My Frugal New Year’s Resolutions for 2010
Some people don't like New Year's Resolutions, but I think any time is a good time for a little healthy self-examination with an eye toward self-improvement. It need not be New Year's, but there should be some space and time for a little personal accounting in everybody's lives. If we never take time to assess how we've been using our time, our money, and other resources, to examine whether or not we have acquitted ourselves well and how we could do better, then we are more likely to drift aimlessly along in a stagnant pool.
Arnold Bennett, in the booklet How to Live On 24 Hours a Day addresses the difficulty of developing new habits in the area of spending one time's well:
One may have spent one's time badly, but one did spend it; one did do something with it, however ill-advised that something may have been. To do something else means a change of habits.
And habits are the very dickens to change! Further, any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.
We might substitute money for time- one may have spent one's money badly, but one did spend it...
Even if this charge is not true, one didn't necessarily spend one's badly, we can still examine our habits and see if we did as well as we might have. Nobody is perfect, of course, and there's no sense in beating yourself up over not being perfect. On the other hand, there's no sense in being complacent, either. Without growth, we stagnate, and what is self-improvement except growth?
In the book Monk Habits of Every Day People the author recommends that you look at how your checkbook reflects your values- consider our checkbook entries, our charge card statements. What do those things say about us and what we value? We often think we believe one thing, but the way we spend our time and money may indicate a very different belief system than the one we think we have.
However I spent my money last year, I resolve to do better this year- to think before I buy, to be sure what I am buying reflects my values and not a successful act of advertising.
I resolve to seek improvement through commitments of time and thought, not through spending. Instead of spending more money on the people I love, I will spend more time. Whether I want a better way to live, dress, eat, or organize my living room, I will start with me, at home, with what I have in my hand. I will give of time, energy, and thought, from within, rather than stuff from without.
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2 Responses to “My Frugal New Year’s Resolutions for 2010”
January 3rd, 2010 at 7:48 am
Great philosophy and I agree, it does not have to be Jan 1st that we do this reflection, it could be periodically throughout a given year… I do personally use new year as a marker and a time to look back on things, take stock and make adjustments… More than the significance of the date I think it’s the come down from a month of splurging on food, partying or whatever that charges the need for reflection. Although the number 1 is a good place to start from too, especially when talking money.
I hope to blow up my credit cards this year, I am done with them
Oh just a note as I pretty sure you are US based and if that Amazon link is an affiliate link then the FTC are now demanding that us bloggers give obvious disclosure of such things….. So it needs something obvious like (affiliate link) next to it or a note that links in the post are affiliate links or something… I’m not being a busy body I just don’t want ANY fellow bloggers to get the FTC on their back (I do think the whole thing is a bit silly myself!).
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Absolutely! Where you spend your money is most definitely an indication of where your values lie. I’m certainly working on that, too, and trying to make my spending choices all mindful ones. I wish you luck in your goal of a simpler and more joyful, stuff-less 2010!
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