why work and constantly spend money?

I noticed lots of people who got nice jobs and a house and a family spend there money wastefully. if they saved their money up for a while then heck they would not even have to work anymore. they would have so much money in the bank they could just be unemplyed and have plenty of money for food,tv,computer, bills.it would be a very chill relaxing life with no time schedual and just pure peace.

 

Spending money is how some people enjoy their lives. I know people who say they work so they can have money to blow on what the want and what they want to do. Simple pleasures are for some people but others enjoy doing things that cost.

 

that is true guess I am just a simple person. not having anything to do just relaxing having food and a home and I am a happy person.

 

You really think it's a "chilled, relaxing life with no stress" when you have to watch every cent that you spend? I live with someone who does that and it's insane. She worries ALL the time about every device and powerpoint being switched off when it's not used to save electricity, strict 2 minute showers to save water bills, no lights on when no one in the room. I would not want to live like that.

Also, it's pretty expensive to look after a family. I know plenty that watch their money very carefully with no luxuries and still have to work full time to get enough to feed and clothe the kids.

 

yeah i am talking about business men who make 70k usa dollars a year. I mean seriously there are some families who only make 30k a year and do just fine. if that business man were to save 20k a year for 20 years I think that would be enough to not have to worry about eletric bills,food, and water bill for a long time.

trust me you can eat healthy and cheap if you know how to cook. beans are not expensive and are very healthy. hot dogs cheap. turkey sandwiches cheap. noodles cheap. maybe grow garden in backyard for vegetables.

like I can eat very expensive I am talking buying shreeded beef for tacos and burritos and buying chicken and stuff like that and I can still only spend 200 bucks a month for just myself on food and thats eating very very good.

 

it is annoying watching them waste it all (their time and their money)

but it's their choice and Im just fine with that

 

an unemployed, relaxed, tv addict is a leech on society

 

how is someone a leech on society if they save enough money up for 20 years that they no longer have to work?????? a leech is someone who gets payed by the government social security for no reason when they totally can work.

 

I think there's a few problems for people doing this. A big one would be lack of security. A lot of people want to know there is more money coming to keep them afloat. If you save a bunch for many years and stop working, when the time comes that you have no more money then the person will want to go back to work and likely work at around the same level they had before. After taking 10+ years off of work then it would be extremely hard to find a job because that will most certainly be one of their questions about you.

Another thing I could see would be the job giving people a feeling of purpose. I know a lot of people that stopped working only to return part time because they quickly got bored of not working. I'm not saying this goes for everyone, many people can find other things to occupy their time but some people really miss it.

The last thing I could see as an obstacle to doing this is that you have to live very frugal for many years of your younger life to achieve this kind of savings. I don't feel like I need many material things since I actually love trying to live without but many people do feel they need/want these things and their younger years are the time to haphazardly throw money away.

 

There are lots of things I like to spend my money on, especially supplies for crafting things - which relates to my work, which I love.

I'm not necessarily an excessive person. I don't need a big house, flashy car, but I do like nice things. I believe in saving money and investing in things rather than buying worthless shit, I think that's a healthy balance. My weaknesses are cuisine and fashion

 

Realistically, I'm with you. I live mostly a spartan life without that many creature comforts. Instead I just move around a lot and go on adventures.

I'll probably get married again sometime though, having kids and stuff like that cramps a lot of that being able to not worry about earning much money thing.

And Zilla said food. I'm sort of a glutton.

 

The interesting thing is the thread title - WHY work? The ancient greeks saw work as shameful and a disgrace and avoided it as much as possible, yet we see it as the normal activity of life while the citizen that does not work is disgraced. Of course, we need food and shelter and that requires work - but that is completely different from seeing work as the primary activity in life. Anything deviating from that is viewed as abnormal. It is as if we live to work as a common standard - forgetting that work originated in order to live.

 

honestly if I was rich all I would do is travel and try to go on hikes and camping in several different countries. I'd love to travel the world and see different cultures and the different places of nature. I eat a crap load of food too haha but bean and cheese burritos are cheap hahaha. expensive stuff like steak/lobster is not my favorite kind of food so I never have to worry about that haha. if I lived in asia like you i'd probably just be eating a crap load of rice and chicken haha. 5 buck whole chickens

 

That's because for the large majority of people, we work so that other people can live to the extent they wish to. Things are kept at prices that require us to work long hours to afford while companies force a specified number of hours that we must work each day/week/month. It all comes down to feeding more money to the wealthy and greedy few and the present system of capitalism makes this easy to do.

 

well it just depends. people who are sad and depressed and hate their life cus they work a shitty job then yeah working is really just them being slaves for money. is it really worth it??????

personally I don't mind work but I only do work that I like. for example I enjoy fruit picking and land scaping and mowing lawns and helping my neighbor build a fence and stuff like that. but doing a mindless customer service job for some store like a robot is not what I enjoy so I refuse to do it.

I will only do what I don't mind doing when it comes to work

 

I'm not trying to ruffle your feathers but that premise is probably not well considered and should probably not base your appreciation on those parameters.

That is your desire to live could be tested in much more more pressing ways and I think there is probably more gumption there than you immediately recognize.

 

Thoreau said it was quicker to walk from point a to point b than to ride a train. That is because it takes hours of labor to book passage on a train, You have to wait for the train to arrive, time for organization, etc..

There is a difference between what is required and what is desired. I chop wood and carry water, trade for staple. Lots of free time.

 

I worked hard for 30+ years and never once was I able to save a dime..... and I'm not extravagant and never had a family. So I'm not sure how you would propose to save all this money to begin with.

 

Actually I came back to the states in June, and I'm moving away again in January. I've been meaning to change 'ol profile.

You mentioned fruit picking. Strangely enough Australia and New Zealand pay fairly ridiculous salaries to good fruit pickers.

I assume cause they don't have lots of Mexican immigrants. You can do it on a tourist visa too. Then you'll be an illegal alien of course.

 

That is true of most people of to a certain level of income, that we live to the extent of our income always. In a certain sense, or to a certain level of income, money is not worth anything unless you spend it.