If you read this late tonight after I write and publish it, beginning my writing at 9 PM on a night when I am fairly exhausted and don't feel like writing (isn't that precisely the time when one is supposed to write?), the month of July 2018 is coming to a close.
When you wake up in the morning, it will be a Wednesday and a new month. August was named after Augustus Caesar in 8 B.C., and according to Infoplease, was adopted by this resolution in the Roman Senate:
What I want to write about tonight is your internal yardstick for fulfillment as described in Your Money or Your Life, one of my favorite money-related books. And the original one by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, although I am sure that the updated version by Grant Sabatier and Ms. Robin. I will probably peruse that one at some future time, but my suspicion is that the message is much the same as the original book but with updates related to modern technology and the economic forces that have shaped the past several decades.
When it comes to my own internal yardstick for fulfillment, the authors urge you to ask yourself, month in, month out, whether you actually got fulfillment in proportion to life energy spent in various subcategories that awaken the natural sense of knowing when enough is enough.
Taken out of context, the above may sound like some gobbledygook, but in actuality it makes so much sense that you should remind yourself of it upon reading this.
For yours truly, I can say that I did enjoy some true fulfillment in the month of July. Project: Time Off would be proud of me because I had a minimum of six truly fulfilling days in July, four of which were vacation days.
Of my six fulfilling days in July, one was on the Fourth, when I took my daughter to the beach along with my best friend and brother and one of my brother's daughters.
I took a vacation day on Friday the 13th, a day that I happened across $181 stashed in an old 1998 Subaru manual that I was going to toss in the garbage. That was the first day in quite a while that I felt a sense of abundance.
The following week, I took three more vacation days, bringing my total to a respectable twelve through the end of July, and rented a farmhouse about a half hour from the Wisconsin Dells. Although the Wednesday through Saturday cost us about $1,600 total between lodging ($750), eating meals out (about $250), entertainment ($180 for four duck boat rides and boat cruise rides) and incidentals like tolls and a few groceries, it was a great family trip and one of the highlights of my summer.
Even though it was a work day, I had a great day last Friday, the 27th. My boss was out, I spent the day catching up on messages and I found out that one of my closest childhood friends got a job two blocks from my Village Hall. Someone who I had only seen once a year or so for the past fifteen or so years is now a five minute walk from my office.
I ate so well this month between meals out, barbecues at out house, (almost) gourmet meals prepared by our son and the fresh corn that I have been buying at a local farm stand that I feel like a king.
Being known to overeat, at the ripe old age of forty-seven, I am now learning how to enjoy a fulfilling meal without feeling obligated to overeat.
I know that we need to spend less on eating out. As the gurus all say, you can tell what your priorities are by checking over your bank and credit card statements each month.
If that is the case, I can easily tell you what my family's priorities are month after month: our children and eating good food.
The simple word "children" encompasses a lot and I mean a lot!
Horse riding, music lessons, two new instruments purchase in July (a $2,700 trombone and a $3,900 trumpet), spending money for trips to Six Flags, a family vacation and over thirty meals out adds up. I would imagine that well over ten grand left our account this month that is coming to a close, and more than that will leave it in August. And do not forget - never forget -
This August, I get to resume paying for our son's college, tuition, room and board. He will be moving into a college-sanctioned apartment, thus this upcoming school year will cost about $27,000 before all the extra fees, books, spending money, clothes for gigs and travel money for gigs. Let's just call it thirty grand, which I will gladly pay. In fact, I feel privileged to pay it.
Anyhow, July of 2018 will soon be in the past.
Although it does not embody the same type of importance and excitement of a new year, a new month is now upon us.
Let's you and me both better match our expenditures and time spent this coming months with our internal yardstick for fulfillment. Take this opportunity to look at the degree of satisfaction in your life by examining something simple and tangible such as how you spent your time and money last month, and how you may make better use of your time and money this coming month.
For those of you, and I know that you are out there, who already spend your time and money in perfect accordance with your ideals, then bravo! As I have written before, please send me a message about it or point me to a post that you have written.
I have already read the stories of the Millennials who have ditched their jobs to travel the world and make big money by documenting their travels. Some folks make over a million bucks per year on their online endeavors. I wish to be like them, but I am not. I am not tech-savvy enough and I am trying to overcome my huge aversion to risk.
I definitely aligned my family's spending and time a little more closely with our ideals this month that is coming to a close. Our collective internal yardstick for fulfillment was slightly closer to being fulfilled than feeling hollow and empty.
