Easier said than done

I read where there is a fledgling movement underway in North Dakota to entirely do away with property taxes.  'Course, the pesky 'ol issue of how to replace the loss of revenue remains (and no, they haven't found THAT much oil!).  One quote I heard did make sense, however.  A guy said. "Even if my house were paid for, I'd still have those taxes.  We're always renters, never homeowners."


Interesting...  Case in point, my brother has a large house, a true McMansion, and his monthly taxes are more than my rent.  True, he and his wife have 5-times the space to ramble around in than K and I do, but so what?  How much space to you need to eat, sleep, read the paper, and watch TV?  I can understand a bit larger home during those years you're raising a family, but those years do have an expiration date.  


We as a society seem intent on living in larger and larger houses, I guess because we need the space for the more and more stuff we buy.  It's just a vicious circle.  And if we one day decide we'll "downsize", that's when we realize all that stuff we've spent a lifetime collecting will have to be discarded, something most of us are unwilling to do.  


My advice?  Learn early on to buck the trend and live modest.  Instead of impressing your friends with your "stuff", impress them with photos of your world travels for example.  Travels you could afford because you didn't buy all that "stuff".


You'll now excuse me while I leave my Apple computer, turn off my big screen TV, and go sit in my overstuffed leather chair and read my Kindle.  Have a good day everyone.  ;)


S