You may find that it’s not BEING an expert that bothers you but rather the use that you’re forced to put your expertise to in a corporate position. Maybe you’d feel differently if you were working for Engineers Without Borders or something.

For example, getting rid of cable can be a huge sticking point. Cable TV is at this point a basic staple of life across the socio-economic spectrum in the U.S., so suggesting that you STOP buying it can seem extreme. My suggestion for couples clashing over cable is for the one in favor of cutting the cable to show some leadership on the issue and start coming up with activities you can do in the evening that don’t involve Comcast (or TimeWarner or whatever). Put the emphasis on doing something fun and different. Then, after a couple of weeks or a month, casually bring up the fact that that you haven’t used the cable much at all lately and holy cow, why are we shelling out $150 for something we don’t use?

For other poor grammar engineers who want to learn how to pass by the grammar police, here’s a little information.

Sorry for the nitpicking

My old house was 3189 square feet. When we bought it 8 years ago, we felt like we had “made it.” What fools we were. What we had really purchased was a money pit and time pit. More area to heat, cool and keep clean. More floor space to vacuum, and more rooms to fill with useless things like a dining room table. My taxes then were higher than my entire mortgage today! So far it’s been 8 months since we moved, and I can say that I have never, for a single moment, regretted the downsize.

I think I’ve talked my wife into writing a post in reply to this article offering her perspective, hopefully in the next few days. Hopefully your wife will find it interesting.

Great job Brave. We think alot alike. I’ve never met (pseudo) so many introverts/INTJs (like myself) in my life, until I started reading ERE, MMM and you-awesome!

Still, he wants to add a huge amount of square footage to it because he has lots of space-consuming hobbies, not to mention loads of clothing, tools, etc. This would add quite a bit to our costs for property taxes, insurance, and utilities.

2) I make it very clear how much I want to be financially independent. When we met, he said he always wants to work. He’s now to the point where he thinks that working half-time would be ideal!

My next plan is to de-clutter a lot. I’ve finally gotten good at not buying crap, but I’m still not so good at getting rid of crap (especially things that used to be a good idea but that I no longer use).

I’m also taking a sabbatical from work (by which I mean that I quit my job without having another one lined up, and I’m not going to even start job hunting seriously for a month or two). It never occurred to me to demonstrate how my not working is a boon to him. I don’t really want to take over all the housework or anything like that. The only benefit I’ve thought of so far is that I can get some things done when he’s not home instead of trying to do them at the same time as he is. Also, I’m more likely to go to bed at a reasonable time (which makes it easier for him to) since I’m more likely to have had “enough fun” by bedtime.

Oh, my gosh, he sure likes having a lot of stuff though. And fantasizing about having more stuff when he gets richer. He has favorite expensive cars. Favorite expensive boats. Favorite expensive guitars (which he doesn’t even play anymore). He wants to start very expensive businesses (home construction, home theatre creation, electronics stuff, just to name a few). He’s getting pickier about clothes and food (though I have shown him that thrift stores do have some good clothes). He always sees stuff he wants–I rarely see stuff I want. It’s a big difference. At least he’s good at not spending beyond his means, even when he’s pretty poor.