The Price To Live For Free - Part 1 of 2
Introduction
Most of us have been born into the consuming world as if that is the only reality and way of life that exists. I was born in England and whilst growing up it was completely normal to get a good job with a good wage so you could buy good things. Most of you are proberbly sat there reading this thinking Well yes that's how life works! because that's what you were also told. I don't know about you and everywhere isn't the same, but in built up country's it is completely normal to just do what everyone else does, which ultimately is just consuming.
We live in society literally just to consume and its all we really know as a mass population. We finish school and then it begins much more than it already was, like a build up if you like from childhood and exploding into adulthood, and when you finally get that first job after school your very exited to get the first wage packet and can now do what the adults do best- Consume! You can now finally get those Nike trainers that everybody else has, you can start saving for driving lessons because then you can have a car, maybe start renting your own place and with regular adult way of living to fit in, you can go to Ikea and get new furniture for your newly rented place. If you look at it like this then were are just purely taking and using so much materials just to live as what we were told is life.
Ill tell you that I was on and off with depression from the age of maybe 15 to 19. There were the years of finishing school, getting jobs but then getting fired or mostly quitting because I couldn't work for assholes and would just tell a shitty boss what I thought and walk out. I was a black sheep, I just couldn't see the sense in what people were doing.
Nobody was happy. I thought the people around with money were happy, but soon saw this to be all fake.
Standing on the outside, feeling like there was something wrong with me because I couldn't be happy with the thought of working a mortgage off, marrying and having kids. It was obviously a load of BS anyway because at the time my parents got a divorce, I was 11years old and in grade 7 at school, and remember seeing a fact somewhere that at that time said "43% of Britain's parents are divorced" so obviously that wasn't a good way to live, seemed all pretty plastic to me.
This questioning things whilst growing up, mixed with taking banned drugs and meeting a huge variety of different people also in teenage years has led to me leaving society 8 years ago already which has gone quick in a way. Ive experienced many things that I thought would never happen, and I know most definitely that none of the experiences could have happened if I had stayed behind and I'd be 25% of the way through "paying for my own home like everybody else". I have taught myself 5 languages, lived in 3 contents and have traveled around 40,000km mostly hitch-hiking. I have a home in south Spain, up until recently one in Germany, and now one in Norway and many other country's places that I'm welcome to stay at were I have visited before- All of which I paid nobody for and pay nobody to use.
I left the UK with a van that I never ended up selling but haven't used for 6 years, and when I left to start travels I had just half a tank of diesel, a moped, 80 GBP cash and alot of cigarettes to sell, and that was it- I had a guitar that I could play 2 chords on.
When living in "House Life" I was always broke because always my wage would come and then I would be paying someone back leaving me each week or month with nada.
Anyway I left it all behind and since have adapted to living with no money over the years, well within the first 6 months actually. Now since 2 winter's im living in Oslo, Norway. Its not really my kind of place to stay for a long time because I have problems here socializing enough to feel human and there's not much happening unless you know someone doing something, and that's the same with the dating culture here- strangers never interact! The reason I am here still is because all these years im traveling with just money I get from the guitar or from random construction jobs I bump into, and here I'm managing to get good money to save (buying Crypto and Silver) and still stay a freeman- not being registered anywhere, paying someone or something to be living comfortably, or paying any kind of tax (just on a bus card but that's ok in my eyes!). I have here since july a home and no other destination that seems fitting at the moment, when I have now a chance to save andinvest that money into Crypto so I can stay free in the future and not return to slavery or need government money thus loosing my freedom.
In the next part to this post, Ill use the same pictures, but will draw on them what apply's to me and explain how its easy to have a comfortable life without the stress of "keeping up appearances" and being a slave to your job to be able to reward yourself with these things. Man , even to type that gave me goosebumps and confirmation that it is just an insane lifestyle. Here's what "Normal" people have to pay to live.
Here are screenshots from Expatistan.com on what its costing to live here if you do the "House Life" thing in a city.
Housing
This is what it says online, but I know people paying 8000Kr a month living in like 12m2 "Apartments". Plus bills ontop.
So lets say the mean price of a nice place at 15,000kr and then the lowest hosing standard like a shoe box size for 8000kr is 11,500kr per month for a decent place to live.
Clothes and Transport
I havent ever looked at clothes in a shop , so im not sure how accurate these all are but lets just stick with these numbers.
"Personal Care"
Its quite a shock at what people use to live this way of life! (to me anyway!)
"Entertainment"
So heres how these figures are calculated..
1 KR = 0.13 USD
If you would like to , you could find out how much your lifestyle would cost converted to Norway! I havent got the first clue about it all hahaha!
In the next part, Ill try my best to share my monthly budget with you all, for me its normal what you will see in the next part, and to spend so much money for all this is insane- no wait- the working for it all, as a reward to relax from the work and to be fresh for work again in the morning - thats the really insane part.
Before I forget , I started a competition and whoever takes part wins 3 SBD and the winner wins 10 SBD!! Its very different to the norm, but the norm for me and others who live outside of the mainstream! No pressure but here's the link maybe its for you, maybe its not, but anyway it will be fun!
Here's related posts to freeganism and recycling whilst on this blogging the recycling whim!
A Day In The Life Of a Land Pirate
Easy Freegan- Whats he found now?
Yesterdays Loot!
See you for the next part! Big Love!
Housing
This is what it says online, but I know people paying 8000Kr a month living in like 12m2 "Apartments". Plus bills ontop.
So lets say the mean price of a nice place at 15,000kr and then the lowest hosing standard like a shoe box size for 8000kr is 11,500kr per month for a decent place to live.
Clothes and Transport
I havent ever looked at clothes in a shop , so im not sure how accurate these all are but lets just stick with these numbers.
