Turning 60 is yet another milestone (yawn) with ever increasing reflections on what-all has gone afore and what may yet be discovered.
Quote of wisdom: "Money can make life easier, but seldom better".
After 3 years of doing the minimalist thang here at The 12, living off grid, etc, the stark reality is that I'm still working like a slave.
Granted I don't have to, we can live quite nicely on very little but we now find our children need a little help to set their lives on a better course. Which costs money......
And it's not just a case of handing over $500 to help where needed, it's a far less obvious cost.
As simple as taking a truck over to lift shingles onto my eldest sons roof can cost over $100 in fuel alone.
Lending daughter a vehicle while she enters the workplace after university can bump the insurance up a hefty rate because she's still rated as a young driver.
Not that we complain or hesitate for a moment in doing these things but the cost of simple acts of family support do add up in short order. Hence the continued need for income.
So as we coast out of summer and towards another grim winter, I question what we would have done had we stayed as we were. Had we stayed with the majority.
Our lives are now somewhat easier in several aspects but harder in others and our savings have certainly freed some income for those in need.
Sure I work the same as before and perhaps that was not the intention. Some might argue we have gone off course.
I prefer to think of it as heading towards the same destination but charting a different course to get there.
Sometimes we have to change vehicles, take a different road for a while, what ever.
Our pursuit of cheap living has given the ability to help others and also set an example to them that perhaps those things they thought they needed, are not so necessary after all.
Perhaps we can set them thinking about their alternate life far earlier.
