Minimalist living in Pattaya

[topt]

Being a minimalist is also about doing things yourself instead of paying..sometimes this is hard ..for example walking instead of getting a mbike taxi etc.

Sometimes we pay people to do things because we are lazy..or its quicker or more convenient. ..other times because we dont bother to learn how to do it ourselves.

Today i had met up a aqaitance who was taking his clothes to have buttons sewed back on that had snapped off due to his weight .

I asked him why he didnt sew his own buttons on?

"Why do I have to when i can pay someone he said.

Truth is...he doesnt know how to sew a button on..not his fault he has never been taught.

Part of life..even if your retired is to maintain your life skills..to learn how to look after yourself..whether that be cooking or sewing or financial .

Dont rely on others. .rely on yourself..dont rely on others to be there for you..help yourself.

You should never stop learning..sometimes Homepro have free weekend courses in tiling...painting etc .

Im surprised by the number of farangs I meet who had good jobs in their previous life but cannot do things themselves.

Overall I don't disagree with you but -

"Im surprised by the number of farangs I meet who had good jobs in their previous life but cannot do things themselves."

Perhaps because they were too busy working and being cash rich but time poor they prioritised any spare time for things they wanted to do so it was their priority and best option to get someone else to do it for them

[georgegeorgia]

I will give you an example. ..a friend of mine who has now passed..arrived here in Thailand after a nasty divorce.

He had been a CEO of a large Company or in management roles...but when he arrived in Pattaya he still couldnt do things such as arrange qoutes or tradesmen for his condo...he couldnt or didnt have the confidence to cancel appointments..he didnt have the confidence to complain about things..etc..why?

Because he always..always had a secretary to do that for him.

Even once we as a group we ..had arranged to go out on a week night to a restaurant. .he didnt turn up..his mobile was off..not until the next day I saw him to ask what happened..why he didnt turn up?

He then went on with a BS story of taxi breaking down etc.

But i saw through him and he eventually explained he didnt have the confidence to call us to cancel our meeting...because...he had never done that before!

You see these people who are in the leadership roles become less confident in themselves as they get older because they have always told others to do it for them...they become weak ..they cant adapt to challenges in life.

Here is a man..CEO once of many big companies...BUT always got other people to do the hard things in life for him....when the time came of being by himself and not relying on others. .he couldnt do it....why?...he hadnt had any experience cancelling appoitmnts he hadnt even bothered firing his own employees. .he got others to do it...he became WEAK.

Edited March 8, 2015 by georgegeorgia

[canarysun]

Living i Thailand you really don't need a car or motorbike.Most people who have these things are "bloody lazy " i walked 15 Km every day (and that was just taking it easy...) if you don't like walking then invest 500 baht in a secondhand bicycle.Great climate and good for you! i haven't watched TV in 25 years either! (what a waste of time...) i only shave once a week (it keeps my overheads nice and low ) The world is full of materialistic people who don't realize that living as a Minimalist can make you a happier and better person!

Greetings to you all viewers (Sitting in my Porsche 911 Turbo....)

F.J x

[micmichd]

What is TV?

[VIPinthailand]

What is TV?

travestit

[zierf1]

Living i Thailand you really don't need a car or motorbike.Most people who have these things are "bloody lazy " i walked 15 Km every day (and that was just taking it easy...) if you don't like walking then invest 500 baht in a secondhand bicycle.Great climate and good for you! i haven't watched TV in 25 years either! (what a waste of time...) i only shave once a week (it keeps my overheads nice and low ) The world is full of materialistic people who don't realize that living as a Minimalist can make you a happier and better person!

Greetings to you all viewers (Sitting in my Porsche 911 Turbo....)

F.J x

Great idea. A little bike is all a guy needs to get to bigc. I personally walk 100% of the time everywhere in Pattaya from my 3000 baht/month fan room. I prefer not to use motorbike taxis as they like to overcharge me thinking I'm a 2 week millionaire.

[joesanunu]

Shaving once a week to keep overhead low?

[canarysun]

Shaving once a week to keep overhead low?

Yes only once a week -razors are expensive in Thailand @ 5 baht each

[georgegeorgia]

I have a beard so rarely use the expensive razors.

Walking in Pattaya actually awakens your senses...walk towards oncoming traffic...you at first become hypervigilant but after you will get use to it...a good pair of shoes to protect your feet..a lightbackpack..bottled water..light colored clothes...yes i carry pepper spray for the dogs.

I dont care if the Thai owners are there..last week I sprayed 4 dogs outside a Laundry that wouldnt let me pass...I was with a Thai friend at the time..the Thai dog owners completely oblivious to their dogs soon woke up when i sprayed their dogs. .im sorry im not going to be bitten on the legs..use your assertiveness skills as i said before.

Edited March 8, 2015 by georgegeorgia

[longstebe]

I must take George for a drink, he is brilliant.

Didn't like the spraying of the dogs business but......

[siam2007]

I must take George for a drink, he is brilliant.

Didn't like the spraying of the dogs business but......

agree

he should rather spray the owners of those dogs as those are the ones who deserve it ;-)

[MrWorldwide]

I must take George for a drink, he is brilliant.

