You Don’t Have to Be Rich to Live a Debt Free Life
The Planet Can’t Support a World of Millionaires
Before you delve too deeply into this article, I want to make it clear that I am not attempting to favor one party of politicians over another. The problems we face are much bigger than that. So hear me out before you rush to protect your heroes, as I do make an example of some important and influential political figures.
I’ve written quite often about my approach to life.
I set a goal way back in my early working years to live debt-free as soon as possible. I accomplished that goal 20 years ago. I could have done it sooner if I had been a little clearer about the path I needed to take to get there, but I eventually reached my goal, and it’s been the closest thing to freedom that I’ve ever experienced. No mortgage, no car payments, no credit card bills, no school bills, nada. I can now live on about $1,400 a month, not counting taxes and insurance, and I have some wiggle room left if I needed to live even more frugally. Because I have fewer bills, I require far less money. I’m constantly cognizant of the fact that living below my means keeps me out of debt.
Debt-free and living below my means became my motto and best describes my whole approach to life.
I was influenced by a remarkable couple back in the ’70s, Harlan and Anna Hubbard, who were serious nonconformists and successfully lived off-grid for most of their lives. As a young, impressionable, idealistic person, I wanted to learn from these two fine individuals. Although I never lived off-grid, I witnessed something that stayed with me for the rest of my life: you don’t have to be like everyone else.
In fact, if everyone else is doing something, you may want to take a detour.
The concept of personal autonomy led me to realize something critical: regardless of how unrelenting our cultures may be, we can explore beyond the boundaries that are set for us. The boundaries are all manmade. Yep! It’s just a bunch of rules made up by our culture to keep us in line. In the case of American culture, they want to keep us in debt because someone else is getting rich from it.
Freedom, therefore, is just another word for not being an indentured servant to the bankstahs.
The shift in one’s lifestyle is significant when you emphasize something other than material possessions. The consumer culture we live in encourages an addiction to stuff. This is purely a cultural expectation designed to keep us addicted to spending and, consequently, in debt. The middle class is no longer an upwardly mobile part of society; we are weighed down by debt, debt, and more debt. What makes it even worse is that we have been convinced that bigger is better. We also believe that we deserve to live like kings.
I have a whole theory about kings and emperors. Bear with me for a minute.
When kings lived in their castles — giant homes that surpassed most homes today in size and grandeur — the serfs lived in hovels outside the castle walls. There was no middle class. This is a relatively new concept that began to catch on in the U.S. in the second half of the 20th century. The serfs were poor and toiled for the king, raising and growing his food, fighting and dying in his wars, and doing his bidding. We know that there is such a thing as generational pain, trauma passed down to the next generation via DNA. Could it be that our willingness to go into debt is easily manipulated because we come from serfs who stood outside the king’s walls while struggling to feed themselves? Did centuries of deprivation and powerlessness leave their mark on our psyches so that now we strive to be kings ourselves?
Is there a better way to live?
I ask this question all the time as I watch middle-class Americans struggle to make ends meet while aspiring to live like kings. Big houses, big cars, big gems, big boats — bigger is better. Yet our citizens are cash-poor. This isn’t just the minimum wage earners, which is understandable and a topic for another article. No, I’m talking about six-figure earners who are maxed out with debt. What are we thinking?
Unfortunately, we have no role models.
Because humans tend not to question the culture they are born into, most people do exactly as they’re told. When all the people we admire and adore model a life of excess, we begin to believe that emulating them is the only viable choice. When our heroes exemplify greed, overindulgence, waste, and splendor, we inadvertently support a class system based on nothing more than material possessions. We don’t see a way out, so we join the hysterical consumer club, even if it means going into deep debt.
With that foundation laid, let’s delve deeper into societal norms and values surrounding wealth.
Most people, if they have a financial goal, aim to get rich. The richer, the better. But I disagree. I am fully aware that America is a country that worships money. Your worth in life is measured by how much money you have. Happiness is measured by how much money you have. Quality of life is measured by the same gauge. We don’t have anything else to use as a measuring stick except money, money, money.
For me, the focus should be on financial independence.
It’s about living without debt as soon as possible and then relaxing with the knowledge that if I spend my life living below my means, I’ll experience financial freedom. Now, let me make one thing clear: I didn’t get to this sweet spot in life because I made a ton of money. I was an elementary teacher. That should tell you something. LOL, right? Even though I had a master’s degree, I didn’t make much money. In a world that only thinks about money, teaching isn’t rewarded with the green stuff that we so adore.
Teachers must get their rewards from knowing that they help our future generations achieve the skills they need to navigate life.
