Frugal Future

Joseph Fonseca lives on $20,000 a year:

http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-113623-11237-3-the-secret-to-living-well-on-20000-a-year?hp=true?ywaad=ad0035&nc

http://www.washingtonpost.com/itinerate-writer-talks-of-living-and-dreaming-on-20000-a-year/2011/09/26/gIQAzdi8CL_story.html

But there's more. Glenn Morrissette lives on $11,000, eats good food, and lives in a camper:

http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-113691-11403-3-true-story-living-well-on-11000-a-year

This guy lives on $7,000 a year:

http://earlyretirementextreme.com/how-i-live-on-7000-per-year.html

and, of course, Mark Boyle lived on $0.00 a year, and wrote a book about it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2009/oct/28/live-without-money

Mark's blog:

http://www.justfortheloveofit.org/blog

I postponed posting these for a while, thinking on what I wanted to say about them. I'm posting them anyway, despite the fact that I still don't know what to say about them. I guess I'll put forward a few comments:

1.) These men's stories are very similar to my own in certain ways, different in others.

2.) Coping with lonliness is, in my opinion, the most difficult part of these lifestyles. Notice they are all single men (as am I).

3.) I find it ironic that conservatives always criticize the poor for not living within their means, but when the population really does live within their means (i.e. spend based on their [falling]salaries and without credit), the economy plummets. Then the poor are criticised for not spending.

Anyway, a couple of related links:

Materialism Kills Marriages, Study Finds

In a survey of 1,700 married couples, researchers found that couples in which one or both partners placed a high priority on getting or spending money were much less likely to have satisfying and stable marriages.

"Our study found that materialism was associated with spouses having lower levels of responsiveness and less emotional maturity. Materialism was also linked to less effective communication, higher levels of negative conflict, lower relationship satisfaction, and less marriage stability," said Jason Carroll, a BYU professor of family life in Provo, Utah, and lead author of the study.

Researchers gauged materialism using self-report surveys that asked questions such as to what extent do you agree with these statements? "I like to own things to impress people" or "money can buy happiness." Spouses were then surveyed on aspects of their marriage.

Materialistic people liked less by peers than 'experiential' people, study says

People who pursue happiness through material possessions are liked less by their peers than people who pursue happiness through life experiences, according to a new study led by University of Colorado at Boulder psychology Professor Leaf Van Boven.

P.S. I wish I was named "Leaf"