The link between Salary and Importance.
When looking for a job, I will always check the salary range first. If there is no salary range, I’ll not even open the job description. Why waste time on a company that clearly has no intention of being upfront and open with me? Why waste my time on a job that probably pays poorly?
The other day I overheard a conversation at work. We are hiring and need to draw up some job advertisements. A consultant was hired to help us think about nice job descriptions and the feeling we want to get across to a potential candidate. To people who have a real job, all this talk about getting the feeling across and job descriptions sounds like a lot of hog wash. Just tell people what you will pay and what you want from them, and of course, if salary alone isn’t justifying somebody’s input alone, tell them about the free fruit and high-quality coffee for example.
When I mentioned this to a friend, I told him I could never do such a silly thing as that consultant was doing. I could never sit at a table and talk for two hours with a straight face about how a job description should make somebody feel. Unless it paid a lot. I mean a lot a lot. If it really paid buckets of money, I could probably silence that voice inside that told me I wasn’t adding value to humanity, or making the world more beautiful, or even helping a company make next quarters numbers look better.
And then something clicked for me.
Something I’ve been wondering about for a long time. Why do the most bullshitish jobs pay the best? It’s because they must! How else can anybody be convinced to come and do the work that they, their family and friends and all their colleagues know is nonsense? They can only be persuaded to do the useless work if, and only if their inner voice is silenced by lots of money.
The lesson here? Next time you meet a consultant, don’t look down on them for doing nonsense work.
A little sidetrack here: how can you spot workers who add no value to the world? It’s simple really, once you realize they get paid the highest salaries. They will look the part. Their car will be unnecessarily bulky and shiny and so will their clothes. They must compensate for so much, after all.
So, when you are forced to interact with them, don’t make them feel bad. If they want to talk about how to increase shareholder value, just give them your list of 13 things you think the company can save money and time on and tell them to read through it and only come back with questions. This way they can feel important (they have something of substance to read) and your valuable time is saved. If they are paid enough (if their inner voice is silenced) they might even use your list and claim it as their own.
That a win-win. Your time isn’t wasted and maybe your company will also prosper more, because bosses tend to listen to highly paid consultants, at least as long as they are within eyesight.
If you aren’t sure if this article is very serious advice, or a sarcastic piece of inner life of a desk jock, then my point came across well enough. We live in a deeply sinical world. If we take ourselves too seriously or see our jobs as important, our mental health will suffer.
Also, if anybody wants to hire me as a public speaker, it’s just € 200 per hour plus travel expenses.
Identifying and cutting down on ‘hidden costs’
A good way to live on a small budget is by not spending money on crud — me, 2023.
I always feel a bit sad when I hear friends and co-workers moan about their need to work full time to just afford a living, while at the same time I see them spend money like it is water, and they don’t even seem to notice. 💦💦
For example:
Preparing a lunch at home instead of buying on-the-go. If you simply buy a loaf of bread and take 4 slices out of the freezer every morning and put let’s say Salmon on your bread, then you can eat 5 days a week for €8, that’s €1.6 per day. And you are eating fresh bread with Salmon, a meal of kings. I’ve we had to buy the same meal in a store we would pay about €5 per day, so that’s €25 for a week vs. €8. €17 saved in one week is €884 per year. 🥪
Commuting by bike instead of by car. This, of course, only works if you live on a biking distance from your workplace. But why on earth would you seek employment further away? Instead of spending time lucked up in a tiny fish tin (a car) you get to spend time outside in the (hopefully) fresh air while doing a little healthy and light exercise as a bonus. Moreover, ever seen bikes in a long queue? Exactly, chances are you’ll save time on your commute as well as fuel. Say that you live 15 km from work, so back and forth is 30 km per day or 150 km per week, or 650 km per month. That is a full tank of gas, or about €125 per month, spent on a commute that could be virtually free. I bought my bike for €50 nine years ago, and it still works with only once needing maintenance, and that was for about €25. So €125 per month or €1500 per year saved, while also getting in better shape… not bad eh? 🚲
Get a sim-only plan instead of one where a phone is included. There are scarcely any people who need to replace their phone every two years, and yet that is what most phone plans will force you into. This is a waste of money and the environment. So instead of paying €30 per month for a plan you don’t need, you could probably do with one that costs €5 to €10. Therefore, that’s another €20 per month or €240 per year saved. 📴
Bonus. Don’t buy gadgets, or, when you do, be realistic in what you need. Our sister blog “Jan’s Tech Talk” has a great post about buying a new iPhone on a budget, you can read it here: iphones-have-been-getting-cheaper. 📲
Did you notice that all these saving tips have a few things in common?
