The past four years have been a realization that there exists two main commodities in life, time and money.
In this post I talked about the fact that when you spend your money, you're mortgaging your time.
This was most evident a few weeks after Christmas 2014. The girls reached an age where their Christmas list was quite large; a lists of desired toys influenced by the culture they find themselves growing up in. L and I obliged their many desires that year, leading to a fairly expensive Christmas.
A mere two weeks after Christmas those many wants, which were now haves in their very hands, no longer held the same meaning to them. I didn't and don't blame them for this. I feel it's a "luxury" of their generation, and if I'm honest, each generation between theirs and my own.
Under that tree that year existed many hours L and I spent at work. I dare say time that would have rather been spent as a family, doing any number of things that cost little to nothing. We gave that time away for possessions.
While we're speaking of possessions, how many things in your life hold true value to you? If your house was on fire, and you had time to grab the things most meaningful to you, what objects would earn your efforts? If you're like me, once learning your family was safe, there are few things that mean much of anything. We can't even say pictures anymore, they're in the cloud. My lock box and golf clubs, perhaps...
So why do we mortgage our time to fill our lives with things that merely pose as trip hazards in our burning house, and our life path?
I've heard from parents lately that they have been dialing back their family Christmas gift giving, in exchange for a better experience (time together!). I feel it's incumbent on me to teach my kids to find contentment and happiness in life that isn't based on the amount, or cost, of objects they're able to obtain.
My favorite quote on frugal living and minimalism is the following: "Perhaps the most brilliant side-effect of restricting our consumption is that it keeps us alive to pleasure."
This quote was from a woman named Annie Raser-Rowland who authored the book "The Art of Frugal Hedonism: A Guide to Spending Less While Enjoying Everything More". I'm going to borrow an image that can be found at the website within that link:
Don't overlook the value of your time.
Let's end with a thought scenario. Let's say the average Christmas with kids costs $500. If we cut that to $200, and invested the difference in a retirement savings account, how much time would that potentially buy us back (in time) when considering retirement? They say the market has grown 10% on average since the 1920's. Let's safely use an annual return of 7.5% to the $300 dollars you put in every Christmas for 20 years. In 20 years, that $6000 dollars would have earned you $8,265.76. Feel free to check my math...
How much time does $8,265.76 earn you? Time freed up to do things you feel make a difference, or time spent with the people that mean the most to you. How many more areas of your life can you save additional money to store away?
In this post I talked about the fact that when you spend your money, you're mortgaging your time.
This was most evident a few weeks after Christmas 2014. The girls reached an age where their Christmas list was quite large; a lists of desired toys influenced by the culture they find themselves growing up in. L and I obliged their many desires that year, leading to a fairly expensive Christmas.
A mere two weeks after Christmas those many wants, which were now haves in their very hands, no longer held the same meaning to them. I didn't and don't blame them for this. I feel it's a "luxury" of their generation, and if I'm honest, each generation between theirs and my own.
Under that tree that year existed many hours L and I spent at work. I dare say time that would have rather been spent as a family, doing any number of things that cost little to nothing. We gave that time away for possessions.
While we're speaking of possessions, how many things in your life hold true value to you? If your house was on fire, and you had time to grab the things most meaningful to you, what objects would earn your efforts? If you're like me, once learning your family was safe, there are few things that mean much of anything. We can't even say pictures anymore, they're in the cloud. My lock box and golf clubs, perhaps...
So why do we mortgage our time to fill our lives with things that merely pose as trip hazards in our burning house, and our life path?
I've heard from parents lately that they have been dialing back their family Christmas gift giving, in exchange for a better experience (time together!). I feel it's incumbent on me to teach my kids to find contentment and happiness in life that isn't based on the amount, or cost, of objects they're able to obtain.
My favorite quote on frugal living and minimalism is the following: "Perhaps the most brilliant side-effect of restricting our consumption is that it keeps us alive to pleasure."
This quote was from a woman named Annie Raser-Rowland who authored the book "The Art of Frugal Hedonism: A Guide to Spending Less While Enjoying Everything More". I'm going to borrow an image that can be found at the website within that link:
Don't overlook the value of your time.
Let's end with a thought scenario. Let's say the average Christmas with kids costs $500. If we cut that to $200, and invested the difference in a retirement savings account, how much time would that potentially buy us back (in time) when considering retirement? They say the market has grown 10% on average since the 1920's. Let's safely use an annual return of 7.5% to the $300 dollars you put in every Christmas for 20 years. In 20 years, that $6000 dollars would have earned you $8,265.76. Feel free to check my math...
How much time does $8,265.76 earn you? Time freed up to do things you feel make a difference, or time spent with the people that mean the most to you. How many more areas of your life can you save additional money to store away?
I ran your $300 annual contribution for 20 years through a savings calculator at 7.5% and came up with $13,xxx! (But maybe I'm doing it wrong.) Either way it's a great way to look at it!
ReplyDeleteOr consider a matching 529 college savings plan (like FAME offers) to save for college, university, trade school, voc school or other post secondary educational.
I think we're close on the total, I subtracted the $6,000 deposited from that total to show earnings only (but the total I had was $14,xxx).
DeleteWe do have 529's established, but not contributing to regularly (yet!).
Thanks for the comment.