Can you improve your standard of living without making more money?

invisibleman

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Are there things you can do to improve the quality of your life that don't cost much or are free?

It would depend on the specifics and the objectives of what qualities of life you are wanting to change. What is wrong with your life? What outcomes do you want to achieve and sustain?

Quality of life can mean many things to many people.
 

cockoloco

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i would really depend on the person's personality and needs.

Some people are just happy to stop five minutes, close their eyes and enjoy pure air or the sound of leaves.

Some people would be immensly bored or disturbed by that.

it really changes for every individual
 

Domisoldo

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Liberate yourself from the credit card / consumer debt trap. Punish the crooks by paying off the full balance each month and use and abuse the free float and other credit card perks at the scumbags' expense.

With 1,000s of dollars you'll save on obscene finance charges, late fees, overlimit fee, fees on fees and interest on fees on fees, you can buy yourself a trip to Florence, Italy, an exclusive club membership, a tailor-made tuxedo, a state-of-the-art mountain bike, a Rolex, or whatever floats your boat.
 

Principessa

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Can you improve your standard of living without making more money?
Yes, if you are willing and able to cut back on creature comforts, luxuries and stop using credit cards.

Are there things you can do to improve the quality of your life that don't cost much or are free?
Did you realize you asked two very different questions? I know many people with a great quality of life that many would consider to be poor or barely middle-class.

Some Suggestions:
  • Change your job to something less stressful
  • Exercise
  • Volunteer
  • Go 48 hours without criticizing anyone or anything (Trust me, it's not as easy as it sounds)
  • Become more spiritual, This needn't mean go to church.
Start working out?
I was gonna say that. :cool:
 
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psidom

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if you are not afraid of becoming "weird" than i am sure you can improve.

i never bought an SUV,house,kid,diamond ring,picket fence,plasma screen tv, go out to restaurants for timekilling, or stripclubs.

i am weird though.
i like spending 2 hours playing with my girlfriends nerves
and then i spend about 45 minutes writing in my journal as she bathes
in a salt bath with various oils that i prepared.
open windows,candles,music and convos is my media/medicine.

no MANLY MAN would dig that.
the ballgame is in mind,or the hot chick next door is in mind.
and the women would rather i put a diamond ring in the bath, than oils. ;)

they entertain themselves usually with money.
from my experience of 29 years...the spirit is what we are tring to
unfold when we open our wallet.
what we need to do is find our lostheart that was taken by popular demand.

sex,love,romance, a return to the childs mind.
this is a big money saver if you are willing to surrender your care
for reputation,ego,and the boxed idea of success that society has.

we have a lifetime to succeed,and it has nothing to do with money or status.

close your wallet and open your mind.
the entertainment is free and everlasting.
 

jason_els

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All these above are great ideas and I support them.

The first thing to do is to let the Joneses be the Joneses and you be you. Just don't give a damn about what everybody else has. When I bought my last car I got a Subaru Forester. Other guys at my job were driving more expensive SUVs or sports cars. A few single guys had baby Benzes or BMWs. Now I love driving and think few things so much fun as taking a good car through the twisties, but when I looked at how much even those small, more expensive cars were, I realized the car would be owning me. They weren't even that good. My Subaru would be more useful in winter and plenty of fun if I got the turbo model and I'd still be spending less than they did. They were paying for a nameplate with less performance. Would I love a BMW? Sure! The 535ix has the finest 6 inline 6 cylinder engine ever created. I figured however, to afford that, I'd have to earn about $200,000 a year and I didn't even make 1/4 of that. Here in my town, people have bought McMansions and honking SUVs, yet can barely furnish their houses. This latest economic crisis has hit them hard. Those houses aren't green and neither are those SUVs. Fuck that!

When you stop caring about labels and what everybody else is doing, then you can live pretty freely. Up until I lost my job, I lived pretty quietly, always managing to save something from every paycheck. Once in a while I'd go to a fancy restaurant or buy some new toy and that was cool. When I went to Bermuda two years ago, my coworkers were shocked because they couldn't afford it. I paid for it all before I even left home and pointed out to one guy that hey, I didn't have a garage full of riding toys like he did, I wasn't going to the city to party every weekend, I wasn't hanging out in bars, I wasn't shopping at designer boutiques. Value is what impresses me when I buy something. I'll pay more if what I'm buying will last longer than the cheaper kind.

Above all, don't live above your means. Media these days is very luxury-focused. Look at the marketing power of the luxury brands! It's amazing! Everyone feels they're entitled to be shopping at luxury places. Ages ago, the top luxury brands were relatively tiny with just a few stores here and there in major cities. Now stores like Gucci and Chanel have shops everywhere. This is because people are living off of credit cards. They see the advertising, they see the TV shows, like Housewives of Orange County, and videos extolling the magnficence of bling, and people just get the idea they have to have a piece of that, completely forgetting that it will come back to bite them in the ass in 30 days.

Be your man, watch your spending, always have some money set aside for emergencies, buy for value, and focus on what you really enjoy doing. It takes discipline to do this, but it's very much worth it. When hard times hit, you'll be thankful.
 

