Inflation seems to be chief among the headlines lately and I figured what better time to offer some tips to help.
Disclaimer: As with all free advice, it’s free for a reason. It may not be directly applicable to your life and situation. I don’t live your life, so it’d be problematic for me to shape the advice to try and fit a life I couldn’t possibly understand.
My first piece of advice is applicable to any person, and that’s to take stock of what is actually important to you. Look at your surroundings and evaluate what you own. Which of those items actually own you? Any television is an obvious culprit. Now recall how much was spent on any of these items and how much memorable time you got from them. You’re going to find out that you can’t recall how much things cost, when you bought them, or anything memorable surrounding them at all other than the dust they collect.
It’s fine, we all do it! But this tip is to raise your awareness when you are considering a purchase. Some day that item might be collecting dust so how much is that dust worth to you now. Dust is not appreciable, it’s evidence of absence.
Another, more obvious piece of advice is to monitor your spending habits around food. Every time you spend on convenience, you are paying a huge premium to someone else for the privilege. Learn how to cook and you’ll have two birds and a burgeoning rock collection. It’s the kind of skill set that can only make your life better, so do it.
You’ll also spend more time in one of the most important rooms in the home. Bedrooms are great but the kitchen is where the magic actually happens. Bonus points if you have someone close to share the joys of cooking.
A third piece of advice is to invest more of yourself into your relationships. It’s incredibly easy to get distracted and I’m borrowing some of your attention now to prove the point. If the time spent on this rabbit hole would be better used talking to someone about a pressing topic, do it now, not later.
Go on, my text will be here when you’re done. Tell the people you love them today, don’t put it off because there’s always more time. We all understand intrinsically that there isn’t always more time. All of this comes to an end and regret can only be passed on, not taken with.
The fourth point is one I have all but ignored this year as I have been slowly shedding the weight of 20+ years of a career that was someone else’s. Make time to get out and see the natural world, it’s practically (if not literally) free to do. This advice is becoming relevant again after months of ridiculous fuel prices cast doubts on even the shortest road trip. If you have the fortune of living in the U.S., you’re almost guaranteed to be a short, drivable distance from a national park. Any one of these parks can make a bucket list better, and you can pick up an annual pass and get several of them in at a time. You’ll have a collection of memories worth more than any gadget you’ve ever bought thinking it had happiness in it somewhere.
Now that I’ve invested in you, kind strangers, it’s time to get back to my long term investments. Daily dividends of joy can’t be beaten, but they take the best thing we all have to offer: presence.