, but you probably made the choice not to eat those gosh awful looking and tasting  strained peas they called "baby food."

So, why would anyone be envious of a choice I made, unless . . . he or she is not happy, content, fulfilled or feel free with the choices he or she has made for his or her life? . . . READ MORE

Wasting Your Life vs. Engaging Your Life

As I do most mornings, this morning I skimmed through several blog posts of those blogs I follow fairly regularly. At the same time, I watch for links to new blogs that I may not have been aware of before. I am always looking for information, ideas and topical issues that, of course, relate to me and my life and journey in some manner. Obviously, there is far too much to read in any given period of time, so I look for things that really strike a chord with me and then I read them in depth and often bookmark them for future reference.

But, as I'm sure you're aware, we live in an age of information and frankly, I believe it's more an age of information overload. I'm humbled by the idea that you're taking your valuable time to read this post right now. This is where today's topic comes into play. Have you ever had the feeling that you are wasting your life? I certainly have. And, if I'm going to be completely honest, I've had this feeling over and over again. I'll slip into a bit of a blue funk and ask myself questions like:

Have I lived up to my parents' (both deceased) expectations?

Have I lived up to my siblings' expectations?

Have I lived up to my offspring's' (if you have any - I do) expectations?

Have I lived up to my friends' expectations?

Have I lived up to professional expectations?

Have I achieved success in life?

Have I achieved my own dreams, goals and personal expectations?

Do I waste time doing unproductive things?

Am I measuring up to society's expectations?

Am I wasting or have I wasted my life?
. . . and the most important question of all (that I forgot and had to be reminded by a reader of this blog, Rob, see his comment below)
Am I HAPPY?

Feel free to add any of your own questions to this list.

This morning I found and read three blog posts, plus a new blog I discovered through Twitter. Two of the posts I read struck a chord with me and the third presented an interesting idea. Here are links to the three posts. One was specifically on Wasting Your Life. I enjoyed Trent's commentary on the subject, especially since he's virtually half my age. The next one was from Lois, a 50 something woman, born with Muscular Dystrophy and who has accomplished a great deal in her lifetime (the MD didn't hold her back) - Everything That's Wrong. The third post was from Trent again and I believe this can be an interesting and excellent exercise for anyone with a question about how good their life really is - TheJar of Life. 

So, here are my thoughts on Wasting Your Life vs. Engaging Your Life.

Expectations

So, why do some of us (if not most of us) harbor thoughts about whether we are wasting our lives? I contend that it's probably because from our earliest memories we have been conditioned to fulfill expectations that have been imposed upon us by external sources. Of course, there are some basic societal expectations we must conform to if we're going to live within whatever society we were born. While human beings are, at our most basic level, members of the animal kingdom, we are far from being the free roaming animals our earliest ancestors were. Now, I know that there are some people who read this blog who prefer to accept the Biblical version of how humans came to be on this planet. While I was raised in a pretty conservative Baptist church in New Jersey, I am more inclined to accept the scientific and historical evolution of our species.

That being said, it is the responsibility of our parents, siblings, extended family, community, educational system and, if we had a religious connection, the religious community to instill us with values, societal standards and an understanding of the kind of behavior that is expected as we grow into full-fledged members of our society. But, that's not all. We are also taught expectations of being productive and responsible members of the society. For the vast majority of the population of most societies, especially in developed countries, the definition of being productive and responsible members of the society translates into possibly obtaining advanced education in some specialized field or discipline, applying whatever education (advanced, technical, occupational or basic) into an income producing career usually through jobs working for someone else, tempering our primal instinct to procreate into a monogamous relationship through a contractual marriage arrangement, bringing forth offspring to perpetuate the species, setting objectives to become stabilized by establishing credit, purchasing property and a home, accumulating, what we believe to be necessities of life, but most often are extraneous wants, working diligently and advancing up some kind of ladder of success and finally, after some 40 to 45 years and being diligent stewards of our earnings, retiring to live out the balance of our lives on this planet in some form of comfort.

