Interesting piece. I like my "free" time more than money. It was kind of hard finding a balance.

Also I take a lot of pride in doing, building and repairing things myself. But that is not the usual way of living a middle-class life, I admit.

On the other hand I've also seen the GDR crashing. From this my belief in skills to do things, other people rather pay for, grew.

I strongly believe that you grow as a person, everytime you do something by yourself. Tinkering also is a lot of fun itself. And it helps a lot in actually getting to know yourself.

Times when there simply ain't anyone present to "help" you when you pay them may come back faster than a lot of people like to admit, I think.

Maybe this will change when i become a father one day. But i don't hope so. I'd rather share my knowledge with my offspring than a "big" inheritance.