4 ms·

This is tough, man. Some things I did when I was younger that helped me with this: 1) Go for a period of time (I did a month) living off of rice and beans (as

by blhack 9y ago

This is tough, man. Some things I did when I was younger that helped me with this: 1) Go for a period of time (I did a month) living off of rice and beans (as far as I can find, the cheapest way to get close to a complete meal)[1] 2) Pare down everything in your life that isn't absolutely necessary. I put my bed in storage and lived in a hammock for a year. Cut out hot water for a period, stuff like that. Once you do some of those things and realize that you can do it, living on a small income (or savings) in order to work on something becomes a lot easier. I'm really lucky in that my runway is infinite, and a big part of it is because of the things that I listed. I know exactly how much the minimum I need to live off of is, I know what its like to live on that amount of money, and I know that it isn't scary. [0]: A lot of the world lives off of this. I'm not saying that this is a path to complete nutrition. It isn't. Everyone should eat a balanced diet.

RangerScience 9y ago
This is pretty brilliant. Definitely part of my stress was my rent; and I never felt bad spending money on groceries. I'm always tempted to do something like this anyway; the minimalist approach really appeals to me.
- blhack 9y ago
  Don't get too bogged down in being a minimalist, though. You definitely don't have to get rid of everything in your house or anything.
  - RangerScience 9y ago
    Will do. I feel it as a pull rather than a drive, a nice counterbalance to the hoarding instinct. It's almost more about making sure everything's in the rest of my life, rather than where I sleep, if that makes any sense?
    - blhack 9y ago
      That makes complete sense.
  - tutufan 9y ago
    You might rather enjoy it though.
meddlepal 9y ago
Question... how did your back feel sleeping on a hammock for a year?
- Theodores 9y ago
  Hammocks are not a problem for the back just so long as there is sufficient tension in the strings and that the hammock does not hang too low. You sleep with your feet up - good after a day on your feet - and, because your body weight pulls the hammock straight, you have a very well supported and straight back. Once in a hammock there is no 'swaying', the feeling is more like being in a flotation tank. If you have enough duvet, pillows, blankets and the like you can sleep in other positions and move with relative ease. I badly pulled a calf muscle once and spent a fortnight getting back to strength, given the option of a normal double bed or a hammock slung above, I found at the hammock provided me with the sleep I could not get in the normal bed below. Sadly I had to move from that attic room and I lost the anchor points needed for the hammock. I believe a hammock offers better support and comfort for a back.
- nwatson 9y ago
  In hammocks from Brazil you sleep diagonal to the "axis" of the hammock and your body is almost rod-straight. Your back will feel just fine after a night sleeping like this.
  - DashRattlesnake 9y ago
    > In hammocks from Brazil you sleep diagonal to the "axis" of the hammock and your body is almost rod-straight. Can you find a pic demonstrating what you mean?
    - aashishkoirala 9y ago
      http://www.treklightgear.com/treklife/hammock-angle/ http://www.treklightgear.com/treklife/hammock-angle/ ... skip to where it talks about the angle.
      - 9y ago

by blhack 9y ago

RangerScience 9y ago

This is pretty brilliant. Definitely part of my stress was my rent; and I never felt bad spending money on groceries. I'm always tempted to do something like this anyway; the minimalist approach really appeals to me.

blhack 9y ago
Don't get too bogged down in being a minimalist, though. You definitely don't have to get rid of everything in your house or anything.
- RangerScience 9y ago
  Will do. I feel it as a pull rather than a drive, a nice counterbalance to the hoarding instinct. It's almost more about making sure everything's in the rest of my life, rather than where I sleep, if that makes any sense?
  - blhack 9y ago
    That makes complete sense.
- tutufan 9y ago
  You might rather enjoy it though.

meddlepal 9y ago

Question... how did your back feel sleeping on a hammock for a year?

Theodores 9y ago
Hammocks are not a problem for the back just so long as there is sufficient tension in the strings and that the hammock does not hang too low. You sleep with your feet up - good after a day on your feet - and, because your body weight pulls the hammock straight, you have a very well supported and straight back. Once in a hammock there is no 'swaying', the feeling is more like being in a flotation tank. If you have enough duvet, pillows, blankets and the like you can sleep in other positions and move with relative ease. I badly pulled a calf muscle once and spent a fortnight getting back to strength, given the option of a normal double bed or a hammock slung above, I found at the hammock provided me with the sleep I could not get in the normal bed below. Sadly I had to move from that attic room and I lost the anchor points needed for the hammock. I believe a hammock offers better support and comfort for a back.
nwatson 9y ago
In hammocks from Brazil you sleep diagonal to the "axis" of the hammock and your body is almost rod-straight. Your back will feel just fine after a night sleeping like this.
- DashRattlesnake 9y ago
  > In hammocks from Brazil you sleep diagonal to the "axis" of the hammock and your body is almost rod-straight. Can you find a pic demonstrating what you mean?
  - aashishkoirala 9y ago
    http://www.treklightgear.com/treklife/hammock-angle/ http://www.treklightgear.com/treklife/hammock-angle/ ... skip to where it talks about the angle.
    - 9y ago