Less is More Time, Money, and Clarity

It's officially "No Spend" month. I'm going to make myself relay here everything I buy. Last night at Brookshires I got one bag each of rice, black beans, and lentils (1.50 a pop). I made soup so I will have something to eat the next couple of days... turned out fairly well. I threw in a can of corn, diced tomatoes, a cup each of brown rice, (rinsed) black beans, and lentils. Maybe a little much, I'll probably cut it to 3/4 cup of each next time. It's pretty thick! But so filling. I seasoned it with italian seasoning, garlic, chicken bouillon, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and chili powder. An eclectic mix, to be sure, but it's savory and yummy. Besides being super nutritious.

One more thing - I had two dollars left in my wallet. So when the Super Bowl squares came around, well. I partook. Wow, only day two and I'm screwing up! I figured that little bit of cash shouldn't count, especially because, originally, my plan was to convert my birthday and Christmas money to cash and have that available to spend, which I decided against. I'm glad I did, because I realized that not thinking about things to buy has freed my mind. When I get $10 off coupons in the mail, I normally hem and haw, feeling bad about the money I could save on things I might need, or gifts I could buy. Last night I checked the mail and brought one in - I took one look at it and chucked it. It was empowering!


Listening to The Four-Hour Work Week now, and he said something that spoke to me. In so many words, he said that when you eliminate unnecessary spending, you don't have more things you don't need, you're not wasting your time thinking about buying them, and you're saving your money. So less spending really is more! Of sanity, of time, and of money. We in our society have a "more is always better" approach to everything. Thankfully that's abating somewhat with the green movement, but pruning away the parts of your existence that you neither need nor really want is thrilling.

So far, the book has reinforced some ideas that I already subscribed to. That more money for money's sake should never be the goal, and that most people don't really want to be any richer - they want freedom. What people want is what the money can give them - remember I talked about money as power? That doesn't have to be a bad thing. If you can figure out a way to finance your life and do what you want at the same time, who needs retirement? I'm loving it so far.

Fortunately for me and my slacker ways, none of my goals this month are really daily! Except for the not-spending, of course. The others are generally month-long focuses - saving, giving, making extra money, and listening to my audio book. I'm going to leave you with that, and go work on my tablecloth.