How Getting Out of Line Can Get You To Your Financial Finish Line Sooner

Subscribe for more tree-hugging out of line financial advice. (Photo by Mali Serena Aurora)

If there was a straight line starting at birth, and finishing at a retirement home, it would look a little like this: first you go to school, to get educated and learn to socialize with others.

Then you attend more school, and if you’re really good, even more. Eventually you go to work, and no matter if you’re good or not, you keep on going to work. Eventually you retire. This “assembly-line” is what the song “Another Brick in The Wall” by Pink Floyd refers to: that line that everyone is supposed to toe.

But what if you could get more of what you really want, say money or success, if you didn’t toe this line? Our whole lives we are taught that we need to be good like girls, or courageous boys, and to behave. What if the key was to return to your childhood roots and learn to live again, this time by being out of line?!

Curb Your Consumerism

I know it will be hard to suggest to someone to curb their purchasing habits, especially because I am still working on this myself. However, it is possible to get out of the checkout line and into the wealth and success mindset. Have you ever watched how a child can play with a cardboard box for hours, and leave the toy that came in it by the wayside?

How is it that children can enjoy themselves without a lot of “stuff”, but we as adults feel the need to reward ourselves by buying more stuff? There are going to be extremes where spoiled children cannot entertain themselves without high tech gadgets, but deep down I think we are all capable of enjoying life with a lot less stuff than we think.

So how do you curb your consumerism exactly?

• Before you buy anything, put it on a list. If after 30 days you still want to buy said thing, then go ahead. Otherwise, you just realized you were going to make an impulse buy.
• Do not use shopping as a reward for yourself. If you did something great, or worked really hard to achieve a goal, don’t make a purchase your reward. You might be reinforcing consumerism patterns in yourself. Instead, ask your mate or close friend for a massage (and be ready to return the favor later!). Or take time out to go for a walk in a relaxing park, take a warm bubble bath, or read a book you’ve been wanting to read.
• Do not make shopping your only “hobby” or the only time you spend with friends. I have seen many people turn to shopping as a way to fill their hobby time. I also don’t think it is wise to make your social time exclusive to shopping. Spend time with friends at your home, or their homes, and just talk, go for a walk, and relax. Most conversations during shopping focus on sales, and ads anyways, so get back to more meaningful topics!

What do you get by buying less?

• Save money. This is probably the most obvious benefit of shopping less, and thus spending less money. Every dollar you do not spend can be reinvested into your future: either by paying off debts, investing for your retirement, or for your children’s education. The old saying “a penny saved is a penny earned” has now been upgraded to, “a penny saved is a dollar earned“, due to the power of compounding.
• Reduce waste. We all know that it’s time to take a stand on environmental issues, and the best way to show our support is to buy less stuff. The less we produce, the less we consume, the happier the planet.
• Eliminate the clutter. The less stuff you buy, the less stuff you need to take care of and worry about. A shelf with 50 small decorations can turn into a real dusting nightmare. But there are even deeper links to “stuff” that can cause major issues in your life. The cleaner your home, the less stuff you have, the less worries and the more freedom you have.
• Find yourself again. Spending less time shopping can give you time to find your true hobbies again. Try reading a few books, take up painting, learn a new sport or language. Keeping yourself active and learning new things is definitely better than spending hours comparison shopping for a pair of shoes.

Do More of The Things You Love

If you spend less time and money shopping, you will have more time to do the things you love. I challenge you to write a list of 20 things that you love doing. It can be anything from reading a book, to combing your hair, or kissing your mate. Beside each one of these things, write down when the last time was that you did it.

Doing more of the things you love to do will help you focus on having fun, and not on spending money. Once you focus on what makes you happy, your money will go to work multiplying. Focus on the things you enjoy, not on the materials you need or want. You will reach your financial finish line faster by focusing on what love doing, and reducing your shopping therapy.

I was surprised to see how many things I love doing that I rarely do. Here are 12 things I did this past summer that got me closer to my 20 things list. Notice how many of these things were inexpensive or did not require a lot of shopping or spending.

This is me learning to inline skate in two weeks.

1. Learned How to Roller Blade

I will let you in on a little secret: for years I’ve been afraid of anything that goes fast (except cars). That meant that I had not ridden a bike since I was 13, never been on inline skates, and hated winter skating. With the encouragement of my boyfriend, I successfully went bicycling numerous times. From there I moved onto learning how to inline skate. I never thought of myself as a skater, or even a cyclist, but now things are different! I feel a lot more confident in my skills, and a lot more free.

