Editors note: ** Wow. 40 Days. Just like Noah. I never thought I’d see this far, and have made so much progress in such little time. They say it takes about 7 days to make something a habit, so I guess I’m 33 days over the limit.
Today’s the day I start to sell my stuff on ebay (and elsewhere) with earnest. The one item per day was too much effort. I’d much rather bang out a month’s worth of stuff to sell all at once and have it all sell the same timeframe too. It’s a lot more work to keep organized and to ship the auction’s winners on time, and who get’s what, and deal with impatient buyers ( I forgot how much fun this was), but it’s worth it as selling my stuff sooner offers the benefit of more money sooner towards the debt load but also has me tripping over, caring for, insuring less stuff too.
So,I’ve been thinking: Maybe it’s due to my age (I see lots of personal finance bloggers are younger than I), or maybe it’s just a midlife crisis and I can’t afford a corvette or other sports car, but if given the choice I’d rather have enough time than money. That’s the big disadvantage of working for somebody – the time suck. 40 hours a week, plus commute, plus getting ready and winding down in the evening doesn’t leave a whole lot of time to be, well – you. And that’s not a road I want to take for the next decade – at least long term – I don’t have a problem with working hard but I’d prefer to work for myself and set up systems that create income without me lifting a finger. I might have to go work the man short term to knock down the debt, but once that’s done – all I have to worry about is ‘enough’. Enough to live on. And the older I get, I’m finding the less stuff I need. Stuff can be bought and replaced. I can always get a car, speakers, cd’s whatever. But I can’t get the time back.
The main advantage of the time thing is there’s so much opportunity for a new adventure. If you’ve got the time and enough money to live on (this will vary depending on your needs and priorities) then the adventures you can take are endless. And by adventure, I don’t necessarily mean sky diving – it could just be a walk on a nice summer evening. Which is completely doable because you have enough. You don’t have worry about money.
I was there once, so I know it’s doable. I had the mortgage paid, and a steady income from online ventures. And I pissed it all away. On stuff. CD’s, speakers, a big expensive house in a big expensive city, the list goes on and on. I pretended I was rich, with shiny cars and shiny shoes. And I impressed very few.
But the stuff gets forgotten. Once it’s gone I’m finding it’s not missed. I don’t miss the 27 tennis racquets I once had. I miss the game of tennis. I miss the one magic night just after a rain in July where the courts were so foggy you coudn’t see the ball, and the laughter of friends and the calm of the empty tennis club as you and your friends were the only crazy ones to play just after the rain. You can’t buy that. I don’t miss the car. I miss the trips to the beach, I miss getting lost on hunter’s roads because the GPS says that’s the shortest way home. What it doesn’t tell you that the road is barely 4 feet wide. It’s the experiences that have the most value.
That’s the goal for 2010. Go WAY out of my comfort zone. Get off this couch and get out there. Sure the debt has to be paid, and there may very well be a day job in my future, if only for the short term so I can have enough once again. And getting a day job would be an adventure, so though it’s not an optimal way of life, it would be a story to tell. But the goal isn’t in the money. Money has no value. If you never spend it it’s worth absolutely nothing. It’s what you do with your money that counts. The time to have adventures is where it’s at. I want to be able to tell so many stories of adventures had ten years from now.
What’s your idea of adventure?
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