Looking Back: 2016 Money Pie

Happy New Year!! It's that time of year again...money pie time!! As you know, each year I recap my spending throughout the year as a percentage. I think this is a great way to see where the money is all going so that I can make smarter decisions with my money in the future years. You can find previous year's posts here: 2014, 2015.

 

As always, I did not include any savings in this chart. This is not technically "spending" although I do track it and it is part of my yearly financial plan.  

 

Home: This category includes mortgage, utilities, taxes and insurance, as well as other misc items, such as appliances and other crap that comes with owing a home. However, the bulk (about 86%) of it is mortgage, taxes and insurance, with the others trailing way behind. Also, anything I buy on Amazon, I categorize as "home" as I am too lazy to figure out what it was I actually bought. It is probably a mix between shopping, home and entertainment in actuality.   

 

Transportation: This year I bought a car. As you can see from the pie, it affected the transportation category greatly! In addition, I still spent money commuting (BART) and definitely drove more, as a friend and I started a weekly run meet up after work and I took advantage of nice summer days to get the heck out of dodge as much as possible, including a road trip to Oregon and Kings Canyon.

 

Travel: Speaking of Oregon and Kings Canyon, once again, my indulgent category was travel. Funny enough though, I actually spent less this year than last, or my calculation methods could be inconsistent. Either way, I had a great time traveling abroad as well as to several U.S. destinations and many local weekend trips.

Groceries/Dining Out: Once again, these are almost the same! This year some friends and I went out to a nice meal once a month and we took turns paying. This equates to about once every four months me spending way too much on dinner. However, it is a lot of fun, but it's not helping my "dining out" budget.

Misc: This includes personal care, toiletries, gifts and donations, credit card fees and things like that. The bulk of it is gifts. The other things are minor.

Health: This includes pre-tax deductions and any copay or charge for contact lenses etc.

Entertainment: This includes movies, baseball games, and running related (or other hobbies) expenses. This year, most of it went to race fees. I probably should shift some of my "travel" over to this category, but once again, I am too lazy to really sort it out that thoroughly.

Shopping:  This category included clothing, toiletries and items from Target that were not home or running related. This year I bought a couple of pairs of work shoes and some things from REI which could be in the entertainment category...and that is pretty much it.

So, what did I learn from this? This year I definitely spent more that last year, although a lot of that extra cost was due to my purchase of a car. However, excluding the transportation category, the biggest increases over last year belonged to the Entertainment (53%), Health (33%) and Home (26%) categories. This makes sense, as I signed up for more big ticket races, my insurance premium went up, and I was in my house for a whole year vs. 7 months last year. On the flip side, I also saved more this year, so I am pretty happy with that, as my goal from the beginning of this year was to save more if I could.

What do I want to accomplish this year? This year I hope to do a bit of deeper analysis and develop a plan regarding getting the best bang for my buck. For example, does it make more financial sense to put my money into savings or use it to pay off my mortgage quicker. I have most of the information I need; now it is time to execute! In addition, once again I would like to save more this year than I saved last year. I would like to say I could minimize the Home category, but in reality, there is always a backyard project or a broken pipe or a random thing that goes bump in the night. So, that's it!

Do you keep track of your spending habits? What is the biggest piece of your money pie? What are your financial goals this year?

What I Learned: Getting Financing

Last year was very hectic for me. The reason for this is that in addition to working and running a few races, I was in the market for a home. There are a lot of moving pieces involved when buying a home, especially when you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is one of the hottest places to live (and the most expensive) in the country.

I thought I would break down my search into a few posts, starting with the beginning, which was financing. Oh the joys of getting a loan. Now, I have no idea what the right or wrong way to go about this is, but I will talk about the way that I did it, and what seemed to work for me.

First, I pulled my credit report. I have heard, and I am not sure if this is true, that it is better to pull it 6 times in one month than 6 times over the course of a year. So I pulled it, knowing that the lenders would also pull it. Luckily, it was in good shape.

