Inspirations for Minimalism

It wasn’t that long ago that I was a classroom teacher. It was a job, it paid the bills – in much the same way as a desk job did this time last year.

However, there were a couple of things that got me to look at life from a different perspective.  The first, weirdly enough, was when my fiancee and I were looking at renting a fairly overpriced apartment.  Keep in mind, the housing bust in America hasn’t been transposed to Australia, where prices are still high – for now, anyway.

What shocked us was that we were able to buy a house for minimally more than what we could rent that exact same apartment for.

So that was the first shock.  The second shock was when I decided to reread, for the umpteenth time, Tim Ferriss’ first book, 4 Hour Workweek
, and then check out his website for what my TDI (Target Daily Income) was in order for me to be financially secure.

It was less than $50/day.

$300/wk, to be precise – and half of that was rent.

Just as a basis for comparison, one day of work as a no-strings-attached supply teacher is about $310.

These may seem to be fairly disconnected, and maybe they were, but I got the same lesson from each: it doesn’t take that much to get exactly what you want.  And that was the realisation that I changed my life on.  In other semesters, I would send out resumes and get contracts; this time, I looked at ways that I could use my time better, to get rid of the things that I don’t need (and that, so far, are taking over two rooms of my house), and to have more time doing the things that I wanted.  For example, I’ve wanted to write a book for a few years now.  I finished writing a book in 4 days, and have another one that needs some editing before I call it finished.

It’s an incredible story, and I’m so excited to be sharing it.

If you could do something tomorrow, anything at all: what would it be?  Tell me in the comments!