Money

Money is on our minds. It’s an election year with both candidates predicting economic disaster should I vote for the other guy; Wall Street is imitating a yo-yo; pay raises may or may not have kept pace with inflation, but they probably have not kept pace with the gasoline/heating energy/food price increases.

I’ve been thinking about money. What’s essential, what’s non-negotiable? Where do we economize and where do we blow the budget? The other morning my husband remarked, “You know I have never liked this blanket,” as he straightened the cotton woven blanket on the bed. I believe “too many books” is an implausible and impossible concept. Everybody needs to eat. It’s nice to stay warm when the thermometer registers 30 degrees. Compromise? Refusal to negotiate? I liked that sage colored cotton throw.

I found a turquoise and lime cotton stitched blanket at Target: $59.99 reduced 75% to $12.48. It was tied into a nice bundle, which felt heavy enough to be the right size. Maybe turquoise wasn’t our first color choice, but who sleeps with their eyes open? We keep bringing home books, but often they’re from thrift stores (25 cents/book) or library sales (the much higher price of $1/book). I shop the used book division of Amazon, weighing condition, shipping charges, and rationalizations (but if I spent $25 on their new books, I get free shipping from Amazon). That’s rationalization. Or survival. Or compromise.

Some of us buy in quantity – a quarter cow or industrial size bottles of soap. Some of us get movies from the library instead of Netflix. Some of us find the joys of used book stores. According to a news item, hundreds of people waited in line to get into a new Goodwill store in Connecticut. More of us are bartering. We’re thinking about where we are willing to compromise and which parts of our lives make us who we are (and are non-compromisable).

Quality food is important. We are what we eat, in more ways than the scale. What’s it worth to spend more on cage-free eggs? Better taste, better conscience, happier hens. If I’m going to eat a donut, I want it to be a toothsome donut. I’d rather turn the thermostat down, put on an extra sweater, and take that money to the grocery store. (Some people have told me this is a Midwest trait.)

Some things we cannot give up. I have a habit of finding wonderful books, and then finding additional copies to share with others. Creating Money, by Roman and Packer, has been one of those standbys, (along with Your Money or Your Life by Dominguez and Robin and You Don’t Have to go Home from Work Exhausted! By McGee-Cooper, et al).

We evoke situations (and people) by our beliefs. Money is energy. Money is a way to demonstrate ego, or a tool to help others. Money is connected with work, whether we take joy or misery from our job. Even when we’ve been given a pink slip and shown the door, that door is not a one-way trip to Hades. Sometimes we think it is – but invariably good emerges, like a phoenix rising from destruction.

The most important thing we bring to money is our attitude about it. Get out your library card and go read Creating Money and Your Money or Your Life. Remember that phoenix.