We have been asked more times than we can recall “why would you move away from Silicon Valley”. You can’t understand until you’ve lived there. It is an amazing place, but it is not the ultimate place. We left because we had somewhere to be. We were pursuing financial simplicity. We were pursuing adoption in a place where we would have time to be parents.
After the move we heard or better said, we had eyes to see a subtle exodus. Many people who lived there became hungry to be less financially indebted. And it is a valid deep desire. Security from a lack of debt point of view. The more money come un, the looser you get with money, and they start to own you. You start to feel like you can’t live without them. We were paid together in our first year 50K, and we barely made ends meet. While paying $1441 on rent alone, we had little to no money for anything but our basic needs.
With every year we got raises, and the year before leaving for Romania we made 120K together. And the spending raced neck in neck with the income. We went on more trips, we bought another new car, we bought more clothes, more toys, more technology, gave gifts more generously and so on.
But the more we had, the more dependent to this number we became. We couldn’t fathom ever making less, thus reducing our lifestyle. It is a bondage of sort.
Moving to Romania we lived on less than 1000 dollars a month. And for the first year we purchased absolutely no clothes, no toys, no technology. We just bought nice furniture for the apartment and made it comfortable to live in.
The blockage is in our head. We believe the money we have to spend define us and our value. But the bottom line is a matter of discipline. I can’t stress this enough. We all struggle with it, adults and children alike. And adults without self discipline can’t help children acquire it.
It is ok to say to your family: “we don’t have money for this game or this experience”. Denying yourself a shopping experience will not scar you, on the contrary, it will build character.
We worry about current and next projects, about income, about our financial future, but just enough to keep us engaged and creative. Otherwise, we make time for fun, friends and family.