Comments on: Rich is as Rich Does

By: TracyKM

TracyKM — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:26:02 +0000

Darn, I’m reading this on Sunday! Would have loved to go to the picnic!

By: Diana

Diana — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:03:39 +0000

Christy, don’t be so hard on yourself. Did you ever think there would be a time when you only had 2 months left to pay?
You have worked really hard, congratulations and be proud!!

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:45:03 +0000

i was hoping to make the picnic on saturday, but can’t afterall, have a wonderful time!

By: Monica

Monica — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:43:09 +0000

Gardening is one of my favourite things to unwind with…but I have also found the last few weeks that decluttering my life has been the most rewarding…I am a consumate packrat of the worst kind…I finally realized that this was affecting my ability to enjoy life. So to *pol…take ONE box at a time in your clutter zone, set your timer for 15 minutes and then when the timer goes off, you are done with that area. Do the same thing every day for a couple of weeks, once you do, you will find that you want to do it longer. I am half done a VERY cluttered basement and have given 65 boxes (YES that many!) to charity. That in itself has been very rewarding and has helped with the richness and fullness of good in my life. I will probably have another 30 or so boxes by the time I am done, but I know, that I will be decluttered, I won’t be blowing my budget anymore to get more “stuff” because I don’t want the clutter to come back. I also realize that stuff doesn’t make a person, it just makes a person broke!

By: Amber

Amber — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:08:54 +0000

At this time of the year spending time in my garden makes me feel rich. For one thing, I have a garden, which means I have land. For another, all the bounty of the summer garden amazes me. The produce you get for little effort just overflows, it makes me happy. And nothing tastes better than freshly picked food, no matter how much money you have. You just can’t beat a carrot plucked from the earth.

By: *pol

*pol — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:11:05 +0000

PS, a full pantry and a fantastic home cooked meal make me feel rich too!

By: *pol

*pol — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:10:24 +0000

I am focussing on space right now. My house is as big as it ever was, but somehow there seems to be less space, every week there is more STUFF and it is suffocating.

My office and laundryroom are the worst. So I read some simplicity blogs that motivate me to take action, then I set my mind that if I don’t love it or use it then its outta here…. THEN I walk up to my clutter zones and freeze. Everything piled high in these areas seems useful and worthwhile, except that there is TOO MUCH!!!

I get burnt out before I even clear one box load.

The art of saving money and being frugal comes so much easier than de-cluttering to me….. I can control the $$ numbers going in and out okay, they are fluid and therefore workable. BUT the STUFF is solid, the space is finite, it is so HARD….. I am slowly getting better.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:39:46 +0000

Having a stocked larder out of which I can bake or cook any number of lovely meals is definitely a “rich” feeling for me too!

I don’t have a deck so I feel rich when I take a blanket out to a nearby park, put it down under a lovely shady tree and enjoy a relaxing time with my boyfriend over lattes or our favourite magazine, Dwell.

Going for $3.50 lattes every day stopped making them seem special so I only indulge once in a while now and they feel special again.

It’s the simple pleasures that add up.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:24:16 +0000

I love to get together with friends at “Five”Bucks for a Chai Latte. I always use my entertainment money for that purpose, I’ll skip pretty much any other entertainment to have room in my budget for it. I usually go once a week, its great to have that time with my friends. I also enjoying going to the local dog park with my beautiful dog and see her really enjoy herself and I get to get together with friends I’ve meet from the years of going there. The occasional breakfast out is always a great one too. Life is good!

By: Christy

Christy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:18:19 +0000

I’m feeling melancholy today… I’m tired of feeling broke. We were on target to have all of our CC debt gone at the end of June but I misjudged the payout on the work savings plan (didn’t anticipate the taxes) and that means it will be the end of August.

Talk about being too focused… that would be me. I should be happy that there is only 2k left (we started at 30 k) but I had a goal, didn’t make it and now I’m feeling down about it. I wanted it to be over so we could have a bit extra fun money this summer and maybe I could go out and buy a golf set. I don’t feel right about buying a $600 want when I haven’t finished paying for the wants that I bought a year or more ago.

Reading everyones blog and Gails post has cheered me up. I love having good friends over and I love being creative with food. So I’m going to do a bit of recipe research tonight, invite some friends over on the wekeend and look forward to both aspects of it, friends and creativity! And I’ll stop beating myself up for not meeting my goal.

Thanks everyone

By: Doreen

Doreen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:51:31 +0000

For me simple life pleasures along the road to becoming debt-free, include:

- pot luck dinners with good friends
- going on an economical holiday by transporting myself into a relaxed state through art-making of any type (painting, crafts, baking, etc)
- reading a good book (usually from the library or via Goodwill/Garage Sales)
- cuddling with my husband

By: AshB

AshB — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:47:12 +0000

I live in Calgary and the weather men can never get it right. I wish I could sit on my deck on Sunday morning, but I’m waiting for the rain to pass so I can put a second coat on the deck and move all the furniture back.

Diana – I envy you, but I won’t once I get that second coat done! I’ll be reading the paper on my deck too! (hopefully)

By: FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com

FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:24:25 +0000

Most definitely that I can live on $700/month for basic living — rent, utils, food.. in a VERY nice area in a big city (Montreal).

Am also debt free. So that makes it feel great.

I also have the view of the city from my wonderfully spacious studio apartment (we don’t have much furniture, therefore less clutter means a bigger home).

We’re close to the bridges to get downtown and biking trails around the little mini forest we have.

It’s really the best place to live in Montreal, for cheap.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:20:12 +0000

I live on the 9th floor of my condo building with an unobstructed view of the Niagara Escarpment…I sit on my balcony and watch the birds go by.

As long as I have a roof over my head, food in my fridge and my health…boy, am I rich!!

Thanks Gail, for this post.

By: psychsarah

psychsarah — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:02:03 +0000

I’ve always said that it doesn’t take a lot to make me happy, which means I’m happy pretty often! Makes life a lot more fun to savour the little things I figure.

I’m very happy about the picnic on Saturday-glad to hear you’ll be there regardless of weather. We’re driving in from London-I’ve had the day marked on my calendar for months!