Now, let me be perfectly honest. After writing that long paragraph and description of a lifetime, I'm actually very bored. Think about this. Let's use the number 80 as the average lifespan of the average person in the United States. According to the World Health Organization that is the approximate overall average age in the U.S. as of 2013. Eighty years amounts to 701,280 hours. If we establish that the average person will work 45 years at some kind of typical job putting in 8 hours per day plus an additional 2 hours to allow for commuting and lunch/breaks for a total of 10 hours per day 5 days a week we are devoting 112,500 hours to the job. Let's add another 8 hours a day including commuting and homework, five days a week for 14 years (12 years of mandatory education and two years for advanced education or training allowing that not everyone gains a 4 year degree or advanced degrees) for education. This equals approximately 20,160 hours. Let's allow for an average of approximately 7 hours of sleep/rest daily or another 204,540 hours. So, those three activities during our 80-year lifespan will consume approximately 337,200 of our 701,280 hours or approximately 48% of our lifetime.

So, one might be led to say, well, that's great because that leaves about 364,080 hours to do all the things I want to do. However, we have not taken out the necessary time for preparing and consuming meals, shopping for food and other necessities, maintaining our clothing, vehicles, residence (including yard work), periods of illness, extracurricular activities for the offspring and such. That 364,080 number continues to get whittled down. But, this is the life of an average, responsible, productive human being in the U.S. Interestingly, there are something like 32 countries in the world where the average lifespan is anywhere from a couple months longer than the U.S. lifespan to 6.5 years longer. It's another area in which the U.S. is lagging behind.

Wasting Your Life

So, what do you consider wasting your life? Do you feel you didn't meet all the expectations raised by the questions at the beginning of this article? Do you feel like you haven't achieved a large enough or luxurious enough home or you don't have one or more vacation homes? Maybe you haven't been able to acquire all the "Stuff" you feel you should have in order to prove you have not wasted your life. Did you not work enough hours to become the CEO of the company you've devoted years to? Perhaps at the end of the 45-year working plan you can't afford to retire. Maybe you wonder why some people who have taken alternative journeys in life spending their lives doing the things they loved doing, but may not have met with the success that societal expectations place on people.  Perhaps they became artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, inventors, golfers, white water river rafting guides, professional surfers, skiers, crafts people, race car drivers, rodeo riders, actors, circus performers . . . you can add to the list as you are so inclined. Did they waste their lives?

I have often reviewed my life. I have the equivalent of about 17 years of formal education. I volunteered almost four years of my life to the U.S. military. I had a few part-time or summer jobs through high school and college/graduate school. But, starting at age 12 with an independent newspaper route, I have mainly been self-employed. For the majority of my career I worked in excess of 40 hours per week and frequently worked weekends and holidays and seldom took vacations. I created probably a hundred jobs. I did innovative things in the recording, tape duplication, video production and book publishing industries. Not everything I did was successful. Truth be known, probably less than 50% of the things I did were successful. But, all during those years and businesses I was working at meeting someone's expectations including my own. When things didn't go well or I experienced a failure, I felt like I had wasted my life.

It wasn't until I finally realized that a human life is finite. It has an expiration date. I further realized that while there will always be a small number of people who will make huge contributions to society, the vast majority will, in the grand scheme of things, contribute very little. We were not all born with the gifts of Beethoven, Socrates, Shakespeare, Newton, da Vinci, Franklin, Jefferson, Edison, Ford, Gates, Jobs and others. I felt like I was wasting my life when I wasn't contributing something to society that would change the world, as we know it. However, when I did come to the realization that if I could leave the planet just a little bit better than when I found it, my life wasn't wasted. Further, I realized that other than adhering to the basic standards and values of a civil and law-biding member of society, my life didn't have to meet up to anyone else's expectations other than my own. That's when I really began to live free even though I felt I had a living free philosophy most of my life.

I used to feel guilty if I spent too much time reading through other people's blog posts or occasionally glancing through Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn or reading and replying to posts on numerous Internet forums I belong to or watching some favorite TV shows or movies. I felt this was wasting my time. While I was participating in those activities, I wasn't doing something far more important and contributing to saving the world and making it a better place. I've finally grown past that. But, I do ponder what drives people to want to take on extremely demanding jobs, elected offices or sacrifice massive amounts of their finite number of hours when in the end, they will die just as you and I will and revert back to the basic elements from which we came. Personally, the only waste of life I can identify is sacrificing those finite hours either to accumulate stuff, gain status or because of a drive for power over others.

