As stated earlier this month, July is about earning – both cold hard cash, and some good karma going forward. It’s also about time and other resources, like Mama’s energy. At least that is what I discovered thus far. I also have discovered that I do these things naturally without it being a focused goal for the month.
Looking for ways to save, earn, spend, pay it forward: I’m asking myself some questions before I purchase something. I took a cue from the originator of The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin, and I’m asking myself if my purchase is satisfying a need, even a happiness need. Will it bring joy to me, my family and friends, my household? Is it a needful thing? But, I also make sure I’m not refusing to buy something out of some weird sense of budgeting, where in the end, I’m left with no laundry soap in the house, or some other useful and ordinary thing. My husband has an interesting way of looking at this, when our household’s favorite toilet paper goes on sale, he’ll stock up. He looks at it as an investment. When we use the toilet paper bought at a discount and then learn that the price jumped a dollar because of fuel costs – it just paid a dividend. I know it seems silly, but sometimes, you have to look at the small things in the context of larger things. As I discuss my project with those in my community, I found that I’m fairly thrifty and I do things like make leftovers into new meals to stretch my food dollars. I hang clothes on the line whenever I can to save energy costs. What I need to keep doing is just what I’ve been doing and always ask myself if I’m spending wisely, with an understanding that sometimes spending on myself and others is a good investment.
Here’s to a very interesting rest of the month. How goes your happiness project goals?
I just bought a bunch of clothes and lingerie at the July sales. I figure, the lingerie will last at least a year, the clothes will last at least two years, so even though I spent what some would consider a shocking amount of money, I look at it as an investment, because it’s money I don’t have to spend going forward. I don’t know if that makes sense or not. Especially since I don’t know what my financial situation is going to be in a year or two. Better to have clothes and undergarments to wear, rather than walk around in schmatas (Yiddish for rags).