Money is not the root of all evil but can lead to foolish problems. The problem is not money. It is how we use it. Keeping our spending level at our income level and having no savings is the main issue. Lots of programs talk about budgeting. Get your budget under control. Stop overspending. Don’t waste your money. Save, save, save. You get the gist of what I’m saying. Though I don’t necessarily believe in budgets, I believe in money philosophy. Remember, you can do anything you want, but not everything. You must choose and stick with a basic Life philosophy that manages your money. Â
When I say philosophy, I mean your core values, what you want from life. This philosophy is fundamental and, overall, will not change. It is how you should decide on many things. For example, Your a beautiful, intelligent girl who is a secretary, but you could triple your income as an exotic dancer. You don’t have anything against dancing, and though you’d be a great dancer, you don’t do that because it is not who you are. You also would not sell a product you did not believe in or lie, cheat, or steal for a living. That said, we often lie or cheat ourselves because we don’t hold to our core values.
So find a job that supports your values and provides a salary you can live on. I’m not saying to find your bliss and only work if the job is something you genuinely love. But please take that if you find it. Many times the job that we love the hell out of does not pay the bills. There are several ways around that. One thing you can do is find a second income, or you can also modify your lifestyle to your income. For example, the dream job lets you travel worldwide and enjoy cultures and various life situations. However, the pay is garbage. You can do one or both change your lifestyle and or get a second income stream.
There are so many options for making money on the side today that it is a logical choice. The best possible additional income might be related to the job you love. A travel blog might be just what you need using the travel dream job above. A gig that is related to your regular job and still something you like. Win-win. You could take extra shifts or work on promotion to make your desired money. If your job gives you flexible hours, you can take advantage of the gig economy and one of the jobs that trade money for time. If you don’t have time for a second job, track your day hour by hour to see where your time is going. You’d be surprised how much time you waste.
Choices help us stay true to our desires and live the life we want. We will remain with travel because I think it’s a common desire. You’ve just started a travel job, and the salary is lower than you’d like. But you LOVE the job. Several changes would make your happiness factor go way up. Downgrading is the best way to have it all. Look for a smaller home, roommates, or Airbnb. Second, can you live without a car? Or can you purchase an older model outright with no payment and less expensive insurance? These are the top-tier changes that give the most cash flow. If you look over your lifestyle, you can come up with more changes that make this job choice work for you.
First, analyze how you spend your money or waste your time. Do you brunch with friends you have nothing in common, vacation with relatives you would not know if they were not, or buy clothes to hang out with friends who do things you are not into? Yeah, I’m not talking about buying the giant toilet paper at Costco but fundamental core values shit. And, I’m not saying cut out those friends or never see those relatives or not go out with those friends. But you can do things on your terms. Instead of brunch, do a midweek home-cooked meal to talk and catch up without the superficial BS. Meet your relatives when you visit your mom. Or follow distant friends on Facebook. And make a one-on-one museum trip, or walk with the friends you want to keep in touch with. These small changes can make you happier at work and in your private life.
There are lots of ways to maintain values and support yourself. Keeping values also works in the other direction. Say your job has great pay but leaves you with no time. Many supercharged careers will gobble up any extra time you might have, leaving you exhausted and wanting more. In this case, time is money. You’ve got the money to do brunch, and you want to vacation and hang out with friends, but your fantastic job has you working the hours of two regular jobs. Your job is a rush, and you would not give it up for anything. What do you do? There are countless ways to automate your life.
I suggest starting with the time tracker mentioned above to see what consumes your time. After you track down your wasted hours, find help to minimize the time suck.
If you’re getting out of shape eating takeout, subscribe to a healthy food delivery service.
Use Instacart for healthy grocery delivery.
Hire a housekeeper/cook /laundress. I always pictured mine to be like Alice on the Brady Bunch. Anyway, you get the picture.
If you can’t get to the gym, peloton brings the workout to you.
You can have clothing delivered for work, fun, and events.
A personal assistant could help with business and home life.
A nanny is what you need most.
The options are endless. That is why I recommend the time tracker so you can work on the most significant time wasters first. Shoot for quality of life issues with major happiness factors like sleep, food, and entertainment and gain some time.
Most of us will spend a good chunk of our lives working. We should have a plan to make that work as positive as possible. Working and not being able to enjoy the basics is not okay. So whether you make loads of money or need a little more, we’ll work on simple methods for a better life.