Skip to content

Comment on Living on $5,000 a year, on purpose: Meet America's 'intentional poor'

Comments

I'm sure I could subsist on a very minimal salary. But what would I be left doing? I enjoy traveling, I enjoy playing several musical instruments, I enjoy owning a reasonable computer (granted, my main laptop is a $300 eBay find), I enjoy eating interesting food, I enjoy buying books, I enjoy doing fun things with friends. And I wish I worked less so I could do all of the above a lot more.

Sure, I could compromise on all of that. Couchsurf. Use the library (both for its books and its computers). Become a better cook to make more with less. Do other things with friends. Etcetera etcetera etcetera.

But the mere term "compromise" implies "loss of originally-expected value", and there comes a point where I could have all the time in the world and not enjoy spending time on anything. Back to the OP, I question what Price does all day when he's not working odd jobs. I almost expected him to be an artist or novelist or somesuch.

The more pleasures you have the more masters you serve.

The connotation of that is flipped by its corollary: the less masters you serve, the less pleasures you have.

AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.