SpeedoGuy

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I live just to lace up a pair of hiking boots and head out onto the trails each weekend. Hiking's a simple pleasure that sustains me when other parts of my life stress me out.
 

marleyisalegend

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1. Clipping coupons. A local reporter went to a grocery store with a surplus of coupons, she got $200 worth of groceries for $30.

2. Smelling the roses. Don't obssess over what you don't have, appreciate what you do hae.
 

wonderland

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Save money on books and and DVDs by borrowing them from the library. It sounds like a little thing but over a year it can save a lot of money.

Reevaluate your priorities. Think about how you spend your money. It is nice to have all the new gadgets but is it more important than piece of mind? Make a budget and stick to it.

Do something nice for someone everyday, if you can. You will feel better about yourself and make that other person feel better too.
 

marleyisalegend

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Reevaluate your priorities. Think about how you spend your money. It is nice to have all the new gadgets but is it more important than piece of mind? Make a budget and stick to it.

AMEN. Americans living above their means is part of this whole financial crisis we're in. People who make minimum wage just HAVE to have the newest Spring phone, $200 jeans and a flat screen, and we're buying all of this trash on credit that we can't pay back.
 
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transformer_99

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Are there things you can do to improve the quality of your life that don't cost much or are free?

Can you improve your standard of living without making more money ?

NO, or at least I don't perceive it to be possible.

standard of living: Definition and Much More from Answers.com
well-being: Definition, Synonyms and Much More from Answers.com

There are things that you can do that are free or less expensive than other things. But let's face it, as the basest of human needs continues to experience inflation. Pay us more so that we can decide for ourselves what to fore go or have. Not having the means really takes all the choice out of the equation for determining what it is that will improve the quality of our lives.
 

Domisoldo

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When faced with a choice between consuming good or service X and paying off debt instead with the money, consider that the latter is the ultimate luxury: financial independence, freedom, the priceless pleasure of not owing shit to anyone and being the master of your destiny.
 

Phil Ayesho

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Standard of living....

that's your problem right there....

That term is synonymous with "consumerism"... i.e. the more you consume, the higher your standard of living.


That is not the same as being happy. In many ways, the two are at odds.

Consuming is predicated upon want... and want is the desire for that which you don't have.
The condition of being a consumer... of having a standard of living... IS the condition of being in a perpetual state of want.


The trick to being happy is simple.
The less you think about you and your needs... the happier you will be.


No matter how much you earn, arrange your life such that you SPEND, each month, just a little less than you earn.

At the end of each month, if you are 5 bucks in the red... you will be miserable... if you are 5 bucks in the black... you will be happy.

Follow the path of heart... right action and right livelihood make for a satisfied and joyous life.

BE the person you can admire. Do not doing things you know are wrong, act honorably in all interactions... don't cheat, don't steal... having a better life starts with self respect.


And lastly... give up on eternity. Belief in an imaginary afterlife is nothing but an excuse for procrastination. As if you will have forever to make amends, to tell someone you love them, to prance around in wings with a harp.

It ain't gonna happen... this is your one and only shot at making a memory... doing something amazing... or doing something good.
Never let yourself forget that you will be a long, long, long, long looooonnnnnggg time dead.
 

earllogjam

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Boy, this is gonna sound like some Dear Abby column but here are my suggestions...

-Learn to cook. It's cheaper, healthier, and tastier to make your own food. I get a lot of enjoyment for cooking really good food at home and for others hosting dinner parties and house parties. Food has always been THE thing that entertaining revolves around at least in my life. Good Food is a Good Life in my book. Nothing like a great summer BBQ with friends.

-Live closer to work so you don't waste you time stuck in traffic.

- Plant a Meyer Lemon tree in a sunny corner of your yard. You'll have lemons year round and so many left over that you can give them to neighbors of anyone who comes to your house.

- Have lots and lots of friends. They can help you out and give you advice on things you don't know very well. Friends have helped me on many many things from referring a good plumber to financial and medical advice. They can also help you move - especially the ones with pickup trucks.

- Meditate - makes the same day to day world more bearable and sweeter.

- Have a job you enjoy doing. Hell it takes up 8 plus hours of your day.

- Daily Yoga stretches - keeps the bod in condition - limber, feeling loose and relaxed.

- Get a pet. Can't tell you how wonderful having my dog is.

- Kill your television. It is an insidious time suck. Time which along with health are the only things you really get in life why squander it in front of the boob tube?
 
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EboniGoddess

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there's a 70 something y.o. NBA referee and he runs 2 miles a day on top of the running he has to do to keep up with the players. They say the older you are the less you are supposed to work out but if you start young then it comes natural when you're older. I can bench press more than my brother and out run him. What else can help? Eating meat....protein is key for your brain stimulation and being a vegan increases your chances of getting alzsehimers and other diseases that are affected by the brain. Multivitamins help.....my grandmother doesn't eat dairy products and now she has osteoporosis (if thats how you spell it) so if there are certain foods you don't like then find out what nutrients they provide and depending on how often you should eat them you might want to take a vitamin or mineral every other day or so. Whatever you do don't take those 5 hour energy drinks. There are natural supplements that can help with energy.