For years I have read everything I could get my hands on financially, and continue to do so in the form of books and online. For years I have gone through periods of trying to apply some of the expert advice, of course making mistakes along the way as well. At any rate it always ended up failing, we never seem to get ahead, never have any savings to speak of, certainly nothing to brag about. Something always comes up to take the exact amount of savings we do manage to accumulate, even with an emergency fund in place. No matter what we always seem to hang on that bottom rung on the ladder to the point you start to wonder.... is this as good as it will ever be? Are we meant for this lifestyle forever? You beat the drum...........what am I doing wrong? what am I doing wrong?
Well recently it occurred to me, the problem is, "the expert" advice really is not written for people like me. The second reason is that times have changed and it really is time to rethink how we think things work. The third reason is I was too focused on the whole "MONEY" thing. I have said it a few times before, to me what I want more than anything is FREEDOM. But by focusing so much on MONEY, I missed my target, I have been following the wrong path for upwards of 20 years! The expert advice was not written for those living in extreme poverty or even regular poverty ( I don't care what the books say about those in poverty can save even just $5 a month........they have no clue) They are geared for those who make decent money, who overspend and can find ways to start spending responsibly in order to grow a savings.
So my site is changing as I realized where my direction needs to focus on, for me those things that I value most, will make a significant difference in our finances without concentrating at all on the aspects of money itself. THIS is what will work for my family and how we want to live our lives and allow us to reach the goals that we seek. The areas that are important to me to live according to my desires and principles automatically will make a difference financially.
I want to focus on my health which means seeing doctors yes but also an exercise plan, eating whole foods and raw foods, meditation , quit smoking and caffeine, get off processed foods. By going unprocessed, that alone should free up money!
I want to live a more greener lifestyle by leaving as little carbon footprints as possible. To me this means giving up buying things in plastic, giving up my refrigerator.........another two items to lower expenses!
I want to go minimalist and live a simpler life..........getting rid of all unnecessary possessions will MAKE ME MONEY. Things will be easier to clean, I will have more space that is uncluttered, I will be more at peace.
Sustainability is a goal, so grow as much of our own food as possible, and get to a point we rely more and more on ourselves and not others ( government, bosses, supermarkets etc)
DYI projects of doing as much as we can on our own, I guess this goes hand in hand with sustainability but again, the more we do ourselves the less expensive and less dependant we are on others.
Cash Free- I want to do and see as much as I can with a Cash Free frame of mind......no further explanation needed.
But by focusing on working towards HOW I want to live, I believe is the key to what will work for my family to greatly improve our present circumstances
What do you value that would make a difference financially for you?
Well recently it occurred to me, the problem is, "the expert" advice really is not written for people like me. The second reason is that times have changed and it really is time to rethink how we think things work. The third reason is I was too focused on the whole "MONEY" thing. I have said it a few times before, to me what I want more than anything is FREEDOM. But by focusing so much on MONEY, I missed my target, I have been following the wrong path for upwards of 20 years! The expert advice was not written for those living in extreme poverty or even regular poverty ( I don't care what the books say about those in poverty can save even just $5 a month........they have no clue) They are geared for those who make decent money, who overspend and can find ways to start spending responsibly in order to grow a savings.
So my site is changing as I realized where my direction needs to focus on, for me those things that I value most, will make a significant difference in our finances without concentrating at all on the aspects of money itself. THIS is what will work for my family and how we want to live our lives and allow us to reach the goals that we seek. The areas that are important to me to live according to my desires and principles automatically will make a difference financially.
I want to focus on my health which means seeing doctors yes but also an exercise plan, eating whole foods and raw foods, meditation , quit smoking and caffeine, get off processed foods. By going unprocessed, that alone should free up money!
I want to live a more greener lifestyle by leaving as little carbon footprints as possible. To me this means giving up buying things in plastic, giving up my refrigerator.........another two items to lower expenses!
I want to go minimalist and live a simpler life..........getting rid of all unnecessary possessions will MAKE ME MONEY. Things will be easier to clean, I will have more space that is uncluttered, I will be more at peace.
Sustainability is a goal, so grow as much of our own food as possible, and get to a point we rely more and more on ourselves and not others ( government, bosses, supermarkets etc)
DYI projects of doing as much as we can on our own, I guess this goes hand in hand with sustainability but again, the more we do ourselves the less expensive and less dependant we are on others.
Cash Free- I want to do and see as much as I can with a Cash Free frame of mind......no further explanation needed.
But by focusing on working towards HOW I want to live, I believe is the key to what will work for my family to greatly improve our present circumstances
What do you value that would make a difference financially for you?
Oh I am curious...how does one give up the refrigerator? Seriously. Canning does help, but what do you do with eggs? Opened jams?
ReplyDeleteHi Gramemaw thankyou for visiting and leaving a comment!
DeleteI will be doing a whole post on going without a fridge but when it comes down to it, Americans tend to refrigerate much more than they really need to and many countries have done without them forever.
Eggs actually have a shelf life for around a week and jams can stay out for quite a while too , less of course in really hot weather.
I will be doing a whole post though on how I plan to do this!
Money, per se, should never be the focus of one's life.
ReplyDeleteMoney is merely a Tool to help you achieve Freedom....the freedom to live your life in the way you want.
But freedom is NOT just money. It's the values inside of you.
I am all for doing without things in life. But not so-much the ones that make my life better.....or easier in ways that give me more time to do what I want to in life. I'll trade-off having some conveniences of modern society but others?, not so much. If we askew all advances of civilization we are right back at struggling daily just to survive. Nobody I know wants to be hunting with a spear on foot to catch dinner and be banging their clothes on a rock down by the local stream. There is a happy medium between that and the craziness of what our society has become(people spending $100's on halloween costumes for their pets anyone?). We all have to find the balance that works for ourselves.
Good luck on finding yours! ;-)
I hear what you are saying slugmama, and when I say money was the focus it was more in relation to constantly being on my mind on how to increase income, budgeting, making bills, insurance, and then endless reasons of why we need more, including investing and retirement if you know what I mean and money was the "tool" to get us there. I think I will fair better and focusing on the goals itself that as a result will affect our finances for the better.
DeleteWhile I actually AM one of those who would love to hunt and fish with a spear and have LOL ( another post entirely) I also would never shirk all modern technology such as computers, xbox live and downstreaming movies as they are all useful convenient tools for my family.