Single by Judy Ford

Author:Judy Ford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Published: 2010-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

“It’s like magic. When you live by yourself, all your annoying habits are gone.”

—A NONYMOUS

Support Yourself in Style

Supporting yourself in style isn’t about getting rich—it isn’t about buying designer clothes, expensive cars, or lavish homes. Supporting yourself in style is earning enough to pay your expenses, earning enough to save, and earning enough for treating yourself when you want to. Supporting yourself in style means doing work that has personal significance by using your talents and cultivating your interests.

Hank and Marla are both single and support themselves in style—although their notions of what “in style” means is very different. For Hank, it’s a condo with a view, a fancy car, expensive clothes, picking up the tab at dinner, and flying first class. His medical-equipment sales position supports his tastes. He likes the pressure, and that’s what he chooses. For Marla, supporting herself in style is a studio apartment, riding the bus instead of driving her twelve-year-old car, shopping consignment, taking sack lunches, and in-line skating. She has two part-time jobs: one teaching dance—“I couldn’t live without dance”—and one as a barista at a coffee shop. She simplifies her finances by spending less, and that way she has more—more time for doing what she loves. For her, managing less stuff equals more free time.

The secret to supporting yourself in style is simple: Stop comparing yourself to everyone else. You need approval from no one but yourself. Just because Hank has a leather couch doesn’t mean you have to own an expensive couch to live in style. Just because Marla prefers part-time jobs doesn’t mean that’s the only way to work.

How do you find your style of living? By experimenting. That’s the fun of being single. Ed lives on his sailboat in a marina and works within biking distance of his office. Tim earns enough money fishing in Alaska to travel for three months during the off season. Traveling is both Quinn’s work and her hobby. She’s a travel photographer and takes stock photos for advertising. Imagine the kind of work you would find so rewarding that you’d do it for free. Imagine where you’d live if money weren’t in the equation. Those are clues to where you’ll find your true style of living. Supporting yourself in style requires hard choices as well. You may be able to get a high-paying job, but that might mean making a “not worth it” tradeoff. Some people work eighty hours a week and have a big paycheck, but they have no free time.

My friend Sophia traded in her corporate job for the opportunity to teach writing workshops and to do some freelance editing. She wears big black horned-rimmed glasses and white flowing linen dresses. When she had a corporate job, she earned more money, but she had to wear suits, and for her, dressing that way wasn’t worth it.

She’s happily single and self-employed. Her life is full and her work exciting, even if she’s not rolling in the dough. Whenever Sophia and I get discouraged—which

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