My goal is to “retire” early in a few years and just work part-time or do online stuff a few hours a week. To reach this goal, I do three things:
1. Invest my money in dividend paying stocks.
2. Build Passive Income Streams, like Squidoo.
3. Live frugally, so that I have more money to do #1.
Part of living frugally in Korea in the summertime is living without an air-con in my apartment, which is kind of unusual in Korea. Right now, in the middle of a heat wave, it doesn’t seem like the best idea, but it’s actually only terrible for perhaps 10 days out of the entire year and the rest of the time, it’s actually fine. Here are some tips for staying cool without an air-con:
A. Buy some fans. I bought used ones off an expat who was leaving Korea for cheap and on the hottest days of the year, I’ll have 4 of them going at the same time. It does use a decent amount of electricity, but FAR less than an air-con would.
B. Block the sun from shining directly in with curtains or screens or something.
C. Think carefully about where you live. Somewhere with big windows on 2 sides, higher-up is obviously better so you can get a bit of a breeze blowing through.
D. Clothes: minimal is best. Short and a tank-top is my normal attire at home in the summer.
E. Have escape plans if it gets too terrible. Find a nice coffee shop or something similar with air-con and you can take a break during the heat of the day if it gets too hot at your house.
F. Take cold showers and eat cold food like salads. It’s better to just not get that hot to start with so your body doesn’t have to work hard to cool you down.