Convenience Is the Cage: Why Redefining Wealth Is the First Step to Freedom

Mike Jones

Jun 06, 2025

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Most people think wealth means having money. But money is just a tool—just one way to access what we need.

What we really want is access:

Access to food
Access to shelter
Access to safety, time, rest, connection, joy

If you can get those things without money, aren't you just as wealthy—maybe even more so?

That simple shift in thinking is more than philosophical. It’s the first quiet step toward exiting a system that’s designed to keep you dependent.

And if you're wondering how to actually apply this? Hang on 'til the end—I've got something in development that might help.. It’s the first quiet step toward exiting a system that’s designed to keep you dependent.

The System Was Built This Way

In the article “7 Steps to Quietly Exit a System That Wants to Keep You Dependent,” Step 3 focuses on reducing your reliance on money. This isn't just about budgeting—it's about changing your relationship to access.

Our economy is structured so that in order to access the basics of life—food, transportation, shelter, childcare—you need money. That means you need a job (or some form of income). And that job must generate enough value for someone else to justify paying you.

In other words, even your ability to access life’s essentials depends on someone else deciding you’re worth it.

This is not a bug. It’s the core feature of a consumer-based, extractive system.

You work to earn money →
You use that money to buy access →
You lose time, so you buy back time through convenience →
You need more money to pay for that convenience →
So you work more.

This cycle isn't wealth-building. It’s containment. It’s the hamster wheel dressed up in hustle-culture language.

Convenience Is the Cage

Because so much of your time is spent earning, there’s little left over to actually live. And that’s where convenience steps in.

Takeout instead of cooking
Delivery instead of errands
Uber instead of carpooling
Subscription services instead of learning a new skill

Convenience is marketed as freedom, but often it’s just a way to keep you on the treadmill. You’re too tired to grow a garden, fix the sink, or trade babysitting with your neighbor—so you pay someone else. And that someone else is likely in the same loop you are.

“We’re spending our lives trying to buy back the time that was taken from us.”

And when money is tight, convenience becomes coercion. You’re pressured to pay more for food, housing, and care just to stay afloat. That’s not a luxury—it’s entrapment.

The False Promise of Money as Wealth

Even high earners fall into the same trap.

More income = more expenses = more outsourcing = more dependency.

People in six-figure jobs often feel just as trapped as those living paycheck to paycheck, because they’ve bought into a system where money is the only tool for meeting needs. Lose the income, and the whole structure collapses.

We call it financial security, but it’s often a fragile tower of obligations.

Redefining Wealth as Access

Here’s the reframe that underpins Resilient Tomorrow:

Wealth is not the number in your bank account—it’s the number of needs you can meet without spending it.

Money is one way to get access. But not the only way. Not even the best way.

There’s a growing network of people building what we call post-permission systems—ways of meeting needs that don’t require someone else’s approval, price tag, or gatekeeping.

Some of these include:

NeighborhoodShare: Our growing platform for community-based tool libraries and mutual support systems. You can join the beta here: https://neighborhoodshare.app
Makesoil: A global network helping neighborhoods build hyperlocal compost hubs: https://www.makesoil.org/
Buy Nothing Groups: Existing on Facebook and other platforms, enabling direct community exchanges with no money involved
Free food fridges, community gardens, timebanks, CSA co-ops, skillshares, solar co-ownership, and dozens of other models

This isn’t about sacrifice or survivalism. It’s about resilience—real wealth built from relationships, skills, and shared abundance.

“Mutual aid projects let us practice meeting our own and each other's needs, based in shared commitments to dignity, care, and justice.”
— Dean Spade, Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next)

You Can Start Now—Here’s How

This isn’t abstract. You can begin shifting your definition of wealth today. It starts with awareness, and it deepens with action.

Step 1: Audit Your Dependencies

Begin with a simple but powerful exercise: Identify the areas of life where you rely on money simply because you lack the time, community, or skill to meet those needs another way. This is where the system has the strongest grip.

Ask yourself:

Where am I spending money just to save time?
What goods or services am I buying out of habit?
What am I outsourcing that I could learn, share, or trade?

Common areas include:

Food (takeout, meal kits, grocery delivery)
Transportation (car ownership, rideshares, gas)
Childcare (daycare, babysitters)
Repairs (plumbing, auto, tech)
Knowledge and skills (classes, consultants, subscriptions)

You’re not looking to cut all these overnight—but to see where access could be reclaimed.

Step 2: Reclaim Just One

Choose one area and experiment with a small shift. This is not about self-denial—it’s about redesigning access.

Try:

Starting or joining a local tool library through NeighborhoodShare
Sharing meals once a week with a neighbor or friend to reduce prep and waste
Swapping childcare or school pickups with another parent once a week
Starting a bulk cooking group that rotates cooking responsibilities or trades prepared meals
Growing a shared herb garden in a window box or curb strip
Repairing something simple with a friend or through a community class
Creating a local Hylo group to post items, skills, and support: https://www.hylo.com

These aren't chores—they're experiments in freedom.

P.S. If you'd love a simple way to track and act on these shifts, scroll to the bottom—there’s something in the works, and I’d love your input.

Step 3: Redefine Your Metrics

The dominant culture trains us to track money: how much we earn, save, spend, or invest. But real wealth—resilient wealth—is built in community and capability.

Instead, measure:

Needs met without money
Systems sidestepped
Hours reclaimed
People helped or supported
Skills learned or shared

These become the new scorecard. This is how you track a life that isn’t just surviving, but opting out of fragility and into shared strength.

This Is What Resilient Tomorrow Is All About

We’re building more than awareness. We’re building the infrastructure for a post-permission society:

https://neighborhoodshare.app → Shared tools, skills, resources, in your neighborhood
Resilient Tomorrow (this substack) → Weekly articles to help you off-ramp the system
https://www.hylo.com/groups/resilient-tomorrow/ → Meet others doing the work suggested here (Currently Under Construction)

If this vision resonates, I invite you to:

➡️ Subscribe to Resilient Tomorrow for weekly strategy and stories

➡️ Comment with how you’re already reclaiming access in your life

🔧 Would Something Like This Help You Reclaim Real Wealth?

I’m exploring a companion experience to this article—something simple and practical that could:

Help you identify where you’re dependent on money
Suggest real alternatives for meeting your needs
Let you set intentions and track progress over time
Gently remind you of your own goals—on your terms

It’s not just a tool—it’s an off-ramp assistant.
A way to quietly step out of the cycle and into something better.

Would something like this be helpful to you?
Leave a comment below 👇:

“I’d love to try this.”
“I want to see this in action.”
“Count me in when it’s ready.”

The more interest I hear, the more I’ll prioritize building it.

Resilient Tomorrow