Of course, I don't believe I have the answers for everyone or anyone else's lives. I hold everyone in an equal accord and believe that if you want to buy into the burden of expectations laid on us by others and society, it's entirely their right and choice. But, they shouldn't expect me to respect them because they make those choices and they shouldn't disrespect me because I choose not to live under that burden of expectations. I only regret that I didn't truly realize this, much like Trent has, at age 35. Just remember, it's your life and there are no dress rehearsals. This is it, baby, live and in living color and in real time. Spend your time focusing on whatever feels right to you for your time and life.

Engaging Your Life   

Here's the real approach I believe we should all use in life . . . Engage! What do I mean? Simple. It's your life so what do YOU want from it. If you're doing anything other than engaging in the life you want, THEN and only THEN are you truly wasting your life. If you want to entertain then do it. If you want to be an artist of some kind then do it. If you want to operate your own business of some kind get on with it. If you want to travel and see the country or the world then get cracking. This is where your focus should be. It should not be on doing someone else's bidding or wishing or whining about . . . you'd do it, but.

It's important to know and accept that in some ways you can have your cake and eat it, too. But, in other cases, that's not going to happen. If you're tied down to a house or property that is a burden, then eliminate it. If you have a job that demands massive amounts of your time and leaves you both drained and unmotivated, it's time to move on. Don't let the excuse of "the money is too good" or I have to have this much money to get by. Remember, you can't take any of that money with you when your life clock runs out and very few of us know when that's going happen. Figure out what you REALLY need to engage in the life you want and stop wasting your life with excuses and doing others' bidding.

I had a client one-time right after I completed my second college degree. I was running my business part of the time and teaching part of the time at a local community college at that point in my life. He asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I said I wanted to be in business for myself, but I needed the income and I was thinking of taking a full-time job. He told me the chances are if I take a full-time job, I will spend the rest of my life in the false security of the full-time job and the paycheck that came with it. I'd probably never truly pursue my own dream of working for myself full-time and when I finally reached retirement age, my business would still be a part-time business and I would have missed numerous avenues of opportunity. He was right! Another man I met at that time told me, "You make your own breaks in life. No one will make your breaks for you. If you want something make your break and go after it." He was right, too.

I just reached my 69th year. It is the commencement of my 70th year on this planet. According to what I said earlier, the World Health Organization projects ten more years for me to enjoy this journey (actually a couple years less because I'm a male). Now, I'm hoping and I'm planning on being one of those who lives to the high side of that average number. So, I may be around for another 15 or 20 years, maybe more. But, I can't count on that. So, my plan is not to focus on how I may have wasted my life. My plan is to engage in all I can in life. I've come to realize that nothing I have done to date was a waste of my life; it is history and what I did at that time. If I want to find a beautiful spot on a beach or a mountaintop and read blog posts or write blog posts or I want to watch a favorite TV show or movie or chat with a friend on the phone, I will so engage. Money be damned. I will live, love and laugh until my journey ends.

My long time friend, Dave Yoho, a man who grew up in a ghetto in Philadelphia and became a self-made millionaire by 30, sent this inscription in a birthday card, "How fortunate are we to live in a time when we have opportunities to express ourselves Creatively, to follow our own Drummer and to Experience Life in a manner of our own choosing. So it is . . . Enjoy/Savor Each Moment." I pass that on to you. 

Life On The Road In My McVansion

It's a Saturday morning in Port Charlotte, Florida and I've now been on the road with My McVansion for 27 days on this first trek of 2014. It occurred to me that, you, my loyal reader and follower of the "Living Free" blog might be interested in what life is like in My McVansion on the road over an extended period of time. So, this post is going to give you an idea of my current life on the road in my 50 square foot very efficient condo on wheels. 

While many of you are vandwellers (full-time or part-time) yourselves, this may not be a big deal for you, but for those of you who are future vandwellers, full-time RVers or just Walter Mitty types living the life vicariously through others of us who are out here, this may give you another peak into a unique lifestyle. And when I say unique lifestyle, I mean that each vandweller and full-time RVer is motivated differently, so each of our lifestyles will vary. You will relate to some more than others, but this gives you another taste of life on the road.