Didn't like the spraying of the dogs business but......

Au contraire - its about the only thing he's typed that I agree with. I would actually prefer something more visceral - an Australian stock whip springs to mind ... sadly. I doubt that most Thais would grasp that cracking a whip is more theatre than anything else but dogs have an immediate physical reaction to a whip. Unless they've been conditioned to accept someone cracking a whip - think cattle dogs that work for a living - chances are they'll rapidly lose interest in barking or growling at you. Unlike pepper spray, if you get it right you might end up with an act you can take to WS

[petercool]

Troll post with gross pics removed

[VIPinthailand]

buy food on market

buy a second hand scooter.

get a small room

what else you need in life? humer car, 5 bed rooms home , jet ski, a plane, rv, electronic gadgets,... if you need all these things to feel VIP , I pity you.

Edited March 9, 2015 by VIPinthailand

[balo]

buy food on market

buy a second hand scooter.

get a small room

what else you need in life? humer car, 5 bed rooms home , jet ski, a plane, rv, electronic gadgets,... if you need all these things to feel VIP , I pity you.

I agree but maybe you should change your forum name to something more minimalistic...

[MZurf]

buy food on market

buy a second hand scooter.

get a small room

what else you need in life? humer car, 5 bed rooms home , jet ski, a plane, rv, electronic gadgets,... if you need all these things to feel VIP , I pity you.

I don't need to feel "VIP", but I do need to be comfortable, and sleeping in a one room, non a/c apartment and walking everywhere just doesn't do it for me.

IMO minimalist living is just a fancy word for cheapskates.

Edited March 10, 2015 by MZurf

[georgegeorgia]

How many rooms do you want ?

I prefer a big studio with a balcony. .. dont need a big apartment ..i dont need a big TV ...

Then again i prefer living alone..how many of you can do that ?

MANY of you cant..u need someone to live with you. You get lonely..you cant look after yourself s

Edited March 10, 2015 by georgegeorgia

[paddyjenkins]

How many rooms do you want ?

I prefer a big studio with a balcony. .. dont need a big apartment ..i dont need a big TV ...

Then again i prefer living alone..how many of you can do that ?

MANY of you cant..u need someone to live with you. You get lonely..you cant look after yourself s

I need a separate master bedroom so i can cool it down properly to sleep. The bedroom must have an ensuite, as i want guests to use different facilities. Also, i love a nice big bath...nothing like a long bath, half asleep, listening to the radio. I also prefer an entirely separate kitchen, not into those american style breakfast bars. For laundry etc there must be a utility area adjoining the kitchen. The living room needs to be large enough for a big dining area, big area for sofas etc and a good size balcony. Apart from those things there needs to be two or three guest bedrooms, one for storage, one as a study. Thats my minimum.

[micmichd]

How many rooms do you want ?

I prefer a big studio with a balcony. .. dont need a big apartment ..i dont need a big TV ...

Then again i prefer living alone..how many of you can do that ?

MANY of you cant..u need someone to live with you. You get lonely..you cant look after yourself s

[micmichd]

I can live in my own, but I don't want to.

[joesanunu]

How many rooms do you want ?

I prefer a big studio with a balcony. .. dont need a big apartment ..i dont need a big TV ...

Then again i prefer living alone..how many of you can do that ?

MANY of you cant..u need someone to live with you. You get lonely..you cant look after yourself s

Exactly. Why support somebody when baby oil is so cheap and you already have a right hand.

[georgegeorgia]

Because? U get lonely ?

I find people who can live by themselves are much stronger emotionally. .they can think for themself..make their own decisions etc.

Usually women are much better at this than men.

[HooHaa]

canned tuna, fruit and recycled tea bags is a good existence?

I would doubt if even the most hardened 'minimalist' lived on recycled teabags. Actually one of the pleasantries of the latter half of afternoon is a cup of tea from the one of the bicycle tea ladies on Beach Road for the princely sum of 10 baht. One time she mistakenly served me tea with milk (powdered) and gave me a new cup and no, didn't recycle the first bag. As for canned tuna it can be a little bland but not the worst thing to eat in the world.

Yes i use the tea bag more than once !!

Im sure a lot of other people do too !

As for the tuna...I really love the tuna and biscuit pack you can buy from the supermarket 36 baht...makes a healthy and nutritious meal !!

It is tuna spread, not tuna it is full of sugary mayonnaise, not to mention the biscuits. i highly doubt it is healthy at all.

i suppose my point was that i am unsure as to whether or not the OP can differentiate between minimalism and subsistence.

[Naam]

I will give you an example. ..a friend of mine who has now passed..arrived here in Thailand after a nasty divorce.

He had been a CEO of a large Company or in management roles...but when he arrived in Pattaya he still couldnt do things such as arrange qoutes or tradesmen for his condo...he couldnt or didnt have the confidence to cancel appointments..he didnt have the confidence to complain about things..etc..why?

Because he always..always had a secretary to do that for him.

Even once we as a group we ..had arranged to go out on a week night to a restaurant. .he didnt turn up..his mobile was off..not until the next day I saw him to ask what happened..why he didnt turn up?

