Get rid of the need for money
You have to change to basically stop buying things.
People come to the same conclusion from all different avenues. good for the environment, money, financial independence, philosophy, loving the natural world, pursuing an activity, bachannalia
That conclusion is
Few things matter. most things are not worth buying or having.
You have been alive up until this point, you likely do not need it
do you need it to survive?
unlikely.
why?
up until this point, you have survived without it.
reflect on that.
Do you want independence more than a new shirt?
sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes the answer is no, but in the macro, it is yes.
consider what you remember: a trip to hawaii or like 30 new tshirts?
they probably both cost around $600-$1000.
these small dingus purchases are part of it.
Imbue meaning with things that are not expensive
a photograph is huge
printing it costs pennies and you can do it anywhere
you can order it online and not even leave your house and your computer
right now i am into buying tshirts when i travel. at cool breweries or something. but like, i could go to goodwill and buy a tshirt there. same thing, same kind of momento.
and in actuality? probably get some of the same tshirts.
sure the tshirt itself is nice. but like, the thing is the meaning.
the story is everything.
a tshirt might cost $25 - $30. one from goodwill might be $5.
sure that is 'only $20' but if you start thinking in terms of
Backpacking vs ultralight backpacking
one example where we remove superflous things in pursuit of a goal is backpacking.
when people start backpacking they buy all kinds of gear.
but they really end up buying the wrong gear and too much gear.
at some point you refine the gear.
you realize that you did not use the rain cover on your backpack, and if it actually rains, it looks cool, but does not do that well of a job.
or that it was nice having a big jetboil stove, but you can boil anything you need on a smaller stove.
instead of bringing a big knife and multi tool, you realize that you are not chopping down wood in order to build a fire. freshly cut wood does not burn well and there is plenty of dry and down wood. and only really need a small multitool with scissors to cut food open.
at some point these things add up, and you remove them, and realize you saved an entire pound of weight.
or a few pounds of weight.
then you get into it. and you have cut your entire pack weight down from 40 lbs to 30 lbs.
and then by gaining some other skills, and spending money, you can even get your weight down to 25 lbs or 15 lbs.
that is what i am talking about.
now you can hike further, faster, and more comfortably. in many cases, you did not even need to spend more on stuff, you just needed to remove stuff.
a garbage bag is a better and cheaper solution to rain than a rain fly. sure a rain fly is 'only $20', but a rainfly is zero. not worth it. it costs a lot more and it works worse.
how does that make any sense?
it is easy and makes sense in the beginning. and if your goal is not to save money, but to fit in, and there is an easy solution. maybe they do not realize there is a choice besides a rainfly.
then yes, it makes sense.
that is why the question is what are your goals?
if you do not care about cutting your pack weight, then who cares?
but what i am saying is, oftentimes people do not realize there is a choice. why would you not want a lighter pack?
Other disciplines show it
people that get really into an acitivity: surfing, backpacking, rock climbing, martial arts, marathons, biking, drawing, painting, music, photography.
they sometimes end up cutting out lots of other spending in order to pursue it. and because it is so fun and rewarding.
i mean a huge one is raising a family. people forgo tons of spending on themselves and otherwise because of the importance and joy and responsibility and desire for raising a kid.
what i am saying is that they cut down spending, they focus spending, they realize, quickly, if given limits, what matters.
just like you realize how strong you can be when being strong is the only choice.
you realize how far you can cut when you need to.
The other side of the coin: increasing earnings.
huge blogs and fortunes are made talking about both sides, but usually each downplays the importance of the other.
it is easier if you cut spending AND grow income.
growing income is what i am learning right now. and business seems like a big, big part of it.
interacting with the market.
there are a couple of principles here like do something that can scale, something that can be long term like a product, subscription, or code.