As I was finishing writing this post, I saw that it may seem that I think that I am better than other people. That is not what I mean to do. What I am saying is that I have decided to live differently than most people choose to live.
I walk across the parking lot and there are pennies, nickels and dimes all over. Not even the kids will pick them up. When I was a kid that small change would buy something. I even find quarters in parking lots. When I was young 20 cents would buy a pack of cigarettes, now a pack can be as high as 4 dollars or more. I worked different jobs for a dollar an hour, now 15 dollars an hour won’t support a single person. I remember thinking if I could make a hundred dollars a week I could afford a wife, a nice car and buy a house (which was possible then). Now no one could afford to live on a hundred dollars a week now.
When I enlisted in the navy, I was making $70 a month, but my food and lodging was provided, so I had a few extra dollars to use as I pleased. I didn’t have anything but my uniforms and they all fit in my seabag, so life was simple. I loved my job. How many people today can say that?
These days everyone has a cellular phone (including me) and they use them all day long. Everyone has at least 2 TV sets. I didn't have 1 for several years. I do have 2 at the moment. Everyone has a closet full of clothes. I have 5 sets of clothes and I purged the rest of them. Every family has at least 2 vehicles. I have one and I am debating how long I want that with insurance, maintenance and licensing. It may be less expensive to call a cab to get me where I can’t simply walk to. Most families have so much stuff they can’t park their cars in their garages and they (something like 80% of families) have a storage unit that costs them money every month to house things they don't use. Most people pay for streaming services (me included) that can cost them well over a hundred dollars a month. I have one that costs me $12 and sometimes 2. The second one is also $12 a month.
When Joyce passed away, I started purging a lot of things that I would never use. We had at least 2 of everything because she cooked so much. We had enough canned goods to last a month without buying anything from a grocery store. That was when I began my minimalist style of living. It was easy at first, but now it has become more difficult for me. I know I have more than I need, but I find it hard to shed the extra things. If or when I ever move, I would want a place that doesn’t remind me of Joyce every day and how much I’ve lost not having her in my life. I would like to sell everything but my clothes and start a new life, only keeping what I need to live, whatever that may be. I’m living alone like a monk, but my monastery is overcrowded with more than I need to live.
No comments:
Post a Comment