- You need to think ahead, like, go shopping and have food in your house, instead of thinking only about food when you start to feel peckish. 🤨
- You need to be willing to endure some minor physical discomforts. Biking is fun, except when it stops being fun in the sweltering summer heat or freezing winter cold. 🚶
- You need to be aware of needs and wants. Yes, I’ve had an unlimited data plan on my phone too, and yes, like you, I never burned more than 10 GB per month either, so why on earth did I pay for it? 🙅
Those three simple ways to save a bit put together meant we saved €2624 per year.
I don’t have grant theories or big plans that I work towards here. I just want to show you that with a little thinking ahead and making conscience choices, you too can live on a much smaller budget and save much more money. Not because it’s useful to just have more money on the bank, but because now you can spend it on the people and experiences that really matter to you.
It’s not about saving money, it’s about not having to spend at all.
Boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead… only try to realize the truth. Neo: What truth? Boy: There is no spoon.
Wearing something new gets old quickly 💃
We all need to cover our naked bodies, as much for our sake as for the mental well-being of the rest of mankind. And yes, wearing a new apparel for the first few times ✨feels like magic✨. Everybody stares jealously at you. Your boss takes you more serious, maybe now that you are wearing those new shoes you’ll even get that long wanted pay raise?
And then, slowly and imperceptibly, that newness, that cozy feeling when you look at your attire, fades away. Your outfit becomes once again what is always was to begin with: a thin layer between you and the outside world.
The sooner we realize that spending money on clothing, like spending money on so many other kinds of stuff at best a necessity and at worst a waste of money, the better of we will be financially.
Spending too little on clothing? 👎
As we just saw, spending too much money on clothing is generally a bad idea. But we all do require some attire. So, how can a independently poor person dress up as the trans-financial (rich person born in a poor person’s body), and look the part? Moreover, is there such a thing as spending too little on clothing? According to Vimes, there is:
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. … A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was written in 1993, a time when $50 could still get you a high-quality pair of boots. But, is the general gist of this story true? Was it ever so?
In my humble experience, it depends. Socks and underwear can last 1–3 years, pants and shirts 5–10 years and coats endure up to 15 years.
Say, I spend ± €400 on a nice coat. That sounds like an awful lot of money. And it is. But what if this delightful high-quality coat (it should be high quality for this trick to work) holds out for about 15 years, then, really, I’ve only paid €27 per year for it!
My point is this: it’s better to buy fewer pieces of attire but of a generally better quality then the fast-fashion peddlers would like us to. As is so often the case, the capitalists of this world are not working in the best interest of you and me, the hardworking proletariat that this society is truly built on. We must resist the temptations of advertisement and throw off the burden of “fashion trends.”
So, expensive is better? 🎩
No. Some brands are costly because they must spend truckloads on marketing. This does not guarantee their quality. It just guarantees that you are paying too much. In our minds, some brands have comparable quality and price, but this isn’t necessarily so.
For example, both Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger have similar prices for comparable garments. But from my experience, I know that the colors in my Hilfiger pants fade out after only one year of wearing them, whereas my Lauren’s still look good after three years. The same goes for Levi’s vs. Superdry: both have nice t-shirts, but my Levi’s shirts have holes in them a lot faster than the Superdry’s. And so on. Find out for yourself which brands last the longest.
Are we there yet? 🚌
No. So far, we have seen that buying fewer cloths and buying quality stuff is a good idea. But we still need to do this on a restricted budget, after all, this is what separates us independently poor, from the poor plebeian classes who simply spend all their disposable income on, let’s face it, colored pieces of cotton.
How to dress for less? 👍
Now that we have established that we should look for high quality and aim to buy less in general, we can truly get started on our shopping spree.
The best time to buy any apparel at all is before you need it. Why? Because when you do need it, you are likely to rush into a decision based on an urgent need instead of a cool and detached vantage point. Imagine it’s the time of the year that all clothing stores put up big “sales” signs. It’s a good exercise to ask yourself 1. What do I require? 2. what is on my nice-to-have-if-cheap-enough list? Only when both answers are sharply in focus, you can go shopping.
But what if the sales-season is months away, and you require something sooner? Or better yet: you are thinking ahead and want to buy something before you’ll need it?
First grade, but second hand 🔄
- Some platforms allow users to sell second hand clothing, like Vinted
- Sellpy goes one step further by enforcing quality pictures and a realistic description of size and wear-and-tear.
- Other platforms and shops no doubt exist near you. Since marketing budgets are naturally limited, you might have to go out and look a bit harder than usually for them.
