I mentioned in a previous post that I had been in the East West Bookshop in Bothell and bought some used books. One of them was deeply discounted because it was highlighted, so it cost me $2 instead of the $12 list price; in fact, the cashier said they weren't even supposed to take the book to resell because of the highlighting, but the book was in such good condition otherwise that she took a chance. Apparently it had been on the table for an hour when I came by and snatched it.
The book is Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. I'd heard of this book a few times, most recently during our church Simplicity Circle, and a personal friend (also involved in that circle) had recommended it. Seems fitting that I'd get a book on "financial independence" for a $10 discount. :)
This book has been really amazing. I've done a lot of work on finances and debt and spending and simplicity, so some of this was preaching to the choir and/or reinforcing what I've already known and done. But some of it was such an entirely different way of thinking of money and energy and really got me thinking. And excited about some of the things that were coming up as I got in touch with my thoughts about finances and working and life.
I've spent a lot of my life in debt. I'm still in debt, and for a significant amount still. Like half my annual salary (if we exclude the new car loan). The good news is that I'm now living within my means, and have been for the past two years - I have not incurred any new debt in that time that I have not paid off at the end of the month. And I'm paying more than minimums for my debt. Not much more, but more. And all my debt is at very low interest (6.9% or less), so I am grateful for that.
So, here's the thing. While it's really fantastic that I don't go deeper into debt, I could be doing a much better job of getting out of it. I spend way too much money still. Doesn't matter that I can afford to pay it all off. I've still got that albatross of debt hanging over my head. Some of the things I spend money on monthly are truly necessities - like rent and utilities - but there are things I don't need and/or could cut down on. Eating out, for instance.
We spent WAY too much money eating out. Most of it is for boredom's sake, or laziness. Convenience, I guess. Hey, that's fine from time to time. But it's become way too much of the norm.
A friend and I were talking this morning about this, and she was saying how eating out became less "special" when it became routine. She's right! There's no excitement to a meal out anymore (other than the excitement that I don't have to cook it or clean up after it). And you can't say that I don't fill my house with convenience foods - our freezer is full of quick-to-heat things from Trader Joe's, for instance. So I really could have dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes, even if I had to boil water for a pasta side dish.
Part of me feels like if I don't eat out, I will feel deprived. But I started to reframe that today, and realized that every dollar I spend eating out is one less dollar I can't pay to my debt. And every month that I do not get out of debt is one more month I have this debt haunting me, reminding me of past problems and issues.
So what if I start making the choice to not eat out as often because I am making the choice to pay my bills faster?
Take lattes, for example. I never drank coffee, ever, back in New York. But for some reason I am a latte junkie here. I have one at least 5 days a week. It costs me $4.30 and I usually leave the $0.70 as a tip. So that's $5 a day. Times 5 days a week. Times 52 times a year. That's $1,300 a year, not counting any snacks I might also buy along with the latte, or any lattes I might have on weekends. Wow. So part of me justified that because Antoinette, the barista at the coffee shop in our atrium at work, is one of the most positive, sweetest people I've ever met. She remembers everyone, and everything about them. I go to see her and she is just beaming. Not too many people do that when I see them. It's nice to be welcomed and fawned over and given this steaming hot cup of rice milk and espresso. But then I realized that if I walk down to the atrium to read a book at lunch (like I did today), and pass Antoinette, she still calls my name and waves and smiles and wishes me a good day. No purchase required. Hmmm . . . So I decided this week that I was going to stop having lattes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That simple act of skipping 2 days would save over $500 a year!! So rather than look at it as deprivation that I didn't get a latte today, I decided to look at it as financial freedom - it's $5 closer to getting out of debt.
I'm in this line of work that just sucks the life out of me. I am not happy. As this book referred to it, I'm "making a dying" as opposed to "making a living." Very true. If I hit the lottery, I'd quit in a nanosecond. What would I rather be doing? Health Kinesiology (I've taken 3 levels now and just scheduled level 4 for September) and Reiki (I'm already attuned for level 2 of that and can practice it) and other alternative health pursuits. When I'm working with a client, I stop looking at the clock, and I'm filled with joy. But my assumption has always been that I "can't" quit my "day job" (the one that's not a joy) because "I can't afford it." Well, that got me to thinking about how much a year I pay to pay off debt. I pulled out my PDA and used the calculator, and the amount was staggering. If I didn't have the debt, I could easily earn half my salary, and I could live quite well on it. It was really quite the revelation. Then I figured out, if I charged $X a session and had X clients, how much would I make. And it pretty much came out to around the same figure as what I have left when I ignore the money I paid to debt!!
This was a huge realization for me. And got me very excited. Because suddenly, I realized that I mostly likely could support myself with my passion, not what I'm doing now. My current line of work would be able to be done through a temporary agency too, if I ever wanted to supplement my income from other things. But, to get to this point, I need to get out of debt.
I will be 50 in 4 short years. I have decided that my goal is that all my debt will be paid by then, if not far sooner. I am going to reevaluate what I spend, and what value I get from it. I can probably pay it in 2 years, but I want to have a realistic goal. Your Money or Your Life talks about how money is energy, and how our life is energy, and we're trading our life energy when we make these financial decisions. Is that latte worth how long it takes me to work for the money for it? When I think of the alternatives, it really isn't.
I'm not going to slash my budget insanely and go into deep deprivation mode. I'm going to take baby steps, keeping my eye on the prize - my financial independence from this job. And a time when I can walk away and do what I'm passionate about. Naturally, I'll have to work on that new career simultaneously, but it can be done. I'm already doing some work with that.
Interestingly, in my HK1 class, my teacher used me as a demonstration for something called Adjunctive: Work. This is asking the body questions (using muscle testing) about a particular thing (Work, Play, Sleep and/or Rest, in this case), and when we worked up the Work category, she said that my body's energy wanted to work part time. I balked at that at the time, it simply couldn't be done. But I'm starting to open myself up to the possibilities. Right now, no, it's not possible. Well, I guess it is, but I'm choosing not to because I want money to pay these debts down quickly. But it's nice to have options. And it's nice to know that my body was telling me all along the things that my brain is starting to catch up to. :)
This is a work in progress; I don't have all the answers. It also won't resolve itself overnight. But I'm feeling optimistic now. I have choices I can make. I am realizing that my assumptions were incorrect. I've got some goals. I feel good about all of that!
