A Covert Operative’s New Year’s Resolution 2022
Working OPS with tight budgets while living like a monk forced me to master frugality throughout the years, but living in Bali through the pandemic…
…has made me less financially strategic in regards to daily life spending. Meaning my cost of living has sharply increased due to my own negligence, carelessness, gluttony and pursuit of gratification.
The irony is that Bali, Indonesia is one of the least expensive cities to live in as a foreigner.
Since I retired from the agency a decade ago, I’ve travelled the world non-stop, city-to-city, country-to-country. I continued to master the art of frugality in my nomadic life. Reducing my cost of living to much lower levels than living back “home” in New York City.
I got to live a lot of life while saving a lot of money.
Regardless of how much income I had coming in any given month, my spending was always extremely low – as an independent contractor who didn’t have to work, my income from this was erratic, rarely taking gigs.
Now in Bali for almost a full year, this is the longest I’ve been in the same country without going to another since I became a nomad in the summer of 2012.
Maybe that’s why. This island has become my de facto home during the pandemic, so it contributed to me being less financially responsible, if that makes sense… I got too comfortable, lazy and less focused.
So my resolution going into the new year is to get back into form, the operator / monk finance form.
Buy only the things I need, don’t chase luxuries, cook at home more, spend less on unhealthy consumables like alcohol, desserts and invest the money saved from this.
To spend strategically again.
Remember that just because something seems cheap or at a discount doesn’t mean you should buy it. And just because of the low prices doesn’t mean you should get lots of it or keep getting it.
A lot of a little can equal to a great many.
Money, any form of money is infinite and therefore infinitely available, but it takes our time and effort to acquire those moneys.
But our time, the human lifespan time is quite limited.
A spartan lifestyle by choice now can give you a lifestyle of any type you want later.
Happy new year.