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I was downright flabbergasted reading over CNN today and finding one of their top living section stories about a girl living well below her means in Chicago. You can read the whole thing yourself, but it really got me wondering if society is ready to embrace at least some aspects of simple living (or voluntary simplicity, if you’d prefer that term).
The girl featured in the story works for a small non-profit company for a rather low salary, but lives happily and doesn’t struggle or stress over money. She lives so far below her means, in fact, that she never has to balance her check book! Her residence is actually in downtown Chicago, in an “intentional community.” I think there’s a stigma attached to such things, leading us to think of hippie communes somewhere in New Mexico, but its much more modern and pragmatic than that. Here’s a short description from the article:
“Her private quarters — larger and a bit more expensive than some — are about 400 square feet, divided into a sitting room, a craft room and a small bedroom. She shares bathrooms, showers, a kitchen and a large dining room with 28 other residents whose ranks include young professionals, professors and retirees.”
Some people may prefer buying their own residence, but living in downtown Chicago without a need for a car and paying $775 a month for housing, food, and utilities combined sounds like a pretty sweet deal.
Does this mean that a lot more people are ready to move in to shared space communities? I doubt it, but at the very least it gets people to think about their current situation and realize they really don’t need as much as they have.