I also want to point out that My McVansion is not complete, yet. I have a number of things I still need to do and I'm learning of things I want to modify or add to my previous thinking and planning. So, this is going to be a pictorial of my life on the road in My McVansion. I hope you enjoy the tour and please feel free to comment.

So, here goes:

On The Surface

Here are some external photos of My McVansion parked at long time Living Free reader, Tommy Head's house in Port Charlotte, Florida. Tommy has been a vandweller himself, having built up his own custom van in which he ran up a couple hundred thousand miles. Currently, he has a 22-foot motorhome, a Mazda Miata and a beauty of a motorcycle. One of the most enjoyable parts of this lifestyle is meeting people who are of kindred spirit and who follow your exploits on your blog. The stories are endless and everyone learns something new.

Parked next to Tommy's house looking down the street.

Tommy's 22' motorhome dwarfs My McVansion

Bringing up the rear. Note the black shore power cord coming out of the right rear window.

Here's my entry. Notice the blue step (actually a plastic Pepsi 2 ltr soft drink carrier), a brilliant idea I obtained from another vandweller in Georgia, Cuzzin Dick. Also, I want to thank vandweller Marshall Ellgas for the nice clean vehicle I'm driving. Marshall pulled out his pressure washer and we cleaned those wheels up and gave My McVansion a much needed bath.

The Cockpit

Here is the nerve center or the bridge, if you will, of my micro condo on wheels. Lots of decisions made in the "Captain's Chair."

The Captain's Seat! This is the place where most of the important travel decisions are made. In front of the steering wheel is my cell phone/GPS mount. To the right is "The Hat," a vital part of the captain's uniform. Again, further to the right is the dash cam that documents all travels. On the sun visor is a Bluetooth speaker phone to keep my hands free. In the right passenger's seat is my travel box containing various items of importance with an extra seat cushion behind it and a Road Atlas behind that.  

The view from the right door shows the waste basket and a side view of the "power" module.

This view is from inside the van between the two cockpit seats. The "power" module allows me to power up to four devices off the 12 volt cigarette lighter jack or with the plug in modules I can power up to 8 USB powered devices. Most all of my electronics are powered off the van whenever the van is moving. Directly below the "power" module is a desktop charger for my spare cell phone battery so I'm virtually never without reserve power for communications.

And this little volume is "The Captain's Log." I also make verbal notations that are captured by the dash cam, but this little book keeps track of travel from point to point, fuel fill-ups and other important information I may want or need to recall at some future date.

The Interior Looking Toward the Rear Of The House Part of My McVansion

This is "home sweet home." This is a photo of the house section of My McVansion from just behind and between the two cockpit seats looking toward the rear. On the right (actually, the left side of the van) is the bunk. That's a 30-50 degree sleeping bag on the bunk. I've found this to be adequate, even in some temperatures approaching zero degrees Fahrenheit. If it's not warm enough, I simply add more blankets on top of it. At the foot of the bunk you'll see a green plaid, Irish wool throw blanket that is my first addition. To the left of the bed is my workstation. I'm using a folding chair in this photo, but it's still a little too large. I'm going to keep looking for exactly the right chair for this unique situation. On the left side (actually the right side of the van) are plastic drawers from Walmart for various office supplies and tools. I've screwed together two 3 drawer units and then secured them to the workstation desktop and the shelf over the wheel well. In front of the drawer unit. And, of course, you can see the computer on the workstation.

Here is another view of the bunk with the head of the bunk in the foreground and the sleeping bag with the green plaid Irish wool blanket at the foot and my green pillow at the head. You should also notice the black felt "black out" curtains I've installed. These are temporary and will eventually be replaced with a southwestern motif material that will also be used for the mattress cover. These curtains are removable. But, this is how My McVansion is set up for night time. That's my soft side attache case on the bunk along with a shirt and a great book Tommy has loaned me called Sensible Cruising: A Philosophic & Practical Approach To Cruising. This a really useful book and even though it was written for boaters, it directly applies to vandwellers and RVers as well. It's no longer in print and it's about 28 years old, but if I can find a used copy, I'm going to latch onto it. 