The next thing I wanted was a pre-approval letter. I had no idea what I was getting myself in for, but I did know that a pre-approval letter was better than a pre-qualify. With a pre-approval, the lender gets mostly all of your paperwork and then they use that to figure out how much they will be willing to lend you. This is important for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is hard to figure out how much you can afford. I spent a lot of time on the internet plugging in numbers, but until the lender actually used my actual hard data to get an amount, I was just guessing (with the help of Google).

The second reason that it's important is that it helps to submit the pre-approval letter with your offer. This can help convince the seller that you are serious about the offer, and it will make them more comfortable that your agreement is not going to fall through due to lack of financing. In the Bay Area, your offer will most likely not get accepted without a pre-approval letter.

To get a pre-approval letter, you have to figure out who you want to try to get a letter and/or a loan from. How do you figure this out? Good question! Once again, I turned to Google (and Zillow) to find out who could give me the best rate. In addition, I asked several people who they had used and how their experience had been. I got a lot of different answers. Zillow named two internet banks and Bank of America as having the best rates. Two of my friends used Quicken (internet bank) and Bank of America.

So, I contacted one internet bank, Bank of America (who happens to be where I have had my accounts since I was a teenager) and Citibank. What happened next was this:

The internet bank asked me to fill out a form with my financial info and send it back to them. The lady was very nice and the operation seemed legitimate. I filled out the form and sent it back and got a pre-approval letter the next day.

Bank of America connected me to Texas. I finally got routed to a local agent, who barely spoke English (sorry!) and tried to talk me into getting a 5/1 arm (adjustable rate) instead of the 30 year fixed that I asked her for. She then asked me to send in about 400 different kinds of paperwork, including all of my Bank of America  bank statements. I sent them all to her and did not hear back from her for three weeks (when I called her, her message said she was on vacation).

Citibank sent me an unprofessional email with no signature or logo that looked like a 12 year old had sent it, asking for 400 different kinds of paperwork. I told them I would feel more comfortable seeing a real person and giving my documents to them and the guy blew me off.

Since the Citibank guy seemed unprofessional, I contacted a third option, a local broker, and I sent him all my 400 different kinds of paperwork. He was very helpful and even helped me run a few different scenarios, depending on my down payment and/or desired purchase price. The guy was easy to reach on the phone and answered any (dumb) questions I had throughout the entire process.

The verdict: The amount I could qualify for was less than I wanted, since they could not count bonuses or overtime unless you could show two full years and proof that it would be ongoing. Bummer. So that meant the amount I thought I could spend was not the actual amount... in addition, I found it very strange that they ask you how much you want to spend. Can't they just crunch all the numbers and then tell you what the absolute max is?

My advice: Try a bunch of different lenders. You have no commitment to them. Once you have all of your 400 documents in pdf form, you may as well send them to as many lenders as you can!

In addition, my realtor told me a few tips. (1) the big banks (BofA etc) take forever to get you an answer, sometimes meaning you lose the house because you can't get financing in time. I know this as well because I work for a big bank and I see some of the frustration over how long thing take. (2) The internet banks will give anybody a pre-approval letter and will often give you the number YOU want, rather than what you can really afford. This causes problems later when it comes to getting the actual loan. Due to this, often times sellers will not accept offers if the letter is from an internet bank.

So, there we have it, my new understanding of financing in a nutshell.

Have you gotten a home loan? What advice or tips do you have for others regarding the situation? 

*Disclaimer: I am not a professional. Any opinions I give are my own and you should do your own research before making any rash decisions. :) 

Take the Money and Run

It's that time of year again! Money pie time! This year was fun because a coworker loved that I did this last year and decided to join in the fun. We have been presenting each other with our "pie" each quarter to see where things have gone over time. 

