Day 7 of the #minsgame and this is officially getting harder. A portion of the ties I never wear.
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#minimalism #minimalist #springcleaning #declutter #declutteryourlife #day7
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Day 7 of the #minsgame and this is officially getting harder. A portion of the ties I never wear.
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#minimalism #minimalist #springcleaning #declutter #declutteryourlife #day7 -
Got an upcoming move planned? Are you dreading it? Check out my latest blog post. Link in my bio.
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#minimalism #moving #growing #pdx #packing #uhaul #storage #clutter #declutter #minimalist
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On Moving
Since 2013 I have lived in seven different places. You’d think with all of that experience that I’d have moving down to a science. But every time, without fail, I’d view the experience of packing with such dread that I’d procrastinate until the very last minute. I’d putz around, packing some things away, but I’d easily get distracted by some sentimental item I would come across and ponder it for awhile, or I’d just get frustrated and look around and think, “how did I get so much crap?” Usually on the last weekend of my lease I’d end up in a mad scramble, throwing everything that was left in the apartment into boxes, completely unorganized. It was chaos.
In July of 2016, I purchased my first home and moved out of the 500 sq. ft. apartment I was renting in downtown Portland. I wish I could say it was a different experience moving out of my apartment, but it wasn’t. What was different, however, was how I decided to move into my house.
My friend Justin came down from Seattle to help me move, but instead of dragging everything into the house immediately, I only brought in the essentials. What little furniture I had, some of my clothes, toiletries, and kitchenware. Over the course of the next six months, I brought things in from the garage as I needed them. I left the boxes open and just periodically took from them the items that proved to be the most useful. Sure, it was a little messy in the garage at times. A mouse even ate my favorite suit. But it became apparent pretty quickly what things were bringing the most value to my life and those that were just dead weight.
For the last several months, I have been ridding the garage of the stuff I haven’t been using. Donating things that others might find useful, recycling what I can, and trashing the rest. It’s been really challenging at times because I didn’t fully realize how much of the clutter was due to how attached I’m capable of becoming to things, even if I haven’t really used or needed them in a really long time. Those items that remain are mostly sentimental, but what I have left seems really manageable. I think I will be mostly done by the end of this month.
I’m also starting to feel my outlook changing whenever I’m deciding whether or not to buy something new. I didn’t get myself into a cluttered situation overnight. It took years and years of unchecked accumulation to get there. But the last thing I want to do is start the whole process over again.
I’m considering getting rid of my Amazon Prime account because I’m just not ordering much these days to even make the $10.99/mo for free shipping worth it anymore. And when I’m at a store, I find myself seriously questioning the purchases I make, and being more intentional about what I bring into my space. The first thing I ask myself is whether or not the thing I’m looking at is a want or a need. If it is a need, the second question is usually, “how much useful life am I going to get out of this thing?”
I probably won’t be moving again for a long time, and it’s a little bit ironic that it took putting down some roots in a larger space to finally declutter. But I have to say, it’s been really freeing, and I can feel my stress level decrease just a little bit more every time I take the donation box down to the second hand store.
If you find yourself getting stressed out thinking about an upcoming move, I challenge you not to move out the way I did. Look around and take an honest inventory of what things you are getting regular use out of and those things that aren’t bringing you as much value anymore. I bet if you lighten your load, the move won’t be nearly as bad. It will just feel better, because being lighter feels good.
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Why Paying Off All of Your Student Debt is Not Always a Good Thing
On their very popular podcast, the Minimalists recently posted an episode on debt. Generally I think the ideas they espouse are really good, and I’ve learned a lot of helpful tips from them. In a country where far too many people live in excess, the Minimalists provide a road map for people interested in living happier lives with less.
However, for those who enjoy their podcast as much as I do, you may have been as disappointed as I am with some of their views on debt. Ryan Nicodemus sort of takes a back seat on this topic, and actually seems more reasonable than Joshua Fields Millburn, suggesting that debt can be used responsibly if necessary. In this episode, Ryan’s view is to take on as little debt as you can and pay it off as quickly as possible. Josh, on the other hand, takes an extreme stance that any and all debt is bad — and that the only option is to pay it off immediately — even at the expense of your sanity, precious time, or opportunity costs.
My suggestion is to not be too hard on yourself if you have certain kinds of debt. Obviously, take an honest assessment of your individual situation and use your gut. If you want to get on a path to freedom from debt, talk to a financial advisor or a friend who is good with their finances if you don’t have the skills yourself. In most cases, the quick payoff is the smartest way to go.
I won’t go into depth on the Minimalists’ ideas about financing your education. Sure, in a perfect world, no one would graduate with any debt for trying to better themselves with higher education. The system is naturally flawed. But just because you did not plan on becoming a doctor or lawyer doesn’t mean that it was a bad decision to take on student debt to get ahead and give you leverage to follow your passion. Sure, there are arguments for not getting a degree in certain situations. Sometimes you can work your ass of for a decade, proving yourself over and over again before finally (maybe) winning the lottery for that job of your dreams. But for the vast majority of us, that just isn’t an option. Getting a degree is the quickest path to success.
The long-term earning potential for a college graduate far outweighs the costs over a lifetime. Someone who holds a bachelor’s degree earns almost double that of someone with a high school diploma, on average. Should you minimize the debt you take on? Absolutely. Schools should also do a better job to help students understand the long-term implications of taking on student debt so that a financed summer in Italy or spring break in Cabo just don’t look so compelling to an 18 year old.