But we still have a long way to go and I am determined to do even better.
I hope that you and I both have a fulfilling August.
When you wake up in the morning, it will be a Wednesday and a new month. August was named after Augustus Caesar in 8 B.C., and according to Infoplease, was adopted by this resolution in the Roman Senate:
Whereas the Emperor Augustus Caesar, in the month of Sextillis . . . thrice entered the city in triumph . . . and in the same month Egypt was brought under the authority of the Roman people, and in the same month an end was put to the civil wars; and whereas for these reasons the said month is, and has been, most fortunate to this empire, it is hereby decreed by the senate that the said month shall be called Augustus.You may also read this in some future time in a different format. If so, it does not really matter if you read this in mid-February in 2025 or December of 2050 for that matter. The following is timeless.
What I want to write about tonight is your internal yardstick for fulfillment as described in Your Money or Your Life, one of my favorite money-related books. And the original one by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, although I am sure that the updated version by Grant Sabatier and Ms. Robin. I will probably peruse that one at some future time, but my suspicion is that the message is much the same as the original book but with updates related to modern technology and the economic forces that have shaped the past several decades.
When it comes to my own internal yardstick for fulfillment, the authors urge you to ask yourself, month in, month out, whether you actually got fulfillment in proportion to life energy spent in various subcategories that awaken the natural sense of knowing when enough is enough.
Taken out of context, the above may sound like some gobbledygook, but in actuality it makes so much sense that you should remind yourself of it upon reading this.
For yours truly, I can say that I did enjoy some true fulfillment in the month of July. Project: Time Off would be proud of me because I had a minimum of six truly fulfilling days in July, four of which were vacation days.
Of my six fulfilling days in July, one was on the Fourth, when I took my daughter to the beach along with my best friend and brother and one of my brother's daughters.
 |
| our set up at the beach on Friday the Thirteenth. |
The following week, I took three more vacation days, bringing my total to a respectable twelve through the end of July, and rented a farmhouse about a half hour from the Wisconsin Dells. Although the Wednesday through Saturday cost us about $1,600 total between lodging ($750), eating meals out (about $250), entertainment ($180 for four duck boat rides and boat cruise rides) and incidentals like tolls and a few groceries, it was a great family trip and one of the highlights of my summer.
 |
| We had a nice vacation in a farmhouse that we rented two weeks ago. |
I ate so well this month between meals out, barbecues at out house, (almost) gourmet meals prepared by our son and the fresh corn that I have been buying at a local farm stand that I feel like a king.
 |
| A great breakfast of spinach crepes that I had out in July. |
 |
| Tacos that I had at Bonefish Grill. |
 |
| I ordered Szechuan chicken with asparagus for lunch last week. |
If that is the case, I can easily tell you what my family's priorities are month after month: our children and eating good food.
The simple word "children" encompasses a lot and I mean a lot!
Horse riding, music lessons, two new instruments purchase in July (a $2,700 trombone and a $3,900 trumpet), spending money for trips to Six Flags, a family vacation and over thirty meals out adds up. I would imagine that well over ten grand left our account this month that is coming to a close, and more than that will leave it in August. And do not forget - never forget -
This August, I get to resume paying for our son's college, tuition, room and board. He will be moving into a college-sanctioned apartment, thus this upcoming school year will cost about $27,000 before all the extra fees, books, spending money, clothes for gigs and travel money for gigs. Let's just call it thirty grand, which I will gladly pay. In fact, I feel privileged to pay it.
Anyhow, July of 2018 will soon be in the past.
Although it does not embody the same type of importance and excitement of a new year, a new month is now upon us.
Let's you and me both better match our expenditures and time spent this coming months with our internal yardstick for fulfillment. Take this opportunity to look at the degree of satisfaction in your life by examining something simple and tangible such as how you spent your time and money last month, and how you may make better use of your time and money this coming month.
For those of you, and I know that you are out there, who already spend your time and money in perfect accordance with your ideals, then bravo! As I have written before, please send me a message about it or point me to a post that you have written.
I have already read the stories of the Millennials who have ditched their jobs to travel the world and make big money by documenting their travels. Some folks make over a million bucks per year on their online endeavors. I wish to be like them, but I am not. I am not tech-savvy enough and I am trying to overcome my huge aversion to risk.
But we still have a long way to go and I am determined to do even better.
I hope that you and I both have a fulfilling August.
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