Here's the breakdown! But first, a couple of notes. First, I did not include any savings in this chart. I do put aside money for retirement as well as an emergency fund and a fun money fund. However, as this money is not technically an expense, it is not included. Also, I excluded my down payment, as it would have inflated the "home" category to over 90 percent. 

Home: Like last year, this includes rent and utilities but this year, as well as taxes and insurance, this category was also furnishings heavy. As I said, I did not include my down payment. However, there were still a lot of things, such as blinds, appliances and other misc items, that I will not have to buy every year, but that were a big expense this  year. I was a bit aghast at the high percentage, but if I just had rent/utilities only, it would be closer to 33%, which is about right, according to articles like this. 

Travel: I hope I never have to make this category smaller. I have mentioned this before, but I will skimp on most everything before I give this one up! As you can see I forwent shopping for travel this year. I have a great trip to Europe, as well as several other trips around the US to visit with friends, and several road trips to do active things around California. 

Transportation: This category is mostly commuting, but I also rent a car approximately one weekend per month in order to visit family or friends or to go to a running event. I did not try to separate the costs for running related things into the entertainment category, as they are often all intertwined. 

Groceries/Eating Out: Funny that these are almost the same! I probably only eat out about once a month, so this shows that when I do eat out, it is a major event! Eating out also includes coffee shops and beer, which is probably the majority of my expense in that category! I also put all Costco trips in the grocery category, even though there were some other odds and ends in the basket usually.

Misc: This includes haircuts, gifts and donations, credit card fees.. things like that. The bulk of it is gifts and donations. I think I got my hair cut twice last year!

Health: This includes pre-tax deductions and any copay or charge for contact lenses etc.

Entertainment: This includes movies, baseball games, and running related (or other hobbies) expenses. Truly this year I did not spend a lot on running gear, only race fees. Also, like I said before, my transportation to running events was either carpooling or it went into the transportation or travel category. It may be better to try to separate those out this year to get a more accurate idea of where the money is going.

Shopping: If it's not food, I don't buy it! This category included clothing, toiletries and items from Target that were not home or running related. I literally bought maybe 4 (Banana Republic) shirts for myself this year from a thrift store, and that was about it! k

So, what did I learn from this? I am pretty happy about where I spent my money in 2015. If needed, I could definitely spend less on travel. Currently it is not necessary, but it would have to be the first thing to get a haircut if I needed some extra money. As you can see, I don't really spend a lot on unnecessary things, except for travel. I am also happy about how much I am putting aside and am trying to increase my savings amounts if I get a raise this year, instead of just spending more.

What is the biggest piece of your spending pie? Do you keep track of where your money goes? What are your financial goals this year? 

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

I feel that I have always been a pretty frugal spender. However, I do not skimp when it comes to certain things. Interesting though, is how my "actual" spending list stacks up to my perceived spending list. In this post from 2012, I thought that the heavy expenses would be: travel, gifts for other people, and running related items.

In all actuality, I was not too far off. Check out the pie chart** below:

Let's break it down, shall we?

Rent -- This includes rent and utilities. This is a category I didn't really consider as something that I "splurge" on, as it is a necessity. However, this is clearly my biggest expense, at over 2x the cost of the next category.

Travel -- I was right when I said I would spend the most on travel. In 2014, I did not skimp on the trips. I went to Charlotte to visit Lisa, central Oregon for an annual summer trip, Mt. Whitney, New York City, Europe and Phoenix. In addition there were several weekend trips to Tahoe, Sacramento and Marin for running excursions as well as many trips to Sonoma county to hang with Broski, and home to see my parents. Looking at the numbers, the dollar amount I spent on travel was a bit outrageous. However, I will bring a bag lunch every day if it means spending that money on traveling!

Dining Out -- This category is pretty self explanatory, and includes dining at all restaurants, bars and coffee shops.

Transportation -- This includes mostly public transportation / commuting costs. However, a couple of times a year I rent a car to get to races or to holiday functions, so car rental and gas are also included in this category. Really, about half of it could also be added into the "travel" category.