He then went on with a BS story of taxi breaking down etc.

But i saw through him and he eventually explained he didnt have the confidence to call us to cancel our meeting...because...he had never done that before!

You see these people who are in the leadership roles become less confident in themselves as they get older because they have always told others to do it for them...they become weak ..they cant adapt to challenges in life.

Here is a man..CEO once of many big companies...BUT always got other people to do the hard things in life for him....when the time came of being by himself and not relying on others. .he couldnt do it....why?...he hadnt had any experience cancelling appoitmnts he hadnt even bothered firing his own employees. .he got others to do it...he became WEAK.

if there was any doubt that you are a troll then you removed it by this posting

[MrWorldwide]

Naam, this thread has desperately needed your input from day one - I can only assume you've been off actually living your life in the real world. Welcome back, and I agree wholeheartedly with your assertion - its just sad that others took the bait hook, line and sinker.

[MrWorldwide]

It is tuna spread, not tuna it is full of sugary mayonnaise, not to mention the biscuits. i highly doubt it is healthy at all.

i suppose my point was that i am unsure as to whether or not the OP can differentiate between minimalism and subsistence.

HooHaa, I'm still not sure that the OP can differentiate between fantasy and reality. A keyboard is a terrible weapon in the wrong hands.

[micmichd]

Maybe I don't want to live on my own because I'm a man. Not an island.

Surely I can make my own decisions, and so can my lady.

It's easier to make decisions if you know someone is there who can correct your mistakes. Who would be better to correct a Farang's mistakes than a Thai woman?

And vice versa - communication is not a one-way street.

As it happened to come, my lady is more often in Europe now than I am, while I'm happy in my new guest country.

Guess our long-distance relationship is more stable than anyone expected.

[SiSePuede419]

"but I do need to be comfortable, and sleeping in a one room, non a/c appartment and walking everywhere doesn't do it for me."

Life is about nothing but the choices you make.

Sure, you "think" you are more comfortable in a big house. It may make you feel "important" and "superior".

But that big house has a cost--to you & the environment. Every cubic meter of concrete has a "cost"--it takes a lot of energy to make, throws CO2 into the atmosphere, where it stays for decades.

Having a big house makes you a bigger target for thieves.

Having a big house means it takes longer to clean than a small room.

Having a big house means higher utility bills.

Not walking everywhere means you are not getting exercise. Not getting exercise decreases your Human Growth Hormone, which means you get older quicker and die sooner.

Every choice you make has a long chain of cascading events, that changes your life forever.

A new study of identical twins, who eat almost the same diet, but one twin chooses not to exercise.

This one simple difference in choices ages them quicker and makes them look worse than the other twin:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2015/03/04/one-twin-exercises-the-other-doesnt/

"The sedentary twins had lower endurance capacities, higher body fat percentages, and signs of insulin resistance, signaling the onset of metabolic problems...The active twins had significantly more grey matter than the sedentary twins, especially in areas of the brain involved in motor control and coordination."

Cheapskates? 555

Edited March 10, 2015 by SiSePuede419

[Bangkokhatter]

Am sure the OP started this thread by slagging off some old guy who washed his own clothes, now he boasts of using someone else's machine to do his. Can't be bothered to read back but at what point did he change his tune ?

Minimalist my axxe, wind up merchant more like.

[Naam]

"but I do need to be comfortable, and sleeping in a one room, non a/c appartment and walking everywhere doesn't do it for me."

Life is about nothing but the choices you make.

Sure, you "think" you are more comfortable in a big house. It may make you feel "important" and "superior".

But that big house has a cost--to you & the environment. Every cubic meter of concrete has a "cost"--it takes a lot of energy to make, throws CO2 into the atmosphere, where it stays for decades.

Having a big house makes you a bigger target for thieves.

Having a big house means it takes longer to clean than a small room.

Having a big house means higher utility bills.

Not walking everywhere means you are not getting exercise. Not getting exercise decreases your Human Growth Hormone, which means you get older quicker and die sooner.

Every choice you make has a long chain of cascading events, that changes your life forever.

A new study of identical twins, who eat almost the same diet, but one twin chooses not to exercise.

This one simple difference in choices ages them quicker and makes them look worse than the other twin:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2015/03/04/one-twin-exercises-the-other-doesnt/

"The sedentary twins had lower endurance capacities, higher body fat percentages, and signs of insulin resistance, signaling the onset of metabolic problems...The active twins had significantly more grey matter than the sedentary twins, especially in areas of the brain involved in motor control and coordination."

Cheapskates? 555

well argued....... like a real cheapskate i dare say

"having a big house makes you fell important and superior"

for the record:

-having a big house means you worked hard to make big money to pay for the big house,

-having a big house usually means that you have one or even two maids or housekeepers plus a gardener and perhaps even a handyman/driver (you create employment )

-having a big house means you have the money to pay for the bigger utility bills,

-having a big house does not necessarily mean higher body fat, lower metabolic rate or insulin resistance.

p.s. i like cheap Charly jokes, keep them coming please.