What is money for?
Why do we save our money? Is the deference of spending vital to any part of our life?
I made it a point to search out answers to these questions…no, I didn’t! I just wonder sometimes, what do I want/want to do?
I’ve come up with thrEEE answers:
Easier, Enjoyment, Energy
I do maintain a Do Not Forget List. It’s not a ToDo List. Interestingly, I find the act of keeping track of “things” is almost as good as the purchase, yet the list does not help with the “doing” activities. I need to get my ass in motion a little more, not exercising motion, but explorative motion.
Lately, I’ve given much more thought to how my money (the “army of dollar bills that march off to work each day”) should serve (I accidentally typed “service”—perfectly applicable) me.
I’m a thinker. Not some change-the-world-with-my-brilliance thinker, but I wonder a lot. I wanted to set a direction for my money. Give our money a Mission Statement, or at least a motto. At the moment, it now has thrEEE goals to achieve.
Easier
Why not use your money to make things in your life easier? For instance, correct tools/technology to help with different tasks. Here’s an example we don’t think about until it breaks. The use of my microwave for food prep comes to mind—even though some would same it uses bad “energy,” I find the microwave oven to service two important functions—make my life easier and I eat sooner/saving time. To heat canned soup I don’t need a pot or a hot stove that warms the kitchen and causes my AC to run more—saves money too.
Here’s a strange one, using a smart programmable remote control. I no longer have to search for the exact device clicker. I can also program macros to turn on/off everything at once. Want to talk about easier, I don’t have to get off the couch to change channels or power the device like in the old days.
Here is a similar idea using your money for things you don’t like doing. Some people hate house cleaning or yard cleaning.
Some people don’t want to go to the grocery store. I’d rather pay $8/month and have Walmart pick my groceries and bring them to my house. That saves me 30 min of driving, 30 minutes of shopping in a crowd, and possibly avoiding some crap I would have purchased and eaten. Seriously, eight dollars for approximately 2 hours per month of basic food stocking time savings! Plus, that $8 also has additional services and features.
We also share the Walmart service with my mom so there are closer to six deliveries per month and it allows me to keep my mom stocked with food even if I’m out of town. TOTALLY makes my life easier.
Mark Trautman and I are working on our FUnbUCKET spending—pushing each other to spend some of our savings for good. Mark also pushed me to make the monthly bill-paying process EASIER and allow automation so I didn’t use (waste) 60-90 minutes on the 1st of the month to push my bill payments. He was 100% correct on removing that task from my list (technically what would definitely be a do not forget item).
I can give examples of Amazon Prime, streaming video services, retirement/financial planning, Rock Retirement Club, auto bill pay, security cameras with cloud storage, etc. Re-reading this, I see how my examples are really small….much like my little life.
Enjoyment
The thought of using deferred spending to bring enjoyment, excitement, and fun into your life is a fantastic goal.
I’ve written about my surprise enjoyment of Kathy’s Peloton bike. I’ve found enjoyment in the upgraded Peloton membership required for the bike, even with the increase from $13 to $44 for all the additional content.
I recently spent a huge $500 for a much nicer guitar than I’m used to and then realized that it sounds and plays so much better than the $200-300 guitars. Bashing away sounds so much more metal with my goth explorer.
I purchased my first new vehicle because I wanted current safety features and protection. I honestly get enjoyment when I drive my wife’s Venza because I know I spent wisely (in many ways) and it’s almost like driving a spaceship (sounds like it) compared to my 2000 truck and 2001 suv which I still drive most of the time. It also falls in the “easier” category for lane-keeping, adaptive cruise control, and iphone controls, etc.
Here’s a random item, I bought new exercise socks that have thicker soles. These are so nice when I spin since I stand so much doing Kathy’s drop saddle spinning style. Less pounding on my old(er) feet…same when I run with them. These were a wonderful $6 for 6 pairs purchase that I didn’t really need. Yeah, my life is strange.
Energy
Deeper than the enjoyment from above, I want to use the money for things that bring me—or increase—my energy.
At your very core, you have things that give you the purest of enjoyment and light you up. You have things that if denied are not enriching your soul, your basis of energy.
Do you have a way to use your money to energize your soul?
I bring this “E” back around to using your money to fund or enable some of your Top 10 Favorite Things. I don’t need to say much more, but if you have the 10 things that make your soul happy, shouldn’t that be a great place to put some of your resources…both time and money.
Action
Go gEEEt it !!!
*** Nothing in this article is to be construed as financial advice. I am not a financial planner, nor do I pretend to be. You should always consult your own professional when seeking advice. This post is not a piece of literary mastery, just a random thought I had.