Upgrade Your Life!

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about free money lately, meaning money that I do not include in my budget. This money can come from a variety of sources, but for me the main two are annual income increases and side jobs (like blogging). As I’ve mentioned before my recommendation to you is to try to save part of your annual raise each year. If you get a 2% raise, save 1% of it. Or .5%. Or .005%. The amount doesn’t matter much, but what I’ve found is that “free-money” gives me the opportunity to grow as an individual. I use this concept to enjoy life and to grow my own skills.

What skills am I learning with the concept of free-money? I’m learning to be a long-term planner, because right now these funds are minimal at best. It would be easy to lose them entirely by eating out an extra time a month or buying me something shiny.

I’m also learning to be creative, because I want to find ways to increase this group of funds. And I want to creatively invest the funds too. Creativity takes time to develop, and it is a unbelievably helpful skill to have both in good times and difficult ones. We get so stuck in our normal everyday mode of living that we can’t even imagine doing things that would benefit us, like changing jobs, leaving work a ½ hour earlier than we currently do, or selling our home and moving across the country. Develop a little creativity and a world of options becomes available.

I’m also learning how to dream, imagine, and use the left side of my brain. I think I gave up part of my imagination skills when I had to put food on my table early in life. But dreaming is part of being happy, and I can start practicing and developing these skills now in small, less important areas of my life.