rebecca's pocket

It truly goes to the fact that Americans like to live above their means and we could do with a lot less and have a lot more, but we live too much in the now.

I seem to remember reading an even older account which discussed some of the same issues. By a guy named Thoreau, I believe. Wonder what ever became of him?

I've been doing the equivalent of this for about three years. Initially, I cut my budget to barebones while I was in yoga school, but now simple living allows me to subsist on my income as a yoga teacher during the winter (and during the summer, I work as an office temp when the yoga work slows down). I've found it's possible to live a very 'rich' life on a low income. The only drawback I've discovered so far is that society's perception of my income is 'poverty' so it can make some things difficult. Apartment hunting in particular; landlords are skeptical about my income and ability to pay rent, even though I've been doing so faithfully for years. Still, I wouldn't change a thing! As I continue to build my 'yoga business,' I'll eventually come to the point that I will earn enough in the winter months to 'retire' in the summer.

Living beneath one's means is a tried-and-true practice, of course, but stepping out of the workforce for 6 months of every year is not really an option if one wants to maintain health care coverage these days.

Alas.

(Tying health insurance/health care to employment creates a huge mess, this is just part of the fallout...)