Your Money

Just wanted to share what I'm reading these days.  "Your Money.  The Missing Manual."  An awesome book!  Definitely check it out.  It's not only about saving money and how to make more, but also about how to become happier, get rid of the junk, ask for a raise, and get to love budgeting.  Yup, who new that budgeting can be fun?

The Missing Manuals are great books.  Super easy to read and have a ton of useful info.  Also gotta love the authors' sense of humor.  :)

Why is this relevant to your health?  If your financial situation is stressing you out, you can eat all the broccoli in the world and not feel very hot.  (Although, eating broccoli helps.)

One of the ideas I really liked is that it’s not owning things that makes you happy, but using them.

“A recent article in the Journal of Consumer Research showed that, in general, our feelings for material purchases fade more quickly than they do for experiential purchases.  Material goods depreciate:  The day after you buy something, it’s usually worth less than you paid for it.  Experiences, on the other hand, appreciate:  Your memories of the things you do – vacations you take, concerts you go to – become fonder with time because you tend to recall the positives and forget the negatives.”  (p.8)

I agree.  Sometimes people go shopping because it’s the action of shopping that is bringing them thrill and satisfaction.  (Kinda like sugar – a feeling of fake satisfaction and happiness that doesn’t last long and leads to a deeper feeling of dissatisfaction.)  Especially when the smart marketing tricks create the images of cool happy life that’s going to happen after getting the Stuff.   Then very often, people go home and soon forget all about the purchase.  Nothing has changed in their life, and the only way to feel the thrill is to go shopping again.  Pretty sad.  I definitely experienced this myself before and I’m trying to be cautious about it now.  I also see this happening to people I know, all the time.  Media is trying to convince us that the only way to be happy is to buy Stuff, nonstop.  There is always something to buy, and very often it’s something we don’t need using the money we don’t have.   You don’t hear messages like: “Look around your house and see what you already own.  You have SO much!  Go use it and enjoy it!  You don’t need to spend more $$, silly.”   

I think it’s a true skill to enjoy life.  Sometimes it’s not something you are born with but rather need to learn to be happy and make people around you happy.  My favorite quote is:  “The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.”

So to wrap up, that’s why I like the book.  It doesn't just teach you to save and make more dough only to spend it later on Stuff that doesn't make you happy anyway.  It teaches, among other things, to get creative, learn to enjoy what we already have, and stop being the consumer zombies.