Now that all is said and done…
An independently poor person isn’t too concerned with “stuff”, be it shoes, clothes, apparels, or other kinds of things. Instead of always pondering what to buy and wear next, we can enjoy the better things in life, like spending time with friends ⛹️♂️🤽♂️ or in nature.⛄️
If we do need to buy something, we try to spend as little as possible on the most enduring and high quality we can find.
Still having trouble making sound choices? The article How Can I Improve My Wardrobe? maybe of further assistance.
About cars 🚗
No, not the Disney movie from 2006, although I can recommend that one. But the question we will answer is: can you live on a tight budget and still drive and own a car?
Should I get a driver’s license?
Most people will during their younger years get their driver’s license. It makes perfect sense. From your 20th till your 80th, there will doubtlessly be moments where having your license is helpful. But won’t self-driving cars become a reality? Good question. As a kid, I would read books, that were published in the 1970s and 1980s and that predicted self-driving and self-flying cars by the year 2000.
But, since our frakking with progress (I will write a separate article about all the things that went horribly wrong since 1914 and quickened since 1971) has stalled the development of self-driving cars, it seems reasonable to say that for the next decade or two you can still get a Return Of Investment from a license.
There are some cautions, however. Getting a license will cost you roughly €2000-€3000. That might be 1/6 (2 months) of salary. This is the kind of expense that you can only take on when you are young, living rent-free at your parent’s place, and have a job or substantial savings.
I think that overall, it is a good investment to get your driver’s license, even if in the end you’ll end up mostly going places on foot, by bike or on public transport. Why? Because part of the process of getting your license is also learning the local traffic and road laws. Even while riding a bike, knowing the laws that the surrounding cars should abide by, is very useful and might one day even be lifesaving.
Should I drive a car?
I, personally, love driving, especially when there are not too many other cars around.
I’ve enjoyed driving through the Canadian Rocky Mountains ️ to the National parks in Banff and Jasper, onwards to Whistler, and all the way to Tofino on Vancouver Island. Likewise, I’ve made road trips, both in my car and in rental cars, all over Europe, from the Azores Island to the Croatian Plitvice Lakes National Park . And recently, I got to enjoy the long and winding scenic seaside road Highway 1 in California, between San Francisco (what a lovely city) into to Los Angeles (what a crowded pump). ️
Once upon a time I owned a classic American car, an Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royal Brougham with a Buick V6 4.8 Liter engine, thanks for asking . I know my fellow European readers will drool, and my American readers will laugh at this car. In the USA it’s an “old ladies’” car and in Europe is a “classic American” car, but I digress.
So, I love driving a nice car and I love the experience of going places in style.
Should I own a car?
Having said all that, I am not convinced that people really need to own and drive a car all that often. And if you only rarely drive a car, then it’s probably a waste of money to own a car that’s mostly standing still anyway.
This is not just an economic sum, but more a lifestyle. The question “do I need a car” might depend on where you live and how long your commute to work is. I would always recommend getting a job near your house. That way, you don’t waste precious time and money on commuting.
I get that many American cities are simply built on the assumption that all people will have a car, but many older (European) cities will be more pedestrian and bike friendly. So, I’m referring here to the situation in many countries, big cities, and city-states nowadays:
Public transport is good and cheap.
Going anywhere on bike is fast, probably just as fast if not faster than by car.
Walking might be practical, enjoyable, and is in any case very cheap.
My personal situation is that I can walk to work in about an hour. It’s a boring road, however, and it would mean that I “waste” two hours a day on commuting. So instead, I go on bike, which costs me ± 35 minutes per workday. Yes, you read that correctly. My total commute, from house to work and back home, is only 35 minutes.
What I hope to make clear to you, dear reader, is that choosing a simple lifestyle with a simple job, opens new possibilities. You see, having a part-time job near your home means that you don’t waste much time on it. Instead, you can focus much more time on what makes you happy and thrive. Walking, for example, is very healthy for the mind and body, but hastily walking to work through a boring economic zone isn’t all that much fun.
What does a car cost?
Let us do some ✨math✨ to figure out what a car costs on a yearly basis. Only when we know all the costs can we quantify if it’s worth it.
I will necessarily use rough and round numbers, everybody’s home country and situation are different.
Let’s assume:
That you work close to home but still drive occasionally. You drive roughly 8000 kilometers or 5000 miles per year.
You don’t have children, and you are not disabled, so driving is a luxury and not a necessity. Therefore, the kind of car you would drive is not very relevant. Anything will do.
situation 1: Buying a small, efficient new car
I once bought a new car, almost the smallest Toyota existing, an Aygo.
