Your Money or Your Life?
Years ago, I read a book titled, Your Money or Your Life. Its main focus was to see money in terms of life energy and then make the connection between whether your life energy was going towards things that really mattered to you.
As a young mom with little kids still at home, it was life-changing. After calculating all of the costs of sending them to daycare and subtracting that from what I would earn out in the workforce, I learned I would be working for a pittance. Would working at a job or staying at home align more with what really mattered to me? I chose to stay at home.
It wasn’t easy, in fact the kids will tell you that potato soup was a staple in our family for a few years. We also didn’t have furniture in our living room for a long time. My best friend, Cindy, would show up in her minivan, slide the door open and grab her bar stools before marching them into my house and bellying up to the bar. I laugh now at how absurd the whole thing sounds but we were living within our means and actually weighing out what was most important to us. Our choices indicated that staying home with the kids was more important than having a fancy couch or even bar stools.
Eventually, the word travel made it onto my “What I Value Most” list. I had written in Weston’s baby book, “I want to show you the world.” I have been able to fulfill my dreams of traveling with all of my kids, spending a summer in Italy with them as well as taking numerous other trips. But I still have my original couch from twenty years ago and I drive a 2004 minivan.
When I weigh it out, however, I have no regrets. I invested my money in memories and experiences and I would gladly wear my thrift store skirt and eat at home in order to travel. The thing is, memories last forever and time invested in what really matters will pay back big dividends. Your money is where your heart is, and if you are like me, your heart may be telling you that you want to travel!
If traveling is really important to you, and you’d like to start living like it, click below and get all of Elida’s tips and tricks. This is one quick and easy step towards doing what really matters to you.
I’m also curious, what do you spend your money on? Does it align with what’s really important to you?