"Personal Care"
Its quite a shock at what people use to live this way of life! (to me anyway!)
"Entertainment"
So heres how these figures are calculated..
1 KR = 0.13 USD
If you would like to , you could find out how much your lifestyle would cost converted to Norway! I havent got the first clue about it all hahaha!
In the next part, Ill try my best to share my monthly budget with you all, for me its normal what you will see in the next part, and to spend so much money for all this is insane- no wait- the working for it all, as a reward to relax from the work and to be fresh for work again in the morning - thats the really insane part.
Before I forget , I started a competition and whoever takes part wins 3 SBD and the winner wins 10 SBD!! Its very different to the norm, but the norm for me and others who live outside of the mainstream! No pressure but here's the link maybe its for you, maybe its not, but anyway it will be fun!
Here's related posts to freeganism and recycling whilst on this blogging the recycling whim!
Yesterdays Loot!
Oh. I should have known - I've been charging too little from our tenants for many years already!
I'm living a "house life" - would definitively have lived on the boat if it wasn't for the family :-)
I don't believe much in those numbers - like, the difference between a 45 m^2 studio in an expensive area of town and in a normal area of town can't be that insignificant. Home ownership is sort of subsidized here in Norway - like, one gets tax deduction on interests paid on the mortage, and if one can rent out parts of the house one can do that without paying capital gains tax. We've basically been living for free since we came to Oslo, with the rent income from our tenants being above the capital costs on our loan.
"milage may vary" - but I believe the average electricity costs (most people use electricity both for cooking and heating) during the winter is less than 1000 in a small apartment. In an old house without proper insulation, of course one will be lucky to keep comfort temperature without exceeding 1000/month.
I think I've very rarely paid more than 400 NOK for trousers. Well, I must admit the last trouser I bought costed a staggering 1400 NOK. Since crypto was at it's all time high, I felt I could afford it, and it's well optimized both for skiing trips, sailing and even for local bitcoin trading .
Shoes, I've come to find that my favorite shoes are Merrell Jungle Moc, size 48, I wear them winter and summer. I think they're rather pricey, but not as bad as the prices listed. I can't just enter merrell.com and order them ... for some reason it's very difficult finding shops shipping those shoes to Norway, as well as very difficult to find shops that has my size domestically in Norway, so I end up ordering them to Sweden and picking them up there ... but since I hate Merrell for making it so difficult to order those shoes, I usually end up wearing the shoes completely out before I bother to order new ones.
Transportation ... I do yearly transport passes, and I have quite some maintenance burdens on the boat, dhingy, bikes, etc. Theoretically I can move around by wind power ... but I do use quite some diesel on the boat. Diesel is cheaper than the petrol, and there are special road fees - they don't apply to me since I don't use it on the road. Quite many end up taking loans to be able to afford buying a car - a brand new non-electric car is notoriously expensive in Norway, but an old second-hand car is also notoriously cheap. Of course, buy an old car and the maintenance costs will increase. New electric cars are heavily subsidized. If buying a car today for travelling in the Oslo area and having some money available, then the only thing that makes sense is to buy a relatively new electric vehicle.
I can't say the things in the "personal care"-section is particularly expensive ... though, I was really bleeding money for a while when my back pains was most acute, and dentist visits are also very expensive. I rarely cut my hair, even more rarely at a hairdresser, even more rarely in a Norwegian hair dresser ... and I would never pay 320 NOK for such a service. Single-time syringes at the pharmacy is really cheap, I'm using them frequently for gluing projects on the boat. :-)
Entertainment ... I do spend quite much on food, I feel I can afford to buy some sushi due to my crypto trading :-)
I don't believe those prices are "very reliable", further, as they are listed here they are more meant as price examples than as a guide for what the monthly living costs would be. It's for sure possible to live cheaply in Oslo without occupying buildings or doing dumpster diving ... and it's possible to waste ludicrous amounts of money as well :-)
Great post @movingman
Inspired by yourself sir! I go to a place near Hamar tomorrow for a few days, and wanted to to the second part before I left, and now that you saw it, I feel Its a must to to it in the morning, gjerne! sleep now!
I admire your courage and pioneering free spirit my friend! Thanks for sharing your geographical and spiritual travelings with us in your quest for true freedom and personal happiness.
Resteemed this, now I'm off to resteem the contest :-) Thanks!
One has no choice, when you get free from the cage, theres no going back! Its impossible to imagine hahaha :) Thanks for the resteem! A cool feature that is well under-used, and I also love the psychological aspects of the resteem feature on humans hihi
It is just sad to know that most people nowadays are enslaving themselves from material things and maybe even of unwanted circumstances. Freeing yourself from these is rather difficult but once you got yourself out, peace of mind and true happiness will follow.
Hi Irene! I find it sad how we get no choice, unless we have free thinking upbringings, which buy the way is happening more and more for some kids :) It was easy for me to loose interest in "things" (technology mainly) due to the fact that I have bad luck with it all, it breaks way too quicky and the norm was to replace it.. meaning money spent twice or 3 times on a piece of tech. Thats slavery of addiction! Can I ask, as I have a competition running and not many viewers, what are your views on recycling food from supermarket dumpsters?
Absolutely. We become slaves of technology whether we like it or not, we usually tend to go with the trend. I hope people will realize the consequences of these actions.
Regarding about food recycling, I see nothing wrong with it. In fact, this will help lessen food wastes and hunger. I myself wouldn't mind being a food recycler as it will not only save me some bucks, but also will get the chance to eat for free and could have the opportunity to feed others too without spending much.
Love your attitudes :) have a great day!
Wow, great post my friend.
Thanks man! As a lover of freedom yourself I thought you'd like it, which reminds me to start the part 2 later :)
I look forward to reading it my friend!
Its there! And I just found internet!
Yes of course it is priceless