This disparity in compensation leads me to wonder who gets to decide which jobs are worthy of high pay and which ones are so low-paying that you can barely feed your family. An elementary public school teacher definitely wasn’t given much monetary recognition.
My husband worked most of his life in factories.
During that time, in the ’70s and ‘80s, he lost more than one job because they shipped the work overseas. Yeah, that era was tough for factory workers. Unions were dying, and workers were losing jobs because foreigners could do the work for less — essentially slave labor. Sweet, eh?
Our government was happy to exploit these poor people all over the world because Americans expected a living wage.
Having witnessed this firsthand, I became fully aware of the corruption and hypocrisy at play: somebody needed to make a whole lot of money at everyone else’s expense. Getting rich is the biggest motivator in American culture. Money, money, money.
Although I reached my goal over twenty years ago, I’m not considered rich or well-off by many, if not most, American standards. We own one used car, a modest house, and live quite frugally overall. Yet, I know that I’m part of the top 10% of the richest people in the world.
I’ll let you mull that over for a few seconds.
My income of roughly $50,000 for two people is 7.4 times the global median. Are you feeling it? And what’s even more disturbing is that there aren’t enough natural resources for everyone in the world to live my moderate American lifestyle, even if I wanted them to do so. Americans are gobbling up natural resources like crazy and are hungry for more. It’s our norm. Does the size of our grocery stores register with you? How about the size of our population — big bellies and all? We’re an obese nation, which, in my opinion, is an appropriate visual confirmation of our greed and unending desire for more, more, more.
This brings me to a critical intersection of personal responsibility and societal critique, specifically concerning our leaders.
Are you ready? Bernie Sanders, who valiantly stands up for the struggling class and defies the greedy 1% by suggesting that they pay their fair share of taxes, owns three homes. The amount of wealth that Bernie has accrued easily puts him in the top tier. He’s a multimillionaire.
Now I know what you’re saying.
There’s nothing wrong with earning big bucks as long as everyone pays their fair share of taxes. But I disagree. Nobody needs three homes. Nobody. Nobody needs millions of dollars. Two aging people do not need a giant home with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. It’s a waste of space and resources. It’s greedy. Bernie, a longtime politician, made better money than an elementary teacher because someone somewhere said that politicians are worth more money than teachers. So he gets a salary of $178,000 a year, plus a lifetime pension of $78,000 a year, as well as top-notch health care, while teachers can barely cover their rent.
I want to emphasize that I’m not picking on Bernie.
I happen to think he is the cream of the crop. If there’s a checklist of things I look for in a politician, he checks most of the boxes. But if even Bernie has three homes — nobody needs three homes — then we have a bigger problem than I had realized.
This reflection leads me to consider the broader implications of societal behavior and environmental impact.
We’re going to gobble up resources and spit them back out into the trash faster than I thought. By the way, there’s a growing trash problem in the sea and on the land. Guess who makes the most trash in the world? Whoopsy Daisy. The United States is the most wasteful country in the world.
Surprise!!!
And when it comes to self-sacrifice, our politicians set a horrible example. I remember when Obama asked everyone to stay home during the height of the COVID pandemic. Then, he turned around and flew in his private jet to his home in Hawaii. Apparently, owning three giant homes is the minimum requirement for rich Americans. A 6,892-square-foot house on the prestigious island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts should be part of the collection because everyone in the Unites States needs seven bedrooms and eight-and-a-half baths on a secluded 29.3-acre coastal estate with manicured grounds leading to the water and amazing ocean views.
This raises an important ethical question for us all.
Once again, I’m not picking on Obama. He’s long been a politician that I respect. But nobody needs three or four mansions. Nobody. How do we get a handle on this love of money that creates a class system as strong as any caste system we’ve ever known? Who gets to decide how much someone’s labor is worth? How do we rein in gluttony and waste? How on earth do we claim to worry about climate change and precious natural resources when we live in such excess? Can we even define ENOUGH? Does ENOUGH even exist in American culture?
Are we going to eat ourselves into the grave?
It’s crucial to differentiate between striving for financial stability and the unquenchable thirst for wealth. There’s a big difference between wanting to live debt-free and wanting to get rich. I have a privileged lifestyle. I wish everyone could live a lower-middle-class life. It’s a gift. But apparently, it’s not enough for many, and so we have those who have it all and those who make it all for those who have it all.
Someone once said that the love of money is the root of all evil. Well, who doesn’t love money in America?
Teresa is an author and professional myth buster. You can buy her books on Amazon.
