As I go back my past posts, I've come to see that my posts have become heavily lopsided towards a freegan lifestyle.
And I think maybe some readers will think it's hard to relate to such a lifestyle...
Similarly, on my side... I'm starting to be unable to relate to a normal lifestyle. The feeling is just so weird.
I think... it's like.
How do you think an MP is able to relate to someone earning $2000 per month? When an MP earns so much more?
If I earn $2000 per month, can I relate to someone earning $10,000 per month?
The person earning $2000 would just think, "Oh it would be so nice to earn $10,000 per month."
But there are other issues that come along with earning $10,000 per month. Everyone has issues and worries, they just have different issues at different levels of income.
A business owner worries about paying rent, paying his workers, his business revenue. It's a different set of worries. Are we really able to easily relate to someone else who is significantly different from us?
A rich person may look at a lower income person and wonder... "why doesn't he find a better paying job? There are so many other jobs which pay more."
I think, at every stage/level, we have a certain amount of knowledge. Not the school kind of knowledge.
Rather, knowledge of the situation.
For instance, I was in the financial industry, so my knowledge is for a certain level of education and working hours and experience, someone can get X amount of pay.
Someone who is NOT from this industry would not know this information.
Or an experienced business owner would know where to get his supplies, where to rent and hire people and how to generate cashflow. He would likely take it for granted that his knowledge which took years to obtain is very easy knowledge. But the truth is, it isn't.
So when we look at a lower income person and wonder... "why doesn't he find a better job..."
There are a few reasons. He might not know how, he might not know where. Also, he might not be willing to learn, or be willing to change.
Think that's unreasonable?
If you have a rich uncle. Asks you to start a business, he will just give you advice and ideas and teach you what to do, but you have to do everything, come up with the capital and run the whole business. He is rich and has experience in running a business so his words can somewhat be trusted.
Would you quit your job and start a business?
Are you willing to learn? Are you willing to change?
Is this not similar to the example above?
So for someone without the knowledge and experience it's hard for them to relate to someone with the knowledge.
Like someone of lower income cannot imagine the difficulties of the higher income.
Similarly, after gaining the knowledge, it becomes hard to imagine why someone would want to stay at a lower income. It becomes easy to say... "Just find a higher paying job lor..."
So I look at myself now... things have changed... drastically. I may not think it's much, but if I look from an outsider perspective, it is drastic.
Less than 6 months ago, I loved going into supermarkets to look at things and see what I can buy and cook and what would be nice to use for my home.
Now, when I go in, I look at the vegetables and I think, "But I can get those for free", or "I still have a lot in my fridge".
I walk past the meat section and think, "I can't afford to buy meat, if I buy meat, I can't eat what's already in my fridge"
I walk past other parts of the supermarket and think, "I can get those for free" or "I still have stocks of this at home, when they run low, I'll just use vouchers to buy them".
Basically, I have no more happiness when I walk through the aisles of a supermarket.
And I then wonder... WHY do people continue to be buying stuff???
It's the same as the examples above... "Why doesn't he find a higher paying job?"
Cos likely, the person doesn't KNOW where to find a higher paying job, or he may think that it will require a certain education level or certain levels of stress. So he cannot be bothered to even try.
And I look at my supermarket example and I wonder "Why do people still use money to buy groceries?"
(I understand not all groceries can be obtained for free on a regular basis, some can, some can't)
And the answer is the same... cos likely the person doesn't KNOW where to find free vegetables, or he may think that it will require certain changes, or that it's really difficult and a lot of effort will be required. So they cannot be bothered to try.
Even when I was a regular consumer and now that I've integrated certain freegan aspects to my life, I find it hard to relate BACK to a normal consumers' mentality.
The idea that you might be earning $2000 when you first started work, and maybe now, 10 years down, you are earning $7000, can you imagine what it felt like earning $2000 per month? Can you relate back to those good ol' days? Some can, most can't.
How can someone who loves their job relate to someone who has never been in a job that they like?
Vice versa, how can someone who has never loved their job, ever believe that loving your job is a possible thing?
But once they find a job that they love (IF they ever find it), then they wonder... what have they been doing their whole lives? Why doesn't more people look for jobs that they like? Why do people stay stuck in jobs that they don't like?
The thing is, once knowledge is gained, it's hard to look back at a point where the knowledge is unavailable.
It's a lot harder to imagine a lack of knowledge as compared to a lack of money. It's somewhat easier to imagine a lack of money.
So when I was a frugal consumer, my posts were somewhat about saving money with good deals and I was thinking, why don't people put in some effort to manage their credit cards, or bank balances properly.
But now, I'll call myself a freegan consumer, cos I still buy stuff, but as a freegan consumer, I now do posts about free stuff instead of deals... cos... cheap deals are just too expensive. Free is better. And it's really hard to relate back to talk about good deals. I mean... when Redmart used to offer me a 12% discount, I would stock up on canned food, some detergent, induce spending on some other stuff, etc...
It's not that I don't want to write about the old topics. There used to be so many things to talk about last time, credit card promos, bulk discounts, bank interest rates, where to get cheaper stuff, etc...
But now, I just can't talk about those.
Without sufficient spending, there are no credit card promos, no bonus interest rates.
Why talk about bulk discounts, or cheaper stuff when free is available?
The maths is very simple.
On a normal day, most people spend $3-$10 on food per meal. Assuming that they don't cook at home.
So a couple who doesn't cook should spend around $500 per month on basic food.
Then there's the usual utilities, telco bills.
And housing payments, insurance premiums, transport costs... all the other basic stuff.
Everything else is discretionary spending. Luxury food above $10 is considered discretionary spending.
We all know the basic formula...
Income - Expense = Savings + Investments
Something like this...
Now that I know that a bunch of basic necessities can be obtained for free, how can I talk about 20% discounts now?
There's all the stuff that CAN'T be obtained for free.
Insurance, utilities, telco bills, housing payments, etc...
(Ah great, I'll talk about reducing utility bills in my next post)
My handphone bill is a whopping $4 per month. So I can't really talk very much on reducing handphone costs.
Insurance and housing payments are pretty simple... change to a cheaper provider or find a lower bank loan interest rate.
Furthermore, as expense drops, I find that stress levels drop along with it.
But as income increases, I don't find that stress levels drop when that happen.
By right, if income increases by X amount, it should have the same effect on stress as a reduction of X amount in expenses.
And yet this is never the case.
Think about, the feeling if you receive an increment of $1000 over a time period.
So maybe you received $3000 per month and after a few years you now earn $4000.
Essentially, income increased by around $1000...
Compare this feeling versus... the feeling that you have finished paying your housing loan. A typical HDB housing loan has monthly payments of less than $1000 per person.
Do you feel less stress now that you have finished paying your housing loan?
Probably less...
But do you feel less stress when you earn $1000 more?
Probably not as much as if you paid off your housing loan.
So I love talking about expense reduction. It's highly controllable and results in a good reduction in stress levels.
Anyway, I digress...
The thing about it is... as things go along, I find it harder and harder to relate back to a normal consumer.
Regardless if it's a regular consumer or a frugal consumer.
It's really hard to think about a life when I have to go back to paying good money for some of the stuff that I get for free now.
Mainly I get food for free, but due to that, I now can reallocate resources (vouchers) to other things which I can't get for free. And since the vouchers are free anyway, that means I get the other stuff for free as well.
Anyway... next post on Monday will be about the top power guzzling appliances at home and their alternatives. So stay tuned.
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