ANN CROTTY: Learning to live with less
Why my friends are cutting back on their spending
The most unlikely of my friends are becoming rabid environmentalists and are now almost able to live off the grid in their middle-class suburban residence.
The best investment decision I have ever made was to quit full-time work for a year to pursue a master’s in company law. I now feel a little less daunted when someone makes reference to some or other section of the new Companies Act. But it wasn’t that I got a financial payback from knowing a bit more about the law that made it a good investment. Rather, being without full-time work meant I had to relearn how to live like a student or, more appropriate to my future, like a pensioner without a defined benefit pension. I did have freelance work but my disposable income was cut by about two-thirds. Amazingly, I survived the year well. I cut back considerably on a lot of purchased consumption but never once felt that I was doing without. Of course even at my reduced income I was still much better off than the vast majority of working South Africans. Moving to Cape Town helped. Though accommodation and restaurants seem to be more expensive here, stepping outside the door doesn’t always n...
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