Jean Chatzky, You Don’t Have to Be Rich
Jean Chatzky wrote a book that, in internet terms, came out forever ago (2003). She talks about studies (her own included) that question the notion that money buys happiness. Well, that is not completely accurate; money does buy happiness, but once you make between $50,000 and $75,000 per year, money buys you no more happiness.
There are two things I would like to take away from this book.
1) Make a list of things that are free or cheap that you love to do.
Chatzky writes that having a plan of things to do when you want to some kind of entertainment or family time that are cheap or free will help when one is tempted to take the family to an expensive dinner or amusement park (my own paraphrase). I find this idea fairly compelling. When I was working on this project last year, having a plan was everything. If I didn’t plan dinner, pizza it is! If I didn’t plan Saturday family time, the mall it is! Well, or $75 at Target later. Fact: plan your life and things get easier.
2) You can give yourself a $25,000 raise in happiness.
Remember when I said that once you get between $50,000 and $75,000, you get no (or minimally) happier? The fact is that those who make $75,000 are happier than those who make $50,000 except in one instance: those who make $50,000 and diligently watch their cash flow. So if you make $50,000 and diligently watch your cash flow, it is like you gave yourself a $25,00 per year raise!
Tl;dr: Plan your life and control your finances and you can be just as happy as people with MUCH more money.
“People know you for what you’ve done, not for what you plan to do.” ~Unknown
by Joe Dominguez. Every time I read it something different jumps out and changes my life in a new way.
“Everything’s gonna get lighter, even if it never gets better.” – Mates of State, Get Better
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” To which Ernest Hemmingway retorted, “Yes, they have more money.”
Day 102: Annual Budget Meeting
Christina and I just finished our annual budget meeting. We are now working off of a July to June fiscal year budget as opposed to a January to December.
Our agenda looked like this:
Each of these had sub-topics, but one could get the gist from the above.
We simply want to sit down, figure out what money we will spend above our current budget categories, and plan for that. At one point, we were going to buy a new bed this year. When we talked about it at this meeting, we realized we were actually sleeping quite well now that we work out daily and, therefore, we probably don’t need a new bed. That saved $600 – $1000 off our annual budget.
Then we discussed the $600 or so of expected maintenance our car will need this year and the potential $2000+ in repairs that could happen unexpectedly. These are things we need to expect otherwise out budget could be thrown completely out of whack.
If you don’t meet with your spouse with regularity about financial matters, I highly recommend it. How else can you tell if you are on the same page?
Some category updates from the past few weeks:
Fitness: I am on day 61 of P90X and I have gone from doing 1 pullup to around 10. I have gone from doing 30 terrible pushups to doing 35 nose-to-the-floor pushups.
Food: I have worked really hard to make more food from scratch. I have made pintos and lentil stew and more all from basic ingredients. I am trying to cut out food waste from our house.
Finances: Since Jan 1, 2010, out net worth has increased at least six fold. I have paid off one of my student loans and increased our investment portfolio.
http://www.titheyourlife.com/day-102-annual-budget-meeting/