How intimate are you with your money?

jeezzle (70)in #busy • 6 years ago

I'm going to go right out and say it. I love my money.

That's not to say that I'm in love with the idea of money, or that I feel as though money should make the world go round.

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It does make it go round though. If you want to be standing on the top of that financial globe, then you need money in your pockets, money in your wallet, and money in the bank.

Money, money, money.

Money doesn't come easy though. At least not when the crypto markets are down like they have been this year.

I work in a restaurant. I work every single day, seven days a week.

Do I love it? No. I don't really love dealing with screaming kids, entitled businessmen, and all manner of people who consider me low on the totem because I am serving them.

Not everyone that comes out to eat is like that, but we do get a large share of those people around here.

Of course I always tell myself I'm not really a restaurant worker. I'm a writer.

That's not really paying the bills though.

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Working at a restaurant everyday, everyday, everyday. That is paying the bills.

Most people that I know don't have a fat bank account. In fact, I would argue that most people on the planet are living hand to mouth.

There are certainly months when I'm living that way, and other months when I've done better than expected in the restaurant field.

I'm careful with my money though, because I know that good things often come to an end.

It's really rare that I thought I buy any large ticket items. You see, I'd rather feel the texture of that money in my wallet.... and know that I have it then go give it to someone else...... even if it means I get something in return.

Many of my friends will actually drink their profits and earnings away. When I was younger I took part in different activities like that, but I don't usually get off on that nowadays.

The truth is those kinds of activities cost a great deal of money. That's money you won't get back.

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However, one must investigate the quality of life that one lives. Money certainly is a net that we can fall on. If something is to happen and you've got money, you're probably going to be okay.

On the other hand, if you lose your job or something similar you better look for a source of money real quick.

If you like to read, and you also like money, you have to ask yourself.... is it worth it spend money on several books every month? That can add up to a couple of hundred dollars for a constant reader.

The same thing applies to videos and video streaming. I know several people that constantly rent digital movies at $5 a pop. If you rent one every single night then you're looking at $150 a month.

If you compare that to a month's worth of Netflix, then you looking at something at $11 versus $150.

That's a big difference. However, you won't always get to watch every movie that you are interested in if you have Netflix. In fact, I have found their selection to be somewhat lacking lately.

Maybe you like to go out to the movies. Last time I went I think I spent about $20. The movie itself was maybe $10 or $11 and then of course there's popcorn and a drink.

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My brother goes to the movies about 5 times a month. That's $100 easily.

What about going out to eat? I love when people go out to eat, because I work at a restaurant and that means that they are helping me to pay my bills.

I also love going out to eat because food is delicious. However, I am much more likely to cook at the house because I find I can actually get by on about $5 if I buy meat and vegetables and cook it in a pot together. I'm talking about $5 for lunch and dinner.

You can definitely save a lot of money by shopping at the grocery store instead of going out to eat.

However, quality of life comes into effect once again. If you love going out to eat then you definitely should do it once in awhile. Otherwise you are being uncool to yourself.

I know a girl that works all the time. I see her everyday because I work all the time too. However, I like to live a happy life.

That means being nice to people, doing things that I want to do, eating what I want to eat, reading what I want to read, watching what I want to watch, and generally living the life that I want to live. I mean, I do wish I made more money and I do wish that my writing had taken off more, but for the most part I feel good about who I am and what I have.

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The reason I mention this is because that girl loves watching TV. She talks about TV shows every single day. She's always telling me about the latest episode of this show or that show. Yet she has a 20 inch TV.

This is a girl that works constantly, and is absolutely in love with watching TV shows, but has not been able to buy herself that expensive TV. I'm quite certain that at some point she had enough money to do it..... because I've seen her rake in the bucks, and I know she doesn't have that many expenses.

She's making a decision though. Don't spend the money.

I understand that decision. As I said earlier, I much prefer the feel of money in my wallet to the feel of giving that money away to someone else.

However, I also like living a happy life.

A balance must be maintained. You don't want to go overboard by just giving your money away on any little frivolous thing, but at the same time you must make sure that you are buying yourself the things that will make you happy.

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After all, no matter how you may feel about life, we're all here for a limited time. Do what you need to do to be happy.

If that means letting go of a little bit of that money in order to purchase something that will increase the quality of life then I absolutely recommend that you do it.