Tuesday, December 25, 2007
The Cost of Clutter
The Cost of Clutter
Yesterday was Christmas Eve. I left my house yesterday with my list in hand to run some errands. I live by a commercial area called Jamaica Avenue. Usually, Jamaica Avenue, like any other commercial district, is congested. But yesterday, I don't know. I am not sure if the streets got narrower, if people took up more space with their bubble jackets and packages, or if the vendors were screaming louder to buy cologne, socks, and pocketbooks. (I even saw a couple of brothers out there selling puppies housed in their jackets); but I came close to passing out. It was too much. My mind was cluttered. Invaded. Overstimulated. Buying. Spending. Eating. Stuffing. Pushing. Pulling. More. More. Now. Now. Money.
The Spirituality of Clearing Space
Luckily I caught my bus quickly and found refuge in the basic precept of a book that I was reading. In this book about the spirituality of space clearing, the author maintains that we often buy and hoard, consume and hold, and keep and store things because we are stagnant and unhappy with our lives. We use things to distract from doing the labor of reflection /inner cleansing. This accumulation of things is also an indication of an attachment to the past or fear of the future.
Lost and Found
I found truth in these tenets and could not wait to realign my energy with clarity, simplicity, and peace once I got home. I decided to tackle my office closet first. In cleaning, I found pictures of my mother when she was young, and poems that I had written while in undergraduate. I saw myself in my mother and reconnected with my former self. In their words and eyes, I saw their goodness, so I honored them by making space for them in my present. I framed their images and ideas.
On the other hand, I found pictures, gifts, articles of clothing of and from former lovers and friends. We took one last stroll down memory lane, and without malice, we finally parted. I threw these items out to free myself from holding on (literally) to a fossilized reality, so that I could make more space (literally) for the new unknown.
Mass Media and the Myth of More
In clearing my space, I found solace. I found myself. With less, I saw what was most important to me. What mass media and their perverse money-making machine try to convince you is that you need more to be. Be somebody. Be complete. They clutter your mind with sleight -of-hand images of false importance, status, and happiness so you would not be able to think critically about your individualized standards of success and happiness--which fundamentally may require little material acquisition --- (i.e. human connection, health, life learning, travel).
Baby Steps
So you may be the queen of bargain shopping. Have enough stuff to clothe a small village in Antigua but want to reconnect with yourself in a serious way? Try these baby steps toward a clutter-free mind and space:
1.Set a date for one room at a time. Cleaning a small cluttered area first will give a sense of accomplishment and motivate you to continue.
2. Set the mood. If you want a quiet reflective session or a loud, high-energy session, choose the appropriate music, timing and clothing (sometimes I like to clean with lipstick and a cute skirt).
3.Get that girlfriend that has no problem telling you the truth and start throwing stuff out. If you have been having trouble saying "no" to a salesperson, you probably would not be able to let go without help.
4.Create four basic piles: charity, garbage, keeping, and yard sale. This diminishes the sense of being wasteful. Not only will others benefit from your good will, you may be able to recoup some of your financial losses as well.
5. Let it out. You may find yourself in a less than pleasant mood, sad, or angry. You may even want to cry. Do so. Cleaning for the sake of clarity is a confrontation with (conceived) loss. It's a natural part of the grieving process.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
10 Steps to Financial Freedom From the Inside Out
You did everything that you were supposed to do. College degree. Good job. Benefits. Yet it is still difficult for you to get a handle on your finances. Lately, you might have found yourself asking, "What is at the root of my money problems?" and "What can solve them?" Luckily the answer to both is "You!"
The impulse buys, lack of saving, frequent trips to the ATM, unwise loans, late payments, postponed meetings with your financial advisor, and other financial mishaps can directly be attributed to your underlying and subconscious values, understanding, and beliefs about money. The good news is that you can redefine your money mindset through these good old-fashioned soul-searching guidelines and wealth accumulation tips.
1. Figure out why you spend. The survival of a capitalist economy relies on high levels of consumption. Big business relies on the media to assist in achieving this end. Newspapers, magazines, television, and radio bombard consumers with images of products, services, and goods in an effort to convince them that they would be happier, more interesting, smarter, and sexier once they purchase, invest, and consume. Essentially, the media attempt to reprogram the average consumer to believe that material items will make them complete and at peace.