All Other --There were a lot of categories, and I had to get rid of some of the smaller ones. However, some of the other categories that were higher on the list but didn't make the cut were: taxes (2.4%), insurance (2.2%), gym (1.1%), credit card fees (0.89%), and entertainment (0.61%). Apparently my main "entertainment" is Running or Dining Out.  

Shopping -- This category is pretty broad, but basically includes the following: gifts, toiletries & household items (non food), clothing & shoes, electronics and books. The bulk of this category went to the gift subtotal. This distant second runner up was toiletries/household items. Funny enough, this year I only spent $4.00 on books, as I am getting most of them from the library these days.

Running -- This includes the cost of races and shopping for running related items. I found it interesting (and proving my theory) that it was high enough to warrant it's own piece of the pie and to not get lumped into the "all other" category.  If transportation costs were also added in, this category would probably be closer to 9%.

Groceries -- Although this is 6% of my spending pie, when it all boils down to it, I spend less than $40 per week on groceries. To note, I very rarely buy meat or alcohol, which are two of the more expensive things. However, I make up for this by buying lots of fancy nuts and cheeses. Of course my food cost is also supplemented with dining out, but even added together, total food costs equal about $80 per week, including booze, coffee and fancy nuts. This also includes food eaten while traveling. This cost could have been a lot higher, but my brother is a wine (and beer) maker and so I can't remember the last time I bought a bottle of wine in the store.

Health -- This mostly includes my premium, but also includes co-pays and contact lenses, which are minimal.

**Not included in the pie was any money set aside for retirement, savings or investments.

The Verdict? I was pretty much spot on regarding where I spend most of my money. I love budgeting how to spend, as well as looking back to see where it all went. I feel that being aware really makes a difference in your spending, just as logging your calories makes you think twice about reaching for that second piece of pie. In order to keep track, I use my bank's "Portfolio" tool, which lets you upload/link all of your accounts so that you can look at them all at the same place. I have also heard good things about Mint, and have just started to try in out recently. So far it seems to have good budgeting tools.

What will I watch next year? I could spend more on groceries and less on eating out, but I really do not eat out that much unless friends are in town or I am traveling. I could save a lot of money by not traveling, but that is one of my rewards to myself and I am not really willing to give that up. However, the Europe trip I took was not really a "budget" trip, so I could have saved by staying in cheaper lodging and/or buying my plane ticket earlier (it was over $1000!). I could also save by buying less gifts or less expensive gifts for people, as well as not buying so much running related stuff.

All in all, I was pretty happy with my spending this year. If you check out Mr. Money Mustache, he writes a post every year about how much he spent the last year, and I am about on par with him. Of course, his is for two people, but on the other hand, he does not have to pay rent (especially rent in the Bay Area). How about you: Do you spend more, less or about the same amount as Mr. Money Mustache?

Do you keep track of your spending? Where do you spend the most? What costs do you feel that you need to minimize and/or cut in 2015?

The World Go 'Round

We don't really talk a lot about money. By "we" I mean people online who don't want to offend other people, make other people feel like they are doing things wrong, or don't have enough money, or don't make enough money, or...

But money is a part of everyone's life. Somehow we learned, or didn't learn, how to make it, save it, or spend it. I was really inspired by this post written by Nilsa. Both her post, and all the comments that followed, really sparked something in me. Her post touched on how money played a part in her life growing up and how she deals with monetary issues now.

For instance, if you take five people and set them loose in a grocery store, they will each have a different way of shopping. Person one has coupons and only buys what's on sale. Person two has a special list of things for a certain meal, and buys them no matter the cost. Person three just grabs stuff willy-nilly without looking at cost or even checking to see if things go together.

You get the gist. Similarly, if you take 5 friends your age and had them honestly tell you how much they have saved and what their savings strategy is, they would be 5 different stories.

