The Richest Poor Man in the World
I’m writing this piece from my trailer deep in the green, gorgeous woods of New Hampshire. It’s a sunny, gorgeous Friday summer afternoon, and all I’ve done today is drop off my daughter at school, made a delicious saladI, spent two hours reading, and enjoyed a beautiful ride on my bike in the countryside. In a few hours, I’ll go to my new job, bartending at the oldest bar in New Hampshire creating gorgeous classic cocktails. It's a craft I passionately enjoy. My work week begins on Friday nights and ends Sunday, bringing a new meaning to TGIF and giving me the unexpected surprise of looking forward to Mondays so I can chill and relax. My life is grand and great. I’ve never made less money in my life, and yet I’ve never been richer in terms of the quality of life that I live. I have become a millionaire without the need for a million dollars. I don’t know stress and I don’t really yearn for new things. I live with nature and it treats me well. I’m happy as a dirty pig and I want to share with you what I’ve learned.
I made myself the personal challenge of finding out how much fun I could have with the least amount of money. How many incredible days I could enjoy without reaching for my wallet. The answer was plenty!
This is how my adventure evolved. My days are packed with activities that include hiking several days a week, long bike rides every day, daily swims in the many lakes around me, reading and cooking, keeping my home tidy and clean, spending several quality hours with my daughter swimming in the pool or playing in the forest, fishing or even doing art projects like building a robot out of fallen tree debris. I have enough time to get fresh food from the local farm stands. The days now feel like they last the equivalent of 4 days of my past busy life.
Yes, I live in a trailer, but it’s a cool-ass trailer. A condo on wheels with a full-sized kitchen, bathroom complete with tub, and sleeping accommodations for up to 6 people. My living room is underneath beautiful trees in the middle of the forest and it’s surrounded by gorgeous rocks. I have a hammock and a lovely garden which I tend to every day. At night I sleep with my windows open hearing nature and even watching the full moon bathe the trees in white light. I have two swimming pools, hiking trails and access to the lake.
(My garden has provided me with ample entertainment, beauty and even fruit and herbs.)
We all thought that in order to be rich in time we have to first be rich in money. In reality, it’s the opposite. To be rich in time, you don’t need to rush or overwork yourself and save a mountain of money to fund your retirement; instead, you have to brake and slow down, slow down everything, forgetting about 9–5 and Mon-Fri. You need to change your lifestyle completely, minimize your costs and your way of life. I know we all think we know what this means (we’ve all heard 'time is money' a million times) but relating money to time is not right. Experiencing what it feels like to be rich in time, to have millions of units of time in excess that you can use to love, to relax, exercise, appreciate and rejoice in nature is invaluable. Having time to listen to music, catch up with friends, sit in my hammock, go on walks and water my plants is worth to me so much more than any paycheck I could get. Yes, it’s drastic, but it sure as hell beats doing 10 more years of meetings and PowerPoints.
(One of the many weekly hikes I took. Medicine for the soul and mind.)
To become rich, all you first need to do is find the smallest, coziest and simplest place and way of life you can find. Your environment is key to becoming a millionaire like me, because if the view from your house is incredible it will enrich your life; likewise, if you are surrounded by gorgeous nature you will likely end up spending a lot of time there, automatically improving your mental and physical health and more importantly, giving you plenty of activities that cost $0 which could be anything from hiking, biking, kayaking, fishing or simply walking. I always loved going to nature on vacation when I lived in the city, but it doesn’t remotely compare to living in the country and being surrounded by it at all times.
Living cheap does not mean you have to go live somewhere dirty and miserable; it means finding the most affordable place to live in the most beautiful location you can imagine. A fishing town, a mountain, a beach, anywhere and everywhere you find your heart feeling cozy and happy. If you love the mountains, go live there; if you love the beach go live there. Don’t hold off going to the place of your dreams because you don’t have enough money. Rural and offbeat locations offer cheap rent, and cheap rent equals cheap living, which means you won’t need to make a lot of money to live like a queen or king. Allowing yourself to live in a beautiful place is the biggest gift you can give yourself and it will open up the floodgates for many more great things to happen to you. I think we have grown up thinking that what will make us happy is the house of your dreams, but I don’t think that is correct. A simple house in the place of your dreams is what will make us happy.
(The nights are a time to read, listen to music, write, create art, watch movies and reconnect with myself.)
One of the beautiful things about living in a trailer is that it has a limited amount of storage. You can only fit the things you really-really need. Overload a small home with crap and it will backfire on you by making you feel like crap from the messy clutter it creates. When I go window shopping now I don’t feel the urge to buy anything. I can go through shoe, electronic and clothing stores and feel numb. My consumerism has been extinguished to a large degree and as a result, I’m saving lots of money. Ironically, by needing to buy less things to be happy I have become richer. Not buying things means I can keep more of my money and use it to buy things I really need. I don’t mean to imply that you should live in a trailer, but minimizing your home, moving to a smaller footprint or unloading the junk in our house should lead to the same result.
