I watched the Oprah last week about class issues and it was interesting how shocked people were when they realized that they had moved from middle class to poverty. All of the stories were of people who had made that change due to unwelcome circumstances (job loss, layoffs...). They weren't prepared and they were shocked that it had happened.
Let me tell you dear readers - our family made the choice to become poor by Americas definition. We jumped off the corporate train 7 years ago and moved to rural Americal - knowing that our paychecks and health insurance wouldn't be coming with us. When we decided to make this move we were told by friends that we were nuts. That we were leaving the one true meaning of life - money defining happiness and success. Unfortunately for them, we don't believe in that value of life and so we ditched our San Francisco lifestyle to move to Arkansas.
What have we given up - eating out, high rents, fast internet, new cars, health insurance, museums and theater. Things that add to the ease of life.
What have we gained - a home with 13 acres, a garden that feeds us all summer, chickens with enough eggs for 4 families, time (although as you know I don't have enough of that), quiet.
Are there problems - absolutely. We have very little new things. We don't go to the doctor unless we have to. We are not protected if we become very ill. Every new expense (car breaking down, house issues, college expenses) are incredibly stressful. Not enough money to cover everything and so things are done in stages. No credit - once you choose poverty you don't exactly have the picture of credit worthiness - which is fine because it means very little debt. And friends - I think they worry and are reluctant to include us in things because they aren't sure if we have the money to cover the expenses.
Do I miss my city middle class life (we were upper middle class)? No, we never had enough then either. When you make more money it just gets spent - things were expensive and we didn't have savings then either. I wish we had a little more cushion, but we don't and worrying about it doesn't make it better.
Are our needs met? Mostly. We don't have everything we want, but we mostly have everything we need. A nice balance. I thing many people who think they are middle class are really poor - they just don't feel poor and that is a fine thing. Is money the only value in which we divide people?
So, Oprah and friends - being poor by choice isn't so bad - really.