So, what Nilsa's post did was make me think: was it my childhood that made me the financial person I am now? Or was it something else? Is the way that you save nature or nurture?

My parent's owned their own business when I was growing up. This meant a couple of things for me. First of all, since I can remember, I worked for the family business. I did get paid. At first it was 25 cents an hour. My dad made me keep track of all of my hours in a little notepad and every couple of weeks, there would be a "payday". I had a bank account where each month or so I would deposit my pay.

I remember asking my Dad how much my parents made. Were we rich? Were we poor? We never were lacking in the creature comforts, but we didn't have anything extravagant. We went on vacation, but we always drove an RV and camped and it was always on the off season, as that was when my parent's business was less busy, plus it was cheaper. He told me that it was hard to figure out how much they really made because most of what they made went back into the business.

I learned more about this when I started doing the bookkeeping for the business. All of the salaries of the people working there, the taxes that we had to pay in addition to that, and all the bills, bills, bills! It seemed like for every dollar we made, 99 cents went back into paying for something.

Because of this, I learned to save. I learned to budget. Don't tell my parents, because when I was a kid, I was so bitter that I always had to work when everyone else my age was at the beach with an inner tube and a smile. When I turned 11, I would go and stay with my Aunt and Uncle in the Bay Area for a week in the summer time and we would buy school clothes. I would use the money I had worked for, the money I had saved. And let me tell you, this meant that I really watched what I spent. I had given up beach time for these clothes. They were precious to me.

Fast forward a few years...and I still do the same thing! Sometimes I splurge, but usually I am saving my money for the future, because that is what I was taught. I have tried to go buckwild from time to time and change my Scrooge-like ways, but saving makes me feel more secure. I don't know if I will ever change because it has been ingrained in me, this saving, and it has been for years.

Are you a spender or a saver? How did your parents / your childhood influence the way you spend (or save) now? When did you get your first checking account / credit card?

10 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 6, 7 & 8

There are only two more days until Thanksgiving! And so many more than two more things to be thankful for! Here are a few more things that I am happy about this year!

 

6. Employment

We tend to take this for granted, but after having several months off, I don't sneer at a steady income. Of course, I am still keeping an eye out for the perfect traveling, photography, writing job with good pay, so if you know of an opportunity for that, let me know.

7. Having a 401k

When I was 18 and I was getting my first corporate job, an older friend of the family told me to put at least as much money into my 401k every month as the company would match. He suggested putting more if I could, but that I should at least put in the company match, since if I didn't I would be essentially throwing away free money. He was right, and now I am giving the same advice to people just starting out in their first big job.

8. Travel

Clearly these all go hand in hand. Whatever money I am gaining from employment and not putting into my 401k is going toward as much travel as I can do! Some years it's more than others and this year has been a bit slower than normal, but I have been lucky to both do some traveling around my home state as well as doing  some visiting with friends and family around the country. I hope I will continue to make time for travel, as it is something I really love! 

Kansas City

Washington DC

Oregon

Yosemite

Do you have a 401k? Did you do any fun traveling this year?

Making a Dollar Out of Fifteen Cents*

A while back, Lisa did a post for her Mid-month Money Manifesto about saving money and what things that she likes to splurge on. I liked the idea, since I am a money saver, and often times people in my life have tried to convince me to have fun NOW instead of always saving money for later. I usually save it for later, but there are a few things that I find worth splurging on.

