Somebody smart once said there are two ways to get rich. The first is to earn more and the second is to spend less.
Due to unfortunate circumstances like record breaking inflation, government incompetence/downright suicidal spending, and some major cultural upheavals, the first option is beyond the reach of so many people. This idea that people can just work harder, faster, stronger, and somehow escape the giant boulder crushing down on us is just cray-cray.
Very funny, I just looked at some numbers for my area and the basic cost of living happens to be 3 times our income. Very funny because the alleged cost of living here is now so high, I'm pretty sure only a select few come anywhere near it. Keep in mind this is "basic living." Due to inflation and poor leadership, the vast majority of us don't even reach UP TO the poverty line.
So how do you spend less? By requiring less. By reducing your needs. You fix stuff yourself instead of paying someone else to do it. You reuse what you have. You lower your expectations. You gain skills like learning how to garden, how to cook at home, and how to sew your own clothes. (And those things are a financial "art form." All in good humor here, but you can spend a ton of money on gardening as a hobby. Don't even get me started about the price of fabric these days. Just saying, there is way to do it that saves you a ton of money and there is a way to do it that costs you a fortune.)
Being "rich" is actually a subjective matter of opinion, meaning it has a huge emotional, spiritual, and psychological aspect to it. So in order to "be rich," one really has to address one's inner wounds and turmoil and often deal with unpleasant emotions like insecurity, envy, pride, and fear.
To complicate matters farther, we are constantly being brainwashed by cultural advertising.. Seriously, it is so not our fault, but it is our responsibility to address these things and to resist. Why are you buying an over priced cup of coffee that is artificially flavored and of such poor quality it requires tons of sugary substances just to make it palatable? Because you deserve it. Because you only live once. Because you work really hard and get nowhere. Because you are entitled to some compensation. Because this is how you build social connection.
(Let the record show I am a complete coffee snob and have spent a ton of money on fancy coffee, so much so that I am now a total coffee elitist. So I am not trying to shame anyone over coffee spending. It's just an easy example of the emotional issues that lurk behind our spending and not just our spending, but our desire to spend. If you can't afford that overpriced cup of low quality coffee, now you are likely to feel really deprived.)
Feeling deprived is a poverty mentality and a poverty mentality actually creates more poverty. So you need to infuse that rubbish with a ton of abundance thinking, with lots of gratitude. Peasantry need not involve any deprivation what so ever!
I'm fortunate to have come from dirt poor, dumpster diving childhood poverty. I do know what it is like to be hungry. I do know what it is like to not have shoes. So why is this a blessing? Because I didn't have any choice when it came to addressing the emotional and psychological aspects of wealth...... or a lack thereof. So I can see these wounds in myself rather clearly and sometimes I can see them in others, too.
Something that I think we've really failed to teach our young people is that "being rich" is not just a simple matter of "do all the right things and get the carrot." That lie is so hugely damaging and psychologically abusive. It's right up there with, "you can have it all." Or perhaps, "anyone can grow up to be president." These lies we've told or failed to address are part of the reason why young people are burdened by so much student loan debt, unable to buy a house, and working in a dead end job that not only offers no carrot, it doesn't even offer one a sense of purpose or meaning.
People tend to blame themselves for a lot of things that are beyond their control. Recently I talked to a young man who wants to get married and have a family, but he feels like he must first be able to provide all these material things he can never quite seem to attain. That's one way to view it, but another is to ask, who told you you needed all these things? Stop "needing" all these things and they will no longer control you.
All in good humor here, but if you wait until you can "afford to have children" you will never have them. There is no such thing as "affordable children." They are a priceless gift. There is no monetary value that goes with them. There is also no amount of money that will buy them safety, security, or well being. Those things simply can't be bought.
I've been called a lot of things in my life like "cheap." Miserly. A churl. I like "churl" the best because it means a "mean spirited, low born, peasant." That makes me laugh because in another time and place we would have called that, "good stock." Genuine survivors. The saying, the "peasants are revolting" meant they struck fear in those they were revolting against, not that the smelled revolting! Please stop making that mistake, people. "Revolting" means, being powerful, challenging the system. Not sure when being a member of the peasantry became a shameful thing perceived as being half starved, depressed, and weak. In truth it was the upper classes who often dosed themselves with arsenic hoping to get a pretty complexion. Peasants have always been the foundational strength of one's culture.
So yes, I am flat out advocating in favor of making peasantry cool again. This tends to upset people and cause some resistance. Here's the deal however, you are going to be a peasant either way. You can approach it kicking and screaming, dragging along assorted mental health issues and blaming yourself, or you can make peasantry cool again.
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