How to live a simple yet happy life is really up to each and everyone of us, and if that is the lifestyle you wish to live by. For many of people they wish to live high on the hog, as they say, but living this way and knowing you may not be able to afford this type of lifestyle, could very well put you in a financial situation that maybe very difficult to get out of. I know this because a time in my life I was in that same boat and was drowning in debt.
I wanted things and bought things that I thought I could afford, but knew deep down that I couldn't. This never stopped me from getting what I wanted. The banks make it so easy to get loans as long as you were willing to pay the high interest rates in which I didn't care about because I wanted what I wanted and never thought of the consequences to pay the loans back.
At that time I also had one other problem and that was, I was addicted to alcohol in which made me make poor decisions and made me think irrational.
When you make poor decisions in life they will indeed catch up to you and make your life very miserable because those thoughts and decisions you made before. These poor decisions need to be dealt with and corrected in order to be happy again and get your life back on track.
After I surrendered to my addiction to alcohol I started to think better and make better decisions in my life and one of those decisions were to get out of debt and live a happy life again and not worry about where the money was going to come from to pay for all those stupid purchases I did years before.
Once I got clean and sober I was then able to start to plan this huge change in my life, with of course, the help of my wife that stuck by my side through all the ups and downs in our marriage all do to my addiction. I praise her for standing by my side through these tough times.
Now it was up to me to make things better. The way they should of been all those years in the past.
IDEAS FOR YOU TO LIVE A SIMPLE LIFE
- Remember that less is more is most cases, although many people may argue with that statement. It is my thoughts and the way I now live my life, and it has worked out perfect.
- Get rid of all the things you really don't need and start cleaning and throwing away.
- Think if you can do without different things to make life simpler.
- Start paying down extra on your bills to get them paid in full sooner.
- As far as transportation, do you really need that expensive car or truck? I bought a car cash, because after all I only need it to get from point A to point B.
- Think of things while grocery shopping that really are not necessary to buy.
- All these things I mentioned save money and when you save money by cutting down you can live more simple (and don't need to break your back working for the rest of your life to pay those bills for the fun and the prestige for things I really didn't need to be happy in my life.)
- Many people reading may think I'm nuts, BUT I have done all of this and I am a stone throw away from being debt free, and that is a wonderful feeling. So call me nuts, but I have no financial worries anymore. I live simple and I am happier than I have ever been. I now realize that material things mean nothing, although they are is a sign of prestige for many, but not me anymore.
- As I said in other articles, I sold my home and downsized big time to a manufactured home in a 55+ community minutes from the Ocean with the Bay right down the street. It was my life long dream to live by the sea and with my addiction to alcohol and the way I lived in the past it would never be possible to have what I have now and the best part is, everything is paid in full and now I can relax and enjoy my life with no more worries of paying or having things I really never needed, just to impress others.