How I Splurge:

- Travel (I actually travel pretty inexpensively, but I do it for extended periods of time) 

Boracay, Philippines

- Lunch out once a week
- Races
- Brunch with friends on the weekends (we have a list we are trying to tackle)

Pancakes at La Note

- Fresh fruit and vegetables from the farmers market/market
- Boots (although I still get them at places like DSW)
- Camera Stuff
- Giant's games
- Some running gear
- Fancy creamer
- Gifts for other people

How I Save: 

- Generic toiletries (thanks to Up and Up)
- Taking the casual carpool instead of the bus
- Generic paper goods etc (ziplock, paper towels, dryer sheets) 
- Bringing my lunch at least 4 days a week

Pre-made veggie bags for lunches

- Cooking/eating at home
- Buying in bulk (bulk aisle about once a month / Costco about once every 3 months)

Costco trip

- Discount running shoes (I always wait for a coupon/deal and then buy a couple pairs)
- Couponing in general
- Thrift store shopping (for clothes / common household items)
- Borrowing books from the library (My no book buying challenge is still going strong!)
- Not driving
- Growing my own veggies
- Making coffee at home

*refers to a Tupac song and/or a Master P song. I think they are referencing drugs, but I am not. 

How do you save? What do you splurge on?

WIAW (1) & Meal Budgeting

I have never done one of these before, but I always sometimes take photos of my food and so all I needed to do was get on the ball and take everything in one day and then remember to post them! (I didn't know it was green month, but oh well).

I know that some people get tired of food photos; everything looks so gross. So, my post is twofold. I have recently been doing a little meal planning. Not so much that I am changing any buying habits, but I made a goal to do a couple of things. 1) Try/Cook a new meal each month. This has actually turned out to be more like one a week**, but I didn't want to overload myself at first. And 2) Figure out how much this is costing me.

One of the reasons I decided to do this was that a friend of mine, who goes to Starbucks EVERY day, eats lunch out probably 3-5 days a week and eats dinner out probably 1-3 times a week, was saying how she wanted to get on track with her spending. She also wants to lose weight in time for a late summer wedding. She asked for my help.

So, on top of trying a few fun new recipes**, I decided to both price out some of my meals and do a calorie count for certain meals, so I could give her a good idea of what to make for herself. It's easy for me to tell her to just stop eating processed foods, but it's hard when you work long hours, don't really like to cook, and have kids. It's easy to buy things that you can nuke or throw in a pan. So, one step at a time. First, a few easy meals. Next, the world.

So, here, without further ado, is my first What I Ate Wednesday, hosted by Jenn at Peas and Crayons. And my first Meal Budgeting post, with both dollars and calories per meal sited. I tried to keep it short, so I wouldn't bore anyone to death. To me, crunching numbers is fun. I like to be aware and this helps me.

{Breakfast} 

Quinoa/Craisins/Sunflower&Pumpkin Seeds/Almond Milk (**adapted from THIS recipe) - $0.85 /254

 Coffee (x 5 with creamer) - $0.60 /100 

{total breakfast:$1.45 / 354}

 {Lunch} 

Brussels - $0.25 / 66

Greek Salad (goat cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, corn) - $1.04 / 201 

{total lunch: $1.29 / 247}

 {Dinner} 

Mac n Cheese (**adapted from THIS recipe) -$1.58 / 220  

Brussels - $0.25 / 66 

{total-$1.83 / 286}

{Snacks} 

Orange-$1.02 / 62

The whole bag of 1/2 cup Dried Apples - $0.72 / 220

12 Chocolate Covered Gummy Bears - $0.50 / 134 

{total-$2.24 / 416}

-----

TOTAL: $6.81 / 1303  

(note: these totals may be off. I am not a mathematician, nor a dietician, nor an excel mastermind. I apologize in advance for any rounding errors. Calorie info taken from Loseit) **this week I also made THESE. See, Pinterest isn't a waste of time after all. 

So, what did I learn? One, even though I hear that some people spend less than $200/month on groceries, clearly I am not one of them. Not with my snack habits the way they were today ($6.81 x 31 days = $211/mo) Two, eating out is expensive. Whether your habit is a latte ($5/day) or lunch out (easily $10/day), it not only can add up, but is more than an entire day's worth of home cooked food! Now, obviously I am not making gourmet meals over here, but even with a nice piece of fish ($2-$3 per serving) or meat or a fancy sauce or dessert, you can still spend less for an entire day than you can for one meal out!