This is closer view of the office supply drawer units and in front of them is a small, carry around, plastic, portable file case. There are always some important papers you probably should have with you and this is my way of carrying those items. The window blockout on the right rear window of the van (as shown above) is actually a piece of plywood spray painted black on both sides. The forward, left "house section" window also has a plywood block out. It's located behind the food preparation counter.

There was some space behind the drawer unit and the base of the workstation. I had been thinking about where I would store shoes. Well, guess what? Viola! This space is perfect for storing three pairs of shoes. 

This is my view when laying in the bunk. It actually reminds me of being in a small stateroom in some kind of boat. I personally find it very comfortable,relaxing and appealing with the rich wood and light burgundy cloth interior of the van.

The House Section Of My McVansion From The Rear Looking Forward

This photo is from the back of the van. In the foreground is the bunk on the left and the workstation on the right. Straight back are the black, felt, knock out curtains I used to separate the cockpit from the house section of the van. 

Once again, here is a clearer photo of the black out curtains separating the cockpit from the house section.

Here's a photo of the refrigerators on the right side of the van. It's secured with a bungee cord to keep it from opening while in motion. next to it on the left is a small electric space heater and on the right, inside the cabinet, is the porta potty. That's my backpack on top of the porta potty cabinet. 

Here is another look at the small, utility space heater. I only run it on the lowest of two power settings. It takes only a couple minutes before the van is warm and toasty. I may trade this for a smaller unit about half to two thirds the size and power requirements. 

Bungee Cords are our friends, especially if you're a van dweller. Here these useful, stretchy cords, are securing the Walmart plastic storage units I use for clothes, dry foods, utensils, basic kitchen essentials and miscellaneous other things. 

This is the food preparation and misc. work space counter I built. The Walmart storage units are below it. Directly under the counter you'll see my insulated grocery bag on the left under the counter and my blue and black windbreakers that fold into their own pockets and become small pillows on the right. On the counter top is a two gallon water reservoir with a spigot on the front. Once again, it's kept securely in place by another bungee cord. I got the reservoir at Walmart. Next to the reservoir is a black, 12 vdc clip on fan to help circulate air on warm nights. 

Storage A Plenty

Lots of under the bunk storage and there's a lot more than this. You'll notice my 12 vdc electric blanket that comes in handy on the occasional frigid night.

This is one of the cubbys over the cockpit. This one is over the passenger seat and houses sanitary and hygiene necessities.

This cubby is over the Captain's seat and holds extra toiletries, vitamins, first aid supplies and other similar items.

This is the area where the small 13" TV that came with the van resided until I removed it. It's in the center over the cockpit and houses paper towels, my Road Pro lunchbox stove and water heating pot as well as aluminum trays, plastic bowls with lids to store various foods in. 

There are four of these cubbies, two on each side of the van. The only one I've assigned so far it this one for the AA, AAA, C, D and 9 volt batteries. 

This is a large cubby and is in the center over the workstation in the rear of the van. There is still plenty of room in this cabinet, but it houses my stash of water crackers and my extra tea bags. 

This is the final area of storage. This is under the rear of the bunk and under the workstation. There's still plenty of room on the left under the bunk. On the right there are two plastic containers that store extra clothing (currently, winter clothing) in the lower one and misc. techy stuff in the upper one. To the right of the two stacking units is another Walmart storage unit. It has tools and such in it. Actually the bottom drawer is still empty. And, finally, to the right in the corner are larger tools, the dirt devil vacuum and other similar things.  

A Room With A View

You've seen this photo in an earlier blog post. But, here is the most awesome aspect of the Living Free lifestyle for me. I can have this view until I'm tired of it and then move on to another Room with a View location. This is the most enjoyable lifestyle I can remember in my lifetime. The world is outside my window. 

So, there you have it. a chance to see how My McVansion is accommodating yours truly and providing a magic carpet to explore the continent with and a comfortable home wherever I am. I hope you enjoyed the tour of my creation. However, what you have seen is not the finished product. There's still quite a bit more work to be done to My McMansion. And, now with several trips under my belt, I know of some additions and modifications I am planning to add to the other things I hadn't completed, yet. Of course, it will always be a "work in progress." Things like this always are.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

Oh yeah! That's the title of a great old Clint Eastwood movie dating back to 1966. It was an Italian western, dubbed back in those days, a "Spaghetti Western." The theme song may have been the most popular part of the movie. It's not only recognizable, but also haunting.

