Money and Freedom.

I consider this world full of traps.  Thousands of carefully placed snares to keep you on the beaten path. I shudder to think of all the times I heard that I needed to go to College and should take out student loans regardless of the consequences. As some of you may know, this is starting to become widely considered a “bad idea.” Regardless, between credit scores, the 40 hour work week, and whatever debt that has been piling up, it's hard to put your dreams in the forefront of you mind, when you have so many other pressing concerns to worry about.

I've been working tirelessly to find the best ways to beat the system. I consider the 40 hour work week a soul killer, it is meant to take up the majority of your free time in the most mind-numbing and exhausting way possible, it has the uncanny effect of beating you down and making your sole thought, come your free time, to escape instead of pursuing your goals and interests. I might also just hate the traditional idea of work. Who knows.

There's a road that the majority of us are heading down, if we like it or not, it's a shitty road. It leads to an unfulfilling job, unrealized dreams, and generally, far too much unhappiness. My plan is to throw all that to the wayside by simply heading down the road-less-traveled, and help you do the same (if you want).

The 40 hour work week formula isn't bad, it works for a lot of people, and more power to them for making it work, but it just isn't the way I plan to do things.

WHAT KEEPS YOU ON THE ROAD?

In almost every circumstance, what keeps you on the beaten path is money. Making it, spending it, saving it, and working for it, it dominates our lives pretty completely. You've got a million different people wanting you to buy something at any given time and a whole host of shitty jobs just waiting to trade your limited time on Earth for a pittance of a wage. It takes work of a different sort to make money work for you. You're gonna need cash it's pretty hard to avoid, it helps secure your food, home, and whatever else you may have/need/want. Part of the plan is to cut down on things that sap your income, promote self-sufficiency, so you can live on less money. Living for less, could mean you have the opportunity to save more money, take less hours at work, or just have more excess cash to pursue your interests.

Here's a few ways to free up some cash and avoid some of these traps.

BUY CHEAPER SHIT OR STOP BUYING IT ALTOGETHER

Have you ever heard the term Brand Identity? It's the idea that as a consumer you identify with a product, such as, “I am a coke drinker” or vice versa. It's a powerful concept, to tie a sugary beverage to your person like that, but it does exist and its everywhere. A lot of products, soda in particular, are what I like to refer to as “leaches.” They latch on to your wallet and slowly drain you of dollars, anywhere from a dollar to 5 dollars a week. In return these leaches pump in a sugar and caffeine high that has you coming back for more. This money adds up, and binds you to these products. The same goes for Energy Drinks, they attach themselves to you so thoroughly you are convinced you couldn't make it through your shift without one, and you are vaguely sure there was no way you actually survived before their inception. And just like a drug, the fuckers are hard to quit. The lack of caffeine gives you headaches, you have a huge sodium drop, and generally feel like tearing everybody a new asshole in frustration. (If you kick these sons of bitches, and adopt an 8+ hour sleep schedule, and try to replace it with black coffee or unsweetened tea, you'll find your energy levels much more normalized with no dips and valleys. Much more enjoyable work day)

This idea goes beyond just soda and beverages, but to many other products as well. Look at anything you buy on a regular basis, and break it down, do you need this product at all? If so, is there a cheaper alternative? Freeing yourself from brand affiliation, frees up your wallet, and just tends to make life a little bit easier.

DEBT

This is the big one (most of the time, the ONLY one), this is the bastard that gets everybody good and fucking STUCK and makes it really fucking difficult to break the 40 hour work week and live a fulfilling life by your own rules. Debt will tie you down, box you in, and make you feel like a, prisoner (this is at the very least how I feel when saddled with any debt whatsoever). Debt and more importantly financial responsibility are two things that we aren't taught in schools and possibly not even by our parents. For a lot of people I know, you are saddled with debt right out of High School paying for at pricey piece of paper saying you know how to do something. 25+ years to pay off your post high school education? Or for us working stiffs, we are told to get a credit card to start building a credit history before we've learned the self control to add to a savings account. It's kind of shitty, because we are introduced to debt before we're introduced to responsible money handling.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Do more shit yourself. That's all you have to do. Every time you pay Wal-Mart to change your oil, go through a car wash, hit a fast food line you are paying way more than you have to for “convenience.”

There is no real value here, you are just shelling out more of your hard earned cash to not do something yourself, and when you start doing the math for what you payed for and how many hours you worked to actually make that money you might start crying. Uncontrollably. Just sobbing right in front of your computer, don’t worry, I'll wait. Not only will you save money but there is serious value in learning these skills and being able to do them yourselves. Every little thing you learn and do, will help you become a better person and save you money, this last one is really important. You would be surprised the money you can save by doing things yourself. I went so far as to cut my own hair, it's nothing fancy but I buzz my hair every couple of weeks and doing the math over the past 7 months, I've saved myself approximately 108 bucks, some gas, and time driving to the barber. I'm not asking you to do every little thing yourself, professionals exist so you don't have to learn everything, but there are simple little things you can start doing and save yourself a significant amount of dough over the long run.

These are just a few standpoints and ways you can go about using your time and money in a different (usually more effective) way.

-BB Out