It cost me €10.500 in early 2012. The same car now costs €15.000. I drove that car exactly 9 years and then sold it for €5.000. A side note on selling cars: be careful. Read this post, then come back here. Hello again, let’s continue. So, without counting insurance, taxes, fuel, or repairs and maintenance, what did it cost me? €10.500 - €5.000 = €5.500 in 9 years time. That is €611 per year or €51 per month.
Taxes, when the tax-free period expired, were roughly €28 per month.
Insurance began expensive but got gradually cheaper over time. Let’s say it was over these 9 years, roughly €35 per month as well.
All these costs, the depreciation, taxes, and insurance are a total of €114 per month, and we haven’t even moved yet.
Fuel consumption of this car is about 20 km/liter of fuel. And with a fuel price of on average €1.70 over the last 9 years, it would have cost me 8000/20×1.70 = €680 per year or, €57 per month.
Maintenance and repairs are another part of the budget we should not forget. After all, you just bought a new car, and you want to take good care of it, no? So, in the 9 years that I owned that car, I spent about €2.850 (actually more, but I also drove more kilometers, so I try to discount that). That is, 2850/9/12 = €27 per month on maintenance.
Now we know the total cost of a new, tiny and cheap car per month:
Price: €51
Taxes: €28
Insurance: €35
Fuel: €57
Maintenance: €27.
Total: €198 per month or €2.376 per year.
If you are wondering how I know what something cost more than a decade ago (I’ve sold this car two years ago), it’s because I logged every expense in a very neat app called “Road Trip.” I think it is worth the $7 that Darren asks for it.
situation 2: Buying a big gas guzzling used car
As I mentioned already, I sold my Aygo two years ago. But basically, I just swapped it for another car, a Toyota RAV4 this time.
It cost me €5000 in early 2021. I’ve been driving it for two and a half years now. So, if we divide the purchasing price by 30 months, it cost me €167 per month. Assuming that I will drive this car for 4 more years, that would be €65 per month. I know that is a big if. The car is old already, but on the other side, it’s a Toyota, so it will never really break down, just grow more boring to me until I want to get rid of it.
Taxes are now €52 per month because this car is bigger and heavier.
Insurance is cheaper because it’s an old car and I only insure it for damage to others. If I wreck it, then I’ll get €0 from the insurance company. It now costs €31 per month.
All these costs, the depreciation, taxes, and insurance are a total of €148 per month, and again, I haven’t even moved yet.
Fuel consumption of this car is about 10 km/liter of fuel. And with a fuel price of on average €1.90 over the previous 2 years and with 4 more to come, it will cost me 8000/10×1.90 = €1520 per year or, €126 per month.
Maintenance and repairs are a bit tricky on an old car. I spent another €2.500 after buying this old car because apparently the previous owners hadn’t made these expenses. I can’t project these costs forward because I’ve got no idea what will break down tomorrow. Let’s assume the next 4 years will be another conservative €250 a year. So, a total of 6,5 years of driving this car will have cost €3.500 or 3500/78 = €44 per month.
Now we know the total cost of an old, big and gas guzzling car per month:
Price: €65
Taxes: €52
Insurance: €31
Fuel: €126
Maintenance: €44.
Total: €318 per month or €3.816 per year.
Now what?
Seeing that a car costs anywhere between €200-€315 per month means that if I didn’t drive this car, I could work a few days per month less.
But is that really so? A car is more than a stupid status symbol. For me, it’s also a way to get places. Will I lose the will and, don’t pardon me this pun, the drive, to go places and do stuff?
Transportation that is further away than what’s reasonably doable by foot or on bike will always cost you some money (I’ve bought a bike 9 years ago for €50 and had zero costs since). Taking the bus or metro in a city will most likely be quite cheap, taking the train or plane to go further will be pricier.
So, being honest to ourselves and admitting that anything bigger than a Toyota Aygo, a Kia Picanto or a Suzuki Alto is a luxury, is our first step to financial nirvana. How much does that luxury costs? Well, in the ✨math✨ that we just did, we saw that 315-200 = €115 per month.
€115 per month, for driving a 4×4 big car that fits almost my entire ego inside. That’s not such a bad deal, is it?
June 10, 2023 car driving freedom how to choose budgeting 1914 1971
How to have fun on your own, on a budget? Books.
A pitfall for many is thinking that living on less money means automatically, having less fun. This, off course, is bullocks.
What gives a human being the most pleasure? Sure, pretty beached with palm trees and white sand can be very beautiful, but it’s my firm conviction that the best things in life are almost free.
