In our most difficult financial period
my husband would constantly say; “We need to take money out of the equation!”
So we made it our mission to work out how we could live in a way that did not
depend so heavily on money, as that was the one thing (other than time) we just
seemed not to be able to obtain enough of. It was an ongoing dilemma - the more
we had the more we needed. We are both educated people with skills that allow
us to earn incomes that are more than decent and yet we still seemed to never
have enough money - why?
I believe that as a society we have let
this necessary evil take over our lives. Take food for instance. We work more
to earn more, spend more time away from our homes and families in order to make
more, but are unable to do the simplest things like maintain a vegetable garden
that can provide us with the most basic need. We need to buy food. But to get
food that not only resembles the vegetable we were after but also has the
nutrient content that our bodies require, we have to pay more for it.
Alternatively we spend more on supplements to make up for the nutrients our
food was lacking, or medical costs to try to undo the physical affects that not
eating well has on our bodies. In the end our cost for obtaining this basic
need rises while our quality of life diminishes. (Interested in further reading
on this topic? Read Michael Pollan’s In
Defense of Food)
The same could be said for exercise. In
order to make the money required to live the lifestyles we lead, we often sit
for hours at a computer as well as in a car, bus or train to get to our work
place. All the while in unnatural environments with a carriage full of other
commuters chasing the dream of having more or simply making do. To compensate
for this we have to try and fit exercise into our day too, which for most
people means joining a gym, going to boot camp or the like. Again this
increases our cost of living and again we have to work more to earn the money
required to sustain our chosen lifestyle.
Choosing to work for yourself can mean
that you have more control over your time and where you work, but there is
still the danger of over committing yourself financially. I know, I have been
there. It then seems inevitable that you end up taking on work to simply earn
the money required to sustain your lifestyle, or in this case business
practice, rather than doing what inspires you and feeds your soul as well as
lining your pocket with enough income to live a modest but fulfilling life.
Greenhouse
So what’s the answer? Take money out of
the equation? Or at least enable yourself to live in a way that is not so
dependent on money for every little aspect of living.
In your business, there are a few
simple things you can start doing right away:
(i) Assess where you can decrease your
overheads, the less you are committed to outlaying on an ongoing basis the more
of what you earn can stay in your pocket or be put towards growing without the
need for constant personal injections or borrowing.
(ii)Barter, offer your services or goods in
return for someone else’s. This way you get your product/service out in front
the market place without the need to spend on advertising and you receive
something you need for yourself or your business without the actual monetary
expense in return.
(iii) Focus on doing what you love, in order
to sustain your career for the long haul you really do need to enjoy what you
are doing.
As for my personal life, I try to take
more pleasure in the little things. Make my home a place I retreat to rather
than wanting to escape from. There are many ways to turn a holiday into an
adventure without involving 5 stars in your accommodation. Living a beautiful
life is not something only those with loads of money flowing through their bank
account can enjoy. The irony is that there are many people with ‘money’ that
seem more dissatisfied with life and appear to simply be unhappy. The old
saying that money can’t buy you happiness is often the reality. For most people
in order to sustain high cash inflows, there is an equal amount of life-stress
that flows into their lives too. The higher expectations they have of what they
should be able to obtain with their hard earned money, can also lead to the art
of engaging in simple pleasures being lost.
In making the time to grow some of our
own food, moving more, living an active life, continually assessing all aspects
of our lifestyle and where we spend money unnecessarily, working out ways to
reduce needless spending on simple necessities or extravagant luxuries for
short term pleasure, taking the road less travelled when holidaying, enjoying
the memories created by this and stories we get to share afterwards is how we
have enabled ourselves to enjoy more without over committing financially.
Back to the daily grind of work - need
it be a daily grind? Wouldn’t you rather find fulfillment by doing what you do
for the love of it, enjoying what you have, being true you to yourself and your
values... living a lifestyle that enables you make money a less important
factor in the equation? An enriched life shared with the ones you love. I know
I would... we’re doing our best to do so right now. And you can too!
by
marie-nicole
PS. To get you started on growing your
own food pick up the current issue of Living Magazine for my DIY Design contribution
on making a miniature greenhouse from a recycled window.
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