Now, having said that, next week I am going to be traveling, so will be eating out a lot. Hey, you win some, you lose some. But today I am saving my money for next week's meat with fancy sauce and  dessert!

Have you ever broken down the cost of your food by the month/week/day? How much do you spend on groceries per month?Do you ever eat only one food group or one food as an entire meal (see above lunch)?

The Run That Cost Me Five Dollars

In Which I Lose a Challenge: Thanks to NYC Running Mama and the Patriots, yesterday I had to run 4 miles. The challenge was that you picked a winner and if your team lost, you had to run the number of miles of the point spread. Well, as you all know, the final score was 21 - 17, which means four miles for this girl. I am not really a Pat's fan, but since the Niners were already out and Mr Lovely is a Pat's fan AND I do like Brady, I went for the Pats. I did not watch the game; I only googled the score Sunday night to see how many miles I would be running yesterday. I would have run anyway, but it is kind of fun to run for a "reason". 

I did four miles for Brady and another 1.7 for myself.

In Which I Discover a Trail Fairy: I have been running on the trails a lot lately. Luckily, we have had very little snow in our area this year, so they are fairly clear of moisture. However, the other day we had a bit of a storm and when the trails finally dried up enough for me to run on them, I discovered quite a mess. There were branches and trees everywhere. I spent the majority of my first run clearing the trail of debris. 

Here is an excerpt from my running journal that day: I ended up running (and walking) 6.24 miles. It took me an hour and twenty four minutes. Here is my pace chart, so you can see how many times I stopped to throw branches off the path. All in all, it was a struggle today.

Ug. But today I noticed that the trail was looking clearer. I have been getting rid of a few branches each day, but the trail is still by no means totally clear. BUT. It is clearer than I left it. Somebody else must be clearing it! Thank you trail fairy!

In Which I Almost Eat Dirt: I was so excited that the trail was clear and that today's run was So Much Better than the one I was mentioning above, that I got overly excited, sped up, tripped over a rock, stumbled, arms flailing, flew through the air and caught myself from falling with one finger upon the side of the bank. Really. I did not fall, but I must have stumbled for a good 12 feet before finally righting myself. Luckily there was no one around to see me (except maybe the trail fairy?)

In Which I Lose $5: Today, as mentioned above, I felt really good, the trail was clear and my run was for a good cause, and so I was running a bit faster than normal. Because of this, my body was a bit more bouncy than normal and my iPod fell out of the holder on my belt. This belt not only holds my iPod, but I also put my keys and an emergency $5 in there. You never know when you may need an ice cream, or a bottle of water, or to bribe a policeman or to pay someone to use their phone... Actually, I run in the boonies, so most likely I would spend my $5 bribing a deer or a squirrel, since I never see another human being on my run. Ever. I always carry the spare fiver anyway. 

Today, my bouncing caused the iPod to bounce out of my belt and down the mountain, causing me to spend several minutes climbing down the side of a hill to retrieve it. Once I returned it to it's rightful place, I continued on my run for Brady. Little did I know, but the $5 had fallen out as well. I think I know where it is and I will probably look for it next time, but darn it, it was at the very top of the hill (see below graph for elevation)! I wasn't planning on going that far up the hill for at least another week. 

So, is it worth going three miles up the hill to try to find it? Or should I leave it for the trail fairy? 

Did you watch the Superbowl? Have you ever fallen while running/walking?

Less is More

The other day, this girl wrote a post about being a minimalist. She spoke of people who had packed up their entire life into one car and drove off into the sunset. She said that sometimes she wishes she could be like that, but on the other hand wanted to know if we thought it was wrong to want stuff.  She asked us if we were “minimalists”.  It really got me thinking.  Am I? And is it wrong to want stuff? This question is especially prevalent during the holidays.