Well, this post isn't about the movie. Actually, I may use the title as a recurring theme from time to time, so don't be surprised if you see it again. However, the content will be different. The content will be about things I find good, bad and ugly in our world, country and society. For some reason I find that while most people are inherently good, the "devices" of human kind can be twisted from good to bad and sometimes to flat out ugly. It, of course, all depends on the individual perspective.

You may not agree with me on all my points and that's good, I don't even mind if you want to share your opinion in the comments. Just do it civilly, don't be bad and turn things ugly. So, here go a few things that just happen to be on my mind today.

The Good

Technology is good. Remembering our history, humans have continually found ways to progress from the Stone Age through the Iron Age through the Bronze Age and right on through the agricultural age, the industrial age, the information age and now the digital age. As the old cigarette commercial for Virginia Slims (not part of the good, by the way) went, "You've come a long way, baby!"

Technology has turned the world into a neighborhood of sorts with efficient air transportation, high-speed trains and huge tanker and container ships. Communications have improved to where we can literally talk, text and email friends, family and business associates around the world for virtually nothing or very little expense.

Movies, television shows, radio and music are international in scope.

And computers have gone from huge machines requiring rooms to house them to small tablet computing devices and smart phones, even the Dick Tracy (for those readers old enough to remember the Dick Tracy comic strip) wrist two way radio is becoming a reality. And, digital technology, the basis for all computing devices, now is the foundation and pulse of just about every field of human endeavor including art, music, TV, radio, medicine, transportation of every kind, manufacturing, accounting, marketing our homes and offices and it keeps expanding.

In general, we live better, healthier (with some caveats) and longer (also with some caveats) then ever before. From what I understand, the first human who will live to the age of 150 has been born and the technology to make it possible for a human to live for a thousand years is in development. Who could have ever imagined all this, even 50 or 60 years ago when I was a child and teenager? I was pretty amazed when I installed ham radio equipment in my vehicles that allowed me to, literally, communicate with people around the world while driving on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey or the New York State Thruway in New York.

This, I see as the Good.

The Bad

The bad that has happened, from my humble perspective, is that we have increased the population of the U.S. from 150,000,000 in 1950 when I was 5 years old to more than 317,000,000 as of the time I'm writing this post. That's an increase of 167,000,000 people in just less than 64 years. But, consider this. The population of the entire planet in 1927 hit the 2,000,000,000 mark and today it is in excess of 7,130,000,000. It took from the beginning of the human being's existence on the planet to 1927 (probably an estimated 100,000 plus years to reach the 2,000,000,000 point and only another 86 years to increase by more than 2.5 times.

I say this is bad because the exponential growth of the U.S. and world population is countered by the even more rapid acceleration of what technology is doing for our world. Exactly what is technology doing? Exactly what I stated in the Good section of this post. The real clear illustration of this factor was the recent "Great Recession" we're supposedly recovering from (that just happens to be the slowest recovery in the history of our country, including the Great Depression). When the real estate bubble and financial markets collapsed, millions of people were fired, permanently laid off and many of the major corporations (as well as untold numbers of banks and small businesses) filed for bankruptcy. Some never recovered.

What transpired is that technology rushed in to fill the gap. Computers and computer operated machines that were far most cost effective than the human labor replaced jobs that were being done by humans . It's not that this hadn't been occurring for decades. I saw the earliest stages of this transformation in the mid-1960's, when as an Industrial Arts major I took a field studies course on U.S. industries and saw all kinds of machines being operated by, at that time, mainframe computers. It was only a very small segment of industry then, but I don't think the American worker had a clue what was coming. For example, where are the phone operators, secretarial pools, automobile manufacturing workers, machinists, draftsmen and I could go on and on. The "Great Recession" not only gave industry and business the opportunity to make a major transformation, it required it to make the transformation for survival.

So, we have at least twice the number of people in the U.S. as we had in 1950 (and proportionately the same around the world (some countries with even larger population growth - most notably China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Mexico to mention a few). At the same time, we are creating less and less jobs that require human labor. So, more people, less work, how long can a country or the world's economy continue to grow under these conditions?

