this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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If physical or mental health issues bar you I'd consider that different. I never really understood how you can live your life being a NEET. Its a term I've known about for awhile but only recently remembered was a thing. Do you have bills? Do you have autonomy in general? Whats the living situation look like? Is the term offensive? I have a ton of questions really. Not here to shit on anyone I'm just full of curiosity on this one.

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[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I never really understood how you can live your life being a NEET

I am, i quit work at 40 am now 60, i had thought to do some higher ed (I do have a Science degree) but it's too expensive here in Australia.

Do you have bills?

of course, i made some lucky investments early in, with a little surplus cash, they've grown and cover my expenses.

Do you have autonomy in general?

within reason sure. I have always been reasonably frugal and lived under the maxim of spending less then I earn and investing the rest. That has served me well and I still do that albeit the income side has ballooned from compounding investments over the deacdes but my spending hasn't.

I have a cheap, modest cottage in a quiet rural area that I own, no mortgage. I get all the free beef i want as my farmer neighbor uses my small back paddock (as well as his paddock) for his cattle and pays me rent in free beef. I don't eat much beef though and give a fair bit of it to a homeless charity locally, they prepare meals with it. He also pays me a notial $500p.a

I travel overseas in SE Asia for 8 months a year. I have inexpensive hobbies, I ride my MTB and cycle, hike, walk, have a home gym, grow fruit and vegetables. Have a bunch of solar panels in my roof and have near zero electricity bills, have a cheap ecar and ebike that charge off said panels. I don't have to commute fie work of course. I can walk to my local library but also have a kobo ebook reader, a zillion ebooks managed via Calibre and use overdrive to borrow ebooks from the library sometimes.

I play some tennis, pickleball, badminton in the community, they are all free. I swim in the local pool in Summer as it has free entry etc have a older desktop, a laptop (both on linux) and use nearly all FOSS software and an android phone with most software from F Droid. I hope to move to Graphene eventually. I have no subs to software or tv etc. I don't have a lot of time to watch TV, people who work full time mostly seem to do that. i do watch YT a bit (Newpipe etc)

Whats the living situation look like?

my gf lives with me, she works 3 days a week part-time for 4 months a year if that's what you're asking. We travel OS together. She's a Chef and cooks amazing meals and loves growing fresh produce in our yard.

I have been living like this for just over 2 decades. I was living off grid for 11 years with my gf, my own solar, own water, grew lots of my own food etc in a small cottage in the bush but have since moved for climate change related reasons.

I have a ton of questions really

ask away

[–] inconel@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That sounds like FIRE than NEET but idk there can be overlap.

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The guy has a beautiful arrangement but it is neither NEET or Fire as he rents land and sells beef.

[–] swelter_spark@reddthat.com 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Is being retired the same as being a NEET, though? I retired in my 40s and live with my bf, who works, but not sure if that's what people mean when they use that term.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] SelfHigh5@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Retirees are using money they saved, SS, pension etc that they earned during their working years, and I understand NEETs to be adults young and capable but disinterested in working/training, whether they have income/savings/pushover parents/sugar-parents.

[–] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

So it's basically just a judgment call of whether someone "deserves" to avoid working, because of having had a job in the past? To me it's basically the same if people are living the same sort of life, because those sorts of judgments are not a good way to consider a person's identity. It's only natural to not want a job and the main question is whether you have the means to avoid being coerced into it, people who have the means are really in the same category.