2. Read 40 books

I have always loved books. Since University, I hadn’t had much time to read. So I decided to challenge myself to read two books per week. I became a regular library visitor, and now everyone knows my name (although I live in a small town, so that’s not so special). I had a list of books that I really wanted to read, and I read most of them! I surpassed any of my previous book reading records by reading 40 books, both fiction and non-fiction.

3. Planted, nurtured, and harvested a garden

As soon as I got home, my father and I started planning our vegetable garden. We organized the layout, tilled the earth, mixed in some all-natural horse manure, and got started. My mother was in charge of the tomatoes, and she also kept an eye on the zucchinis and cucumbers. I was responsible for re-planting things once they had been harvested, and for removing the weeds. I really enjoyed spending time in the sun, crouched down beside these plants. I really became attached to my garden, and I was surprised to learn so much about gardening. The salads we made from our garden produce were worth the effort, and we really enjoyed bonding.

Photo by Fabrizio Sciami

4. Wrote 23,489 words of a novel manuscript

I have always had a childhood dream of publishing a novel. In November 2007 I completed the NaNoWriMo competition and wrote a 50,000 word novel from scratch in one month. This summer I wanted to repeat the experiment with a new novel idea. I got nearly halfway through, and I am happy with the results. I have been told that it takes a writer 9 novels before one of them is good enough to be published. I am now up to my 2nd novel, since I have another halfway finished novel on my hard drive. I want to devote more time to my writing, but I am satisfied with this effort for now.

5. Learned how to invest, to prepare for my retirement

I read books about investing and personal finance. I went through the necessary procedures to open savings accounts, trading accounts, and so on. In the past, my strategy had been to put my money in a savings account and not think too much about it. The idea of investing in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds always scared me. I was afraid of doing the wrong thing, or losing money. Of course hearing that the sooner you start, the better it is, I finally bit the bullet and got myself educated. I made some progress toward achieving my investing goals.

6. Spent quality time with family, friends, and mate

Being home for a whole summer is something that I hadn’t done since high school. Spending time with family has definitely been incredible: family dinners, week-end outings, evening talks outside on the balcony. I also got to spend time with friends from high school who are still in the area. I reconnected with a really good friend of mine, and it was great to see how much we’ve both grown a lot, but still have so much in common. I also spent quality time with my boyfriend, strengthening our bonds. I got to show him my home town, treat him to the country-life experience, and introduce him to all of my family.

7. Made delicious raw vegan recipes that I’ve been wanting to make for awhile

I have been exploring the world of raw and vegan “cooking” since 2006. There were a lot of recipes I wanted to try out, but I usually stuck to my usual salad or simple smoothie. This summer I had a chance to get my hands on all the equipment and ingredients I needed, and I enjoyed many great meals with my family and friends.

8. Furthered my freelance writing career

I decided to give freelance writing a try, after writing for some of the organizations at my high school and University. It turned out to be more fun than I expected, and it gave me a bit of income to further invest with.

Photo by Bu

9. Went horseback riding, hiking, and swimming in the lake

I went horseback writing for the first time in years, along with some good friends of mine. It was great to be outside, with animals and just enjoying a good belly laugh. Not to mention the thrills I got when my horse decided she wanted to mate with the male horse next to her!

10. Organized a major family reunion

People sometimes say family is important to them, but I think it can be hard to make time to see extended family. That’s why I decided to organize a major family reunion. Everyone got together, we had good food, got cozy under some tents, and avoided the rain together.

11. Watched the famous Montreal fireworks

I had heard about the fireworks competition in Montreal in the past, but I was never there to see it. I made it a point this summer to go out and watch those fireworks. They were the best fireworks I’ve ever seen, though after watching the BeiJing Olympics it still had a ways to go.

12. Prepared for my 4-Month Vagabonding Trip to China

I am off to travel throughout China in October. I’ve been preparing by learning Mandarin, scoping out information, and talking to people who have been to China. I’ve also had to do some major mental preparation, since such a long-term trip is bound to be different than any 2-week vacation can be. I’m looking forward to it, but still working on my Mandarin.

And What Do You Love Doing?

So what are some of the things that came up on your list that surprised you? Leave a comment and let me know!

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