10:12:25 AM my dad: Thoreau advises us to simplify our diet. During his experiment at Walden Pond, he found he could feed himself for twenty-seven cents per week.47 Thoreau also advises us to simplify our dwellings. At Walden, he lived in a ten-by-fifteen-foot cabin he built by himself at a cost of $28.12½,48 but he suspected that even this was more shelter than a sensible person needed.
10:13:13 AM my dad: He toyed with the idea of living in a box six feet long and three feet wide. And in case this suggestion sounds impractical, Thoreau reminded us that "many a man is harassed to death to pay the rent of a larger and more luxurious box who would not have frozen to death in such a box as this."
10:13:26 AM my dad: when I was in grad school, I spent $13/week on food.
10:13:41 AM me: how much is 27 cents today?
10:14:06 AM my dad: $361.03. Inflation has been a bear!