In the Minimalists’ episode on debt, one caller posed a question via voicemail. She took on $70,000 in debt to go to graduate school and now works for a nonprofit. She is part of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, and her question for Josh and Ryan was whether or not she should just pay it all off as quickly as possible or put in the 10 years in public service required of the program and have the remaining debt be forgiven? At first, Ryan started by saying that those programs are there for a reason, but Josh quickly responded that she should just “pay it off as soon as possible.”
This is where I wholeheartedly disagree. Because of math. Let’s begin with the fact that there is no way for her to erase her decision to take on this debt. Even in bankruptcy, student loans do not go away. However, by working in a public service field, she has the opportunity to have some of her debt forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program through the U.S. Department of Education. Under this program, if you do not make a lot of money (a meaningful career in public service — go figure), you can get on an Income-Driven Repayment Plan. These programs can limit your student loan payments to 10% of your discretionary income, as defined by the amount you make over a certain percentage of the national poverty line. If your loans are big enough, you may not pay even the interest on that loan. I know that sounds scary, but hear me out. After 10 years of payments in a public service job, the remainder of your loan is forgiven. And guess what else? All of that interest that you pay? It’s a tax write-off (up to $2500/yr). Depending on your income, you could get a pretty substantial percentage of your payments back at the end of each tax year.
Below I run a few basic repayment scenarios outlining why JFM’s advice is not only financially bad, but why, in my opinion, it is counter intuitive to a minimalist lifestyle.
Bear with me while we look at some repayment examples.
Scenario 1 — Normal Payment Plan:
$70,000, 7.5%, minimum payment ($517.29) @ 25 years (normal gov’t pmt plan) = $155,188.15 paid in both principal and interest.
Scenario 2 —Pay Off ASAP (assumes double payments):
$70,000, 7.5%, double payments ($1034.58) @ 7 years 5 months = $91,277 paid in both principal and interest.
Scenario 3 — The PSLF Program:
$70,000, 7.5%, income based repayment plan ($400 @ 2% increases annually due to income growth) = $52,558 repaid (the rest forgiven).
Potential savings on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program as compared to the double payment scenario is $38,719. And that doesn’t even include the tax benefits of up to $2500/yr.
This is no small sum. Think of all of the things you could do with that money, not least of which would be saving for retirement.
With a conservative hourly wage at a nonprofit earning $20/hr is $31,200/year after taxes, or $2,600 per month. Double student loan payments would be almost 50% of their income for 7.5 years. We in the affordable housing realm have a name for paying 50% of your income on anything: poverty.
If she paid the recommended 30% of her income on housing, which is nearly impossible these days with the way that rent is going up, she would be left with about $600-700 per month for ALL of the rest of her needs for seven and a half years. That’s less than what the average person living on social security and living in public housing makes.
I can all but guarantee that if she takes their advice that she is going to have the most miserable seven and half years of her life scrimping and budgeting, all while she was trying to have a better life by going to college, not a worse one.
The opportunity costs, wasted time, wasted money, and lower quality of life all to repay something that would be forgiven anyway just does not compute for me. We can debate whether or not it was a good idea to get into this much debt in the first place, but the ideas presented on the program represent unsound financial advice.
I’m looking for durable product recommendations to include in a list I’m curating called The Sturdy Thirty. It could be practically anything you’ve found a lot of value in. Shoot me a line if you have one and follow me at @asturdylife! #thesturdythirty #minimalism
The Sturdy Thirty
In the coming weeks, I’ll start curating a list I’m calling the Sturdy Thirty. You can find the link in the upper right-hand corner of this page. The intent is to provide 30 recommendations for high quality, durable goods that I, and others, have found useful. Other times, I may not recommend a product at all, but instead an experience or life tip or creative work that I’ve found useful or beautiful and would like to share. Why 30? Well, because it rhymes with ‘sturdy’ and it seems like a manageable number to maintain. Keepin’ it simple.
I want to own and buy less stuff and experience as much as I can and I know there are a lot of people out there who share these same values. Whether the intent is to be better stewards of the environment, to save money, or just simplify or enrich your existence, I hope the list will be of value to you. When recommending products, I will try to take into consideration where and how it is made or manufactured.
But I’m only one person and I want the list to be updated regularly. If you have suggestions that you’d like me to consider, please send them my way! Sharing is caring.
I’m starting a new project called A Sturdy Life. If interested, you can find the link in my bio. Ain’t much there yet, but bookmark if you wish..
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#minimalism #intentionalliving #minimalist #architecture #urbanism #placemaking #urbanplanning #life #pdx #asturdylife #growth
This week marks 3 months without cigarettes and I ran almost 3 miles before 7 am. Quick, someone check my temperature.
I love this place. Feeling pretty special.
Daffodils and tulips coming up, and roses well on their way. Looking forward to painting this sucker because I’m having fun slowly transforming this former short sale shithole into something a bit nicer. #homeownership #oregon #pdx #sweatequity
Can’t help but smile at the Dual Hearted IPA by @fallingskybrew. I wonder if @bellsbrewery has any thoughts on this?!? #pdx #craftbrew #beer #twohearted
Pawsing for a photo. .
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#puppy #puppies #puppiesofinstagram #goldendoodle #goldendoodlesofinstagram #pdx #doodle #cute
I’m home sick today, bitches.
Ready for my girls to come home after a long weekend in Cali. I feel like a rudderless ship when left to my own devices. I just go from task to task to distract myself.
Quasi
All in all, a great birthday weekend. No huge plans made, but lots of time with both my girls, working on the house, good food, and a beer or two. Here’s to a year full of growth, a heart full of love and appreciation, and a promise to invest in those who who have invested in me.
Epic.
Lunchtime meanderings.
I swear to god, she is just staring at herself.
My prescription for stress relief.