The Ugly

The Ugly is real simple. Governments grow larger and are creating more and more programs to support the growing number of unproductive and unemployed/unemployable. In order to finance this growing social support program, the governments have to extract more and more money from the part of the population (on the decline) who are productively producing income. The impact is, of course, out of balance since the wealthiest 1% of the population, while still bearing the largest, overall percentage of tax burden, pay, in many instances the least amount of taxes as a percentage of their huge income. This, of course, is due to the tax laws that were created to supposedly benefit the wealthy so they would invest in growing new businesses, creating more jobs and growing the economic base. The laws were written and enacted in what has become an ever less fair way and changing those laws now comes with extreme opposition from the wealthy. Oh, and of course, the wealthy finance the elections of the elected representatives who make the laws. Thus, more of the burden rests on the dwindling middle class who is sliding back into the poverty level. And, in the U.S. at least, many of those earning what's left of middle class incomes are becoming eligible for more and more government assistance programs.

There may actually be a "Mad Max" scenario on the horizon somewhere. It may not be during the 21st Century, however, if the population continues to increase, as it is fully expected to. And, if people continue living longer and requiring more services to keep them alive and healthy (at least, hopefully, creating more jobs in the health and geriatric care industries) it could be in the 22nd Century. We are raping our planet of its natural resources and stores of energy. It's easy to say that we have enough coal to last for X number of years. The same is true for oil and natural gas. But, if we extract more of these energy resources than the planet can replenish, at some point in time the supply will be depleted. Currently there is one net new person on this planet (accounting for new births and deaths) every 16 seconds. That's 5,400 new people everyday or 1,971,000 new people per year. That means there will be another billion people to feed, clothe and shelter every five years and that could increase. Will there actually be a time when we won't be able to produce enough nutritious food for the world population? Will the ideal revealed in the old Sci-fi movie, "Soylent Green" actually become a reality and necessity?

We are eating genetically modified food and food full of artificial ingredients already. Much of our clothing is synthetic instead of natural materials. We still live in a plastic throw away world of baby diapers, water bottles, cars not to mention the amount of paper used to package and paper plates, napkins, etc. we use.

This is the Ugly.

My Conclusion

But, after all the gloom and doom of the Bad and the Ugly, I still see a bright side. Unfortunately, I don't see that bright side for everyone. I believe we're seeing a trend by a tiny and growing percentage of the population. There are freedom-loving individuals who are finding ways to cut back on the footprint they make on the planet and society. They are learning to "Live Small" instead of "Living Large" that seemed to be a trend during the 80's, 90's and early 2000's. This group is learning to be happy with what they have and realizing it's unrealistic and unsustainable to have everything they want. They use less energy, often creating more energy efficient dwellings, transportation and lifestyles. Living "off the grid" is a popular and growing theme. Many are raising some or all of their food, making or recycling and buying perfectly serviceable clothing and other necessities of daily living. Frugality and simplicity are allowing this segment of society to live happier, healthier and freer lifestyles while not becoming dependent on government assistance.

And, best of all, I believe it's stirring up the pot of creativity. Unfortunately, this isn't so apparent in the Millennial Generation. It's their parents and the Boomer Generation who are being slapped in the face of reality hardest and who are stepping back, reevaluating and establishing new standards. Will the top 1% still have more money than they know what to do with and live excessive and opulent lifestyles? Most assuredly, yes, for the most part. Though even a percentage of the super rich are realizing the futility in accumulating massive amounts of unspendable money. So, they are finding ways to channel it back into society for the common good. But, the pot of creativity I mentioned is also sparking the entrepreneurial ambitious and motivated to create new ideas, new products and services to fill in the niches that are opening up everyday. The human spirit is boundless when it doesn't become mired in hopelessness.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the future will live as well as many once did. That's just the way it's going to be. Some may call me a naysayer or doomsayer for saying that, but too many people have gone down their primrose path with their rose colored glasses on. The spirit that built the U.S. that the pioneers had, the survival mentality, the do whatever it takes attitude just seems to have slipped into oblivion for most. I guess that's why there is something like 25% or more of the 22 to 31 year olds in this country living at home, YET, off their parents. That was not even a consideration for those of us growing up during the 50's and 60's. But, for those who get it, I not only see them surviving . . . I see them thriving and hopefully, passing on their spirit to their children.