I have mentioned before that I live in a hotel most of the time. Let me explain. Roughly 7 years ago, I gave up my (much loved) apartment in San Francisco, put all my stuff into storage (Yes it all fits. I gave my furniture all to my brother) and headed to Europe for an adventure extraordinaire! Six months later, my savings had run out and I came back home, wondering…now what? 

But yes…now what? The great part was that I had no ties. I could go anywhere I wanted. I thought about joining the Peace Corps (I still think about that from time to time). Of course I had friends in the Bay Area, but they had lived without me for six months, so they could stand a few more. So I was all of a sudden at this wonderful and horrible place, where the world was my oyster. I could do what I wanted.

I just had to figure out what that was.

It is very freeing to not have a lot of stuff. You have nothing holding you back. You don’t have to make sure the dog is in the kennel or the kids have a babysitter. You don’t have to worry about moving boxes and boxes of books, a couch and a bedroom set down 3 flights of stairs. All of these things sway your decision making process. They make it a lot easier to remain right where you are. However, having no excuses NOT to do something is hard too. We are used to letting our responsibilities, our friends, our THINGS, make our decisions for us. Making a decision without these factors is strange (and difficult!). 

People always say,” Man, If only I didn’t have (to) _________ I would go with you to Europe”. But would they? It’s not like I twisted your arm and MADE you buy that new ____ which is now making it so you can’t afford the trip. It’s not like I signed you up for a 6 week ______ class so now you don’t have the time. You chose that. You chose that over the trip to Europe.

They also say, “I would totally love to have your lifestyle” (living out of a hotel, having all their stuff in storage, traveling).  But they really wouldn’t. Could you live out of a suitcase 9/10 of the year? Could you wear one pair of shoes and 2 pairs of pants for the next year? Could you avoid buying things so you don’t have to lug them around? 

I sometimes want to putter but I have no place to do so. I want to have a mindless activity such as re-organizing my already organized closet/bookshelf/pantry.  But then I sit and actually think about it, and I don’t really need that. I like having no clutter, nothing holding me back. If that means I can’t re-read my favorite book or wear that great red suede jacket I bought on sale at Nordstrom, so be it. I can do what I want, when I want. I can go wherever I want or need to at basically a moment’s notice. 

At the point in my life when I came back from Europe, I could do whatever I set my mind to. But. I was out of money. So in this case I could do anything I wanted, but I would have to somehow get money. Why would I need to get money? I needed to live. I needed food. For that I would need an apartment, and then I would need a fridge. Then I would have to buy food. So to get money I would need a job. To get a job, I might need something other than the one pair of shoes and the holey pants I had been wearing for the last several months. 

So, we’ve come back full circle. In order to live, we DO need a certain amount of stuff. In order to exist in society, we need stuff. So, we buy things. We buy what we want. We DO what we want. And then sometimes we use those things to be our beard for why we don’t do or can’t do other things (that maybe we don’t want to do?) We say we “have too much stuff” when in reality what we have is the stuff we chose to have. 

So, stop hiding behind your stuff. Stop making excuses. Do what YOU want. If it’s buying 100 new t-shirts a year, or every new gadget that Best Buy has to offer, or a Pottery Barn candle holder in every different color, do it. If it’s signing up for pole dancing classes or the gym, if it’s buying a new house or car, or if it’s traveling, or going to a new restaurant, or going to a play, do it. If it makes you happy, do it! And then be happy with the decision that you have made. 

I don’t think it’s a matter of how much stuff we have, but whether or not that stuff we have makes us happy. We can have fewer sweaters if we want to save our money for travel, or we can have more sweaters but not be able to afford that vacation. You can buy things in order to check them off your "I should have this" list, or you can buy them becuase they make you happy. You choose. 

It’s a matter of quality, not quantity. 

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Today I am being featured over at The Many Thoughts of a Reader. Go and check it out HERE!

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Are you a minimalist? Do you think that it is better to be a minimalist?