I can see in retrospect that a lot of the buying I was doing was done to feel a short-duration high to off-balance the low I felt from having to work so hard during the week. Living in a city and working in a big job can make you big money, but it is very hard to hunker down and not spend the money you make because you need to blow off steam from the stress and the pressure of the job somehow. An expensive shirt felt like a justifiable expense a year ago because it made me feel good about the job I was doing but in retrospect, what I spent on that shirt could give me so much more pleasure now. Every time I leave my house in the Great White (my truck) I make sure to carry cold fresh water, tea or coffee in my thermos, and snacks like nuts or fruit. This simple habit has probably saved me a few hundred bucks and, ironically, has made me perfect the art of making coffee and snacks! Double win. Living with a low budget has not involved sacrificing any of the comforts money brought me in the past. I’ve overcome the addiction of shopping to shop.
Living simply means taking care and enjoying the few things you have. I now get a great deal of pleasure fixing my few possessions when they break down, which I didn’t before when I had the power to dispose of and re-purchase them easily.
When you are able to go for days without reaching for your wallet, something inside you changes. The highs you got out of buying something new get replaced with the simple desire to do something new.
(The view from the top.)
When I lived in the city, exercise was a mandatory luxury. I had to make time at 6 A.M. to expose my body and sleep-deprived soul to excruciating pain at group classes with a trainer. Something in my mind never liked it because I always thought, “I’m getting stronger and I like that, but what exactly am I getting stronger for? What sport or activity am I building muscles for? I’m glad I can run faster and longer, but what I’m running from or to?” In my new life, I exercise almost every day. I take 5-hour bike rides in the country or I go on long hikes in the woods climbing mountains, streams and forests. I don’t suffer dread, like when I had to get ready to go to the gym, and more importantly, I won’t quit going after two months, because it’s so beautiful and I love it. My body benefits from the rigorous training, but I no longer do it as a necessity.
Art and Routines
One of the most enjoyable parts of a flexible schedule is that I have enough time in the day to engage with small art projects every day, even if it’s just a little writing or doodling. Tapping into art and creativity requires space and time; it was something that was very hard or impossible to do in my past life because at night I was too tired and on the weekends there was just too much to do, from laundry to groceries. My soul is plenty happy that I can dedicate time each night to expressing myself. I now understand that it’s not a luxury, but a necessity for people like me. One of the most beautiful things about living simply is that you quickly fall into a routine. Mine involves spending time with my daughter, being in nature, engaging in the arts, sleeping and practicing the craft of Mixology. A perfect routine equals a perfect day that can be repeated over and over again.
Food
Perhaps the biggest change to living on a low budget is related to food. Fine dining, ordering bottles of wine at restaurants and going out are the activities that unfortunately take a massive hit when you go low-budget. Perhaps I ate at so many fancy restaurants that I don’t really care about missing out on this. My cooking has improved dramatically and the little money I have goes to make sure I have clean, organic, healthy food in my cabinet and fridge. Yes, I make my own granola and it’s really good!
Peace of mind
I think that when we imagine what being a billionaire is like we probably envy the fact that we imagine that they don’t have any worries when they sleep at night. Why would they have worries if they have enough money to solve all the problems in the world? The fact is, having things attracts problems. People suing people, stocks going down and stolen money are just some of the nightly worries billionaires and millionaires actually have. I can vouch for a fact that I’ve never slept so soundly and well than in the last months. By living simply I have achieved the peace of mindat night that I thought only the rich could afford. Being rich in time gives us the peace of mind that we can overcome any problem that might hit us and more importantly, that we have ample enough time to enjoy any great experience that might come our way. I raise my glass to those seeking to be rich too and I say, I’ll be here waiting for you!
Time
Perhaps the best part of living like this is that I get to play and be with my daughter a great many more hours a week than most working Dads do. When I am with my daughter, I am fully present with her, not worrying about work or problems, or, worst of all, tired. We both have fun, we both want to be with each other and we both make every moment the best moment. We were all trained to provide for our children, but I think the first and biggest thing we can give them is not money, but your actual presence. Almost every day I pick her up at 1 pm and play with her for hours, sometimes we go for ice cream, and when it rains we cuddle up to watch movies in the trailer. Only a retired millionaire Dad could do that, yet for me it’s become an incredible routine which I cherish and value. (Chilling with my daughter at the ‘truckhouse’.)
Conclusion
I am most definitely not saying everyone should do what I have done. I know the path I have chosen is extreme, but the truth is that I am and have always actively been searching for the ultimate life. The lessons that living simply have brought me have been some of the most valuable ones in this entire trip. My grandmother always told me, “You should live below your means,” and I never really understood or liked that statement, but now that I’ve experienced it firsthand, I understand. I don’t know what’s next, but what is right now is pretty awesome and incredible so I’ll hang tight as a millionaire until then.