One of the very cheap things that I like to do is read and listen to audio books. Here are some tips for you on how to fill many hours in a pleasurable way, on a budget.
Books I’ve read (and enjoyed) lately.
This book review is a bit different from my previous ones. You see, I signed up for a paid account at Audible, a service with a gigantic catalog of audiobooks.
So, instead of trying to read a book while lying in bed, waiting for that dreaded moment that I will blissfully doze off and nanoseconds later wake up with a painful nose because my Kindle (2019 model) landed on my face, I now just lie in bed, waiting for sleep to come and take me, while I… while away, listening to the soothing voice of the likes of Michael Lewis or John Lee.
About Audible
When I signed up for Audible, I didn’t fully understand how the subscription plan works. I assumed that as soon as I subscribed, I would have unlimited access to all audiobooks. This is not the case.
Basically, every month, a subscriber receives 1 credit. All the books I’ve looked at until now have wildly varying prices, but all cost 1 credit each in Audible. Which I like because having to consider the exact price would defer me from listening to a book, or it would make me think “more expensive = better”, which is a silly thought.
So, every month I receive 1 credit that I can spend to buy one audiobook. Even if I cancel my subscription, the book stays on my shelve in the Audible app. That is, for now, of course, until Jeff Bezos chances his mind.
But as an active subscriber, I also have unlimited access to other books in the “Plus Catalog.”
And so, it happened that the very first book that I listed to didn’t cost me one credit at all.
As always, I try not to give any spoilers while still giving you a feel for the story.
April: Playing to Win by Michael Lewis.
Also Narrated by Michael Lewis, which is good because he has a pleasant voice. This little Also narrated by Michael Lewis, which is good because he has a pleasant voice. This little booklet describes how he (used) to travel all over the USA, almost every weekend, to accompany one of his daughters on training sessions and matches of women’s softball.
He realizes that although very few of these girls, his daughters, and the daughters of thousands of other families, make it into semi- or professional softball, the true money is made by the teams and various leagues that organize these matches. The youth sports industrial complex is a multi-billion dollar market and countless parents are sucked and suckered into it, thinking they are doing their kids a favor.
A little sad to think about, isn’t it? Moreover, this is just softball, but I’ve been told there are other sports out there that people throw money into as well.
- $12.07 / £ 12.07 Recommend 3.5/5, it could have been more understandable for the uninitiated if more jargon had been explain.
April: Pushing ice by Alastair Reynolds
This sci-fi book takes place some decades into the future. This means that human technology is more advanced but very recognizable. Long story short: the crew of the Rockhopper under captain Bella Lind are capturing ice-comets to push them into earth orbit. If you ask me, that is a very uneconomical way to get clean water to earth, but whatever.
At some point, the crew is asked to fly to Janus, one of the moons of Saturn, because this moon by has started to move away from Saturn. Not only is it moving away, it’s speeding up, which is a clear indication that it is not a moon at all but a very ancient spaceship covered in a layer of ice.
The book mostly focuses on the crew, how to deal with living so isolated, away from humanity. And what do you do if you have an opportunity to get wealthy but also have a very slim chance of reaching earth and spending your hard-earned money? Give it to your family? Ignore the fortune you made? Get mad?
I noticed that some people were a bit ‘salty’ about this book, maybe because it focuses more on humans and less on big alien spaceships than Reynold’s usual readers had hoped? I liked this book and would recommend it.
- $16.99 / £2.82 / € 6.49. Recommend 3.5/5. If the storyline had focussed a bit more on the alien contacts and a little less on the interpersonal troubles, I would havel liked it even more.
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What is Independently Poor?
Words have power.
You might have heard that someone, maybe a bit smugly, mentioned that he is “independently wealthy” or “independently rich.”
This is a way of saying said person doesn’t need a job to earn money, they have enough money to live off. Possibly from an inheritance, a past job, or winning the lottery.
Being independently poor is my philosophy that you can live almost as free and wild and spirited and worry-free, but without having the big stash of money tucked away somewhere.
I call this ✨independently poor✨
An anti-FIRE manifest
You might have heard from FIRE. It stands for Financially Independent, Retired Early. It’s a snobbish way of saying you started working at Google or Microsoft as a highly-sought-after (read: overpaid) programmer.
And it’s a way of saying you raked in at least $100.000 per year while living rent-free in your parents basement without a social life (read: without big spendings) and without anything in life worth spending money on.
The Independently Poor lifestyle is quite different, and more attainable to normal people from all walks of life.
To explain how one can live a full life on modest means I’ve decided to keep this blog and share my tips and tricks with you, dear sweet reader.
We will have a blast!