Sometimes a long and difficult journey begins with a single step: 29-year-old Casey Carmelo of Oakland, CA took that brave leap into the unknown, having recently quit her full-time job in order to pursue her lifelong dream of just being poor.
“I was never really rich growing up, but I wouldn’t have considered myself poor,” says Casey. “My parents told me to get a job with good benefits right out of college, so I did. But I always wondered, what kind of freedom would I feel if I didn’t?”
With a little bit of planning and a lot of bravery, Casey gave her two week’s notice as an assistant at a tech startup to fulfill her wildest dreams of eating tuna and ramen for multiple meals per day.
“I wanted to do it right, so I put together enough savings to just barely pay rent for a couple of months and hope that nothing bad happens,” added Casey, who no longer has company health insurance.
“I stay at home almost every night. It feels so freeing to finally have so few choices in life.”
Casey, who only goes out for dollar taco night at the local dive bar, has plans to catch up on old episodes of The Office on her roommate’s Netflix, never date, and live in fear of the day when the money finally runs out.
“She kept saying that signs were telling her to make a big change,” says roommate Kevaughn Smith. “I thought maybe she had a chunk of money from her parents or something? Nope. I think she’s just been reading too much bullshit on the Internet.”
“It’s amazing how this process led me right where I needed to be,” says Casey. “Right here, looking for loose change under the couch. I followed my dream, and I’ve never been less shackled by the stability of having an income.”
