Truly, what’s an affordable luxury and what does it have to do with us?
Figuring out what we stand for and what matters to us has been a big theme for LifeViewers last year. As much as we love travelling to explore and sharing our experiences, there are other topics that we care about equally, if not more. One such topic is finding ways to live a better life by making small changes in our everyday lives.
It’s only a few weeks ago that we recalled the powerful quote by Tim Ferris we shared in “You’re Already A Millionaire: Live Like One!”, one of our first videos on YouTube.
“People don’t want to be millionaires. They want to experience what they believe only millions can buy.” – Tim Ferriss
Don’t we all want to live an extraordinary life? A life free of concern and full of joy in which we can realize our dreams as we go, without waiting until we become older or wiser?
Being happy doesn’t always have to cost a lot of money or be years away. That luxury and meaning you look for are probably closer than you think. All you need to do is acknowledge it, look for it and seize it.
We are not experts in filmmaking or reviewing, neither are we life couches, but we feel that we are onto something with our constant dedication to improving our lives for these past two years. And it’s that mindset and ideas that we want to share with you more than ever in 2018. So here’s a warm welcome to a brand new section on our blog, called “Affordable Luxuries”.
The three affordable luxury types you can start working on today
Affordable luxuries have a number of different definitions, ranging from “quality products with steep but affordable prices”, to “products that are not necessarily useful”. Our favourite, is “affordable luxuries [are] well-made, elegant items that give pleasure, but don’t need to cost a fortune”, written by Neil Santelmann for Forbes back in 2005. Neil explores how getting a good deal can lift your spirits and leave you better off than going for the most expensive option. But hey, an affordable luxury doesn’t have to be a product at all.
We wholly support the idea of improving financial education, scavenging for great deals, making the most of our time, and of course, pursuing our passions. For us, these are the three affordable luxury types:
- Owning our free time
- Financial education and buying quality products
- Pursuing passions and experiences
And in our minds, all three can be improved without anything much else than a change in your mindset. All great change starts with a simple thought, and that’s where we begin.
1. Freedom of choice and productivity
Having the freedom to do what you desire at any given time is one of life’s greatest luxuries. We are tied down by commitments to our jobs, friends and family, and even the society. It’s quite rare for us to have the free time to truly immerse ourselves in an activity that would make us happy.
Seems like productivity has been a strong theme for the best part of this century. Being conscious of your input at work and your free time balance is a difficult puzzle to solve, especially when the prices for properties, products and overall experiences keep going up and there is no straight line one can take.
Time is a resource we can’t buy back, we can only gain time by saving it. You need to carefully evaluate how much each “free” hour you have is worth and work backwards from there. Be wise how you spend the time you have outside of work and commuting. If you want to start a side project, you’ll need to commit to it. Hopefully, the time spent will justify itself quickly and you will gain more freedom to do as you please.
The ability to say no to what you don’t feel like doing is a luxury too.
We encourage you to look for areas in your life that you are stuck doing because of X, Y and Z, then see if it’s something you can turn around. That’s what we have been doing and we will be sharing more on this in the near future.
2. Owning the material side of things
Unless you are a successful businessman with a few hundred thousands of <insert currency> in your bank account, you are likely to feel limited by the money you have and what you can afford. As a bare minimum of a magnificent life, we need a home. But how do you go from a student with a loan above your head and renting, to owning a piece of land and building your own house? Hard work, investments, diversifying incomes and side hustles. That’s the approach for now, but we will only know for sure after we achieve this (which we hope we will).
The secondary theme we would love to explore more is what we, as humans, choose to spend our money on. We have already become richer and afforded bigger travel plans, like our road trip to Italy and France last summer by being smart about what we buy and when. To achieve this, we didn’t simply spend less on everyday activities but also learnt how to save more money, the smart way.
3. Pursuing your passions
One evening, Oskar asked me: “What is the one thing you could spend ridiculous amounts of money on without regretting it? For me, it’s cars”. Personally, I couldn’t give a straight answer, and as much as I love beautifully designed jewellery and clothes, I wouldn’t be able to afford the ones I adore until I make six figures every year, but he was onto something there.
Being mindful of our time and money is important, but a life without pursuing your passions and dreams can be indeed an empty one.
So ask yourself, what are you passionate about and what’s stopping you from pursuing a dream you have dreamt for years? You don’t have to focus on the big steps far in the future like how to publish your book if you haven’t started writing it yet. Start small, but do something for yourself today.
Tying things up
Life is full of distractions and it’s *so* easy to fall into the trap of mediocrity where we prefer comfort over the slightest chance of failure. Isn’t it much easier to not wish for things and not get them, than to live through the heartbreak of trying hard and leaving empty-handed?
In our eyes, it’s better to spend years trying than have never tried at all. As a couple, we aim to live a limitless life, always curious and overcoming our glass ceilings. And we hope that we can share all the lessons we have learnt with you as we have shared some of our more entertaining moments with you prior.
Thank you very much for watching our videos, following us on social media and reading this blog – it means the world to us. And if some of what we know can nudge you in the right direction of living your best life, it’s more than we could hope for.
Stay tuned for many more blogs discussing the topics above and more of our adventures in travel. In the meantime, we would love to know what you think about our definition of an affordable luxury and if you agree with what we propose!
P.S. We are very much at the start of our journey and we want this blog to be a space where we and our readers come together to discuss great ideas. So please, do participate!