Money Hacks

John December took a year off from life to write a book that he describes as “my Walden“, a book about living simply, about learning to make do with less. Live Simple: Radical Tactics to Reduce the Clutter, Complexity, and Costs of Your Life explains how a simple lifestyle can help you pursue your dreams. It’s available online in a free hypertext edition.

This is a great book. It’s short and filled with practical tips. Even if you don’t buy into the idea of simplicity completely, there’s a lot you can learn from the methods December describes.

Live a more fulfilling life by saying “yes” to opportunities and experiences instead of being afraid of them.  I’ve learned more from the bad experiences than I have from the good.

Try one new thing each week.  Exercise mindfulness. When fear creeps into your head, name it for what it is, and let it pass by.  Ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that could happen?” Then ask yourself, “What is the best thing that could happen?” 

Recognize that failures and mistakes are not the end. Often they’re the beginning.  We all have dreams, but most of us make excuses for not pursuing them. Often these excuses aren’t overt. It’s more a matter of inertia, of just ignoring the dreams, of maintaining the comfortable status quo. But you can break out of your comfort zone to get more out of life through the simple power of yes.

Read more about the power of yes, a simple way to get more out of life.

Believe it or not, you can learn a lot about personal finance from fiction. There’s a certain type of book I love:

• How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

Each of these features an adult narrator looking back with fondness on a childhood of poverty. None of these books sugar-coats the situation, but offers a complex picture of what it’s like to be poor. Maybe it’s because my background is similar (though certainly not nearly as extreme), but I take comfort in these stories, as the protagonists learn about money and meaning.

You are responsible for designing your own life. When you were young, other people determined how and where you lived. But as an adult, those choices are up to you. Your choices reflect your philosophy.

I encourage you to value community and experiences over Stuff. You are not what you own; you are what you do. It took me a long time (nearly forty years) to realize this. I still haven’t fully wrapped my mind around it. But I’m coming to understand that it is relationships and experiences that give life meaning.

Money is good — it opens doors and provides options — but meaningful relationships are more important.

As we live your daily lives, it’s easy to forget all the little things that can help save money:

• Use coupons.
• Drink water.
• Take your lunch.
• Turn off lights.
• Shop at thrift stores.
• Develop self-discipline.

These are all things we know we should do, but sometimes we forget or backslide. Remember: little things add up. Smart personal finance isn’t just about the big things (though those are very important) — it’s about changing your mindset so that all things, big and small, work together to build wealth.