How Living Smaller Gave Me Financial Freedom

The day I officially became free, was Dec 1st, 2018. A day that I will always celebrate. The last part of the plan to close a 30-year chapter in my life occurred at 10:45am that morning. I sold my business and that was the closing date. It was the last thing that tied me to the great American Dream and living in the rat race. Closing that door for the last time was symbolic to me. It represented the official end to a 30-year chapter in my life. When I heard the sound of the door closing. The feeling I had at the time, no words can describe other than the feeling of being finally free, I knew I would never work another day in my life. I had a basic plan already in place.

Before that date, it was May 1st, 2018 that I officially decided to take back my life. I had decided to lead a simpler lifestyle which included living smaller, but larger and living within my means which meant no more debt. After 30-plus years of living in the rat race and pursuing the American Dream, I was tired, I was finished, I was done. It was time to start a new chapter in my life, a life of freedom and choices

Walking out that door left me in the position where at 52, widowed and with no real source or prospects of an income, though I did have a bit of money from selling everything But, when I talked things over with my financial expert, I was informed that the amount I had, was nowhere near what I would need to live happily ever after. That was also when I realized that they worked on a commission basis and the more I had with them, the more they made, but that's business. But I was also planning on earning an income, I didn't know what I was going to do yet but earning this income this time around would be on my terms. I felt like I had served my time in the rat race, and I would do everything humanly possible to make sure I would never have to return.

My answer to my dilemma of still wanting to earn an income but not wanting to work a traditional job for me was simple. The plan I had when I walked out of the door of my business for the last time was this. I wanted to build several passive income streams and side hustles. But first, I needed to take several months off to research my options and to get use to the concept of being, free

Stage 1 - Downsize my lifestyle and become debt-free and live a simpler but pay-cash lifestyle.

Stage 2 - Living just below my means. I purchased a smaller home, paying cash This home was a lot more practical and suited my needs. With the remaining funds left over from the home purchase. I wanted to set up an annuity to receive a basic monthly income. I was still years away from collecting a government pension. By doing this, I could then create a budget to live off of. It also ensured that the funds I had, would last for quite a while.

Stage 3 — My plans for an income. I had the idea to build several websites with specific products with companies that would dropship their products. I would then bring aboard affiliate marketers to market the sites and drive sales.

Stage 4 - Start working on a concept that I figured out called content repurposing. This would include creating an article and posting it on several pay-per-view sites. Using the same article but modified slightly for a blog, then a chapter in a book as well as a script for a YouTube video, and a podcast... I learned all this by watching YouTube. It seemed simple and foolproof to me. I fully believed the YouTube videos I was watching. After all, they were the guru's, they even told me this themselves. This concept would also create multiple sources of passive income, and I really liked that idea.

The websites. At first was doing ok, I had set up three dropshipping stores, each with a different theme. Then about six months into this project. The pandemic hit, shutting down my suppliers. I tried to sell the sites but ended up just shutting it down. I also discovered that dropshipping was a lot of work, and I definitely would not call it a passive income source

The downsizing of my life and leading a simpler lifestyle went a lot better and was easier than I thought. Best move ever made. It did take me a little bit of time to adjust, but once I did adjust, I now had no stress, no debt, and basically no bills. After shutting down the dropshipping stores, I now had the time to concentrate on the concept of what I mentioned before, content repurposing

For starters, I changed my lifestyle and outlook on life, which included living just below my means and not always buying the latest and greatest to have bragging rights and say look at what I have. I live a very nice and comfortable lifestyle for less than $1700 a month. This is due to mostly having no debts and living within my means. On average, I spend around $1525 per month on living expenses, which includes everything. Here is my average cost of living breakdown, as of 2020, for just myself only. I will do another cost of living in another article as my living situation completely changed, I moved abroad.

$475 per month condo HOA fees and insurance

$300 per month for utilities (electricity, water, internet...)

$275 for vehicles - this includes gas, insurance, and basic maintenance if and when needed

$400 per month on groceries

The remainder is miscellaneous expenses

I do have funds set aside for those just-in-case moments as well

For my medical. The premiums are covered under the business I sold for the next ten years. This is part of the selling agreement. In exchange, I remain on staff in an unpaid consulting position. I have yet to be consulted

I also have no debts, not even a credit card bill

The content creation business is doing great and is a form of passive income. My new wife, Joylyn works alongside me, and together we average about 10 hours each week working. The annuity still pays out every month. I started receiving payments of $2000 per month. I chose to reduce this to a lesser amount as I didn’t need the money. The annuity covers my cost of living. Anything that is earned above this amount is donated to various causes.

Though yes, I still work. But I am no longer living to work and love and enjoy what I do, it also helps when you have an amazing lady by your side working with you, yes, I had recently remarried in 2024. When we work, it’s to enhance our lives. We also work because we want to, not because we have to. When we do decide to work, most of the time our feet are in the sand, and that’s what we wanted and had dreamed about, and now I am living it. I credit living my dream life to giving up chasing the American dream where you are never satisfied with what you have and always want more. I also call this giving up on chasing the greed mindset where you are always wanting more.

How To Achieve Freedom in Life, The Things I did.

A lifestyle Plan for Retirement

Cost of Living for a Simple Lifestyle

They say if you love what you do. You will ever work another day in your life again. This statement is so true. I haven't worked since Dec 1st, 2018

Always remember to Live Life, Live Free and Live your Dreams