So before you go on your next shopping spree, here are some questions to ask yourself about your sense of worth as it relates to the acquisition of material items:
The impulse buys, lack of saving, frequent trips to the ATM, unwise loans, late payments, postponed meetings with your financial advisor, and other financial mishaps can directly be attributed to your underlying and subconscious values, understanding, and beliefs about money. The good news is that you can redefine your money mindset through these good old-fashioned soul-searching guidelines and wealth accumulation tips.
1. Figure out why you spend. The survival of a capitalist economy relies on high levels of consumption. Big business relies on the media to assist in achieving this end. Newspapers, magazines, television, and radio bombard consumers with images of products, services, and goods in an effort to convince them that they would be happier, more interesting, smarter, and sexier once they purchase, invest, and consume. Essentially, the media attempt to reprogram the average consumer to believe that material items will make them complete and at peace.
So before you go on your next shopping spree, here are some questions to ask yourself about your sense of worth as it relates to the acquisition of material items:
- Am I just as good as (person's name) because she/he can afford (material item)?
- Do I shop because I think things (clothes/electronics/music) will make the people that I want to attract like me more?
- Do I feel empty when I can't buy something new or expensive/
- Does buying expensive things make me feel better than others that can't afford to buy those things?
2.Make it a group effort. Tell your closest friends about your financial recovery plans and get them involved. You are probably not the only one going through this transition and the support of like-minded people will optimize your chances of successfully attaining your goals.
3.Live at home for as long as you can. Are you eager to move out to show (or convince) your friends that you have made it by getting your own place? Instead of paying rent or splitting it in thirds with roommates, stay at home until you have enough saved to afford to purchase your own residence. Often those eager to move out without a clear financial plan, end up moving back home.
This concept is not new to the black community. It is part of our history. Throughout the Caribbean and the Americas, newly-freed enslaved Africans formed communities, collectives, and extended living kinships as a way to pool resources, reduce expenses, share advice, and protect one another from external threats. This is a timeless system and approach.
4. Rethink the big wedding celebration for 5th anniversary, not your first.This is not to say that being newly married is not something to celebrate, because it is. However, what is greater than being married for one year is being married for five years and even better, 10 or 20 years.
Too many young couples go into debt preparing themselves for one day and do not plan for the everyday financial trials of marital partnership. At least with this approach, there is something to look forward to every five years and you'll be in more of a financial position to pay for it.
5.Prioritize your debt. Open up the bills and get a reality check. See how much you really owe. It may seem overwhelming, but this is the first and most important step in getting you toward financial freedom.
After that, start paying. The two most popular strategies for tackling debt are the "high-interest" approach and the "smallest balance" approach. One is no better than the other. Use whichever makes you feel as if you are making the most progress toward your $0-balance dream. With the former, you pay your bills with the highest interest rate first. The rationale behind this strategy is get the most financially draining bill out of the way first. With the latter, you pay your bills with the smallest balance first of its psychological impact. There is an immediate sense of accomplishment and progress when one bill is completely accounted for.
6.Figure out how much you are spending and create a monthly savings plan. There is no way to get around it. Without a financial blueprint, that is, your financial plan, you will make little headway in securing your financial freedom. A basic budget begins with dividing your expenses into two broad categories: fixed expenditure (i.e. housing, transportation, food, insurance, tuition) and variable expenditure (i.e. standing nail/salon appointments, gym memberships, entertainment).
7.Create a Financial Freedom Fund (FFF) bucket. It is your choice. It can be an old an vase, an old wastepaper basket, or a mini-trash can. Label it, "My Financial Freedom Fund." Decorate it. Start by throwing all of your loose change in there at the end of each day. If you live in a house, have a few FFFs around high-traffic areas (kitchens, bedrooms). When necessary, combine all of the money into the central FFF. After it has reached its capacity, redeem your coins for cash. You may not think so, but those pennies add up. This extra money could be used to pay off some debt or money that could be air marked for a stock, bond, or mutual fund purchase.
8.Get a hustle (or maybe even two or three). Use your creativity to increase your income. If you are good at organizing, place an ad to clean-out garages, run errands, and organize closets and yard sales throughout the neighborhood. If you have a computer and can type pretty quickly, solicit editing/typing/revising gigs. Clean out your closets and put those items up for sale at a garage sale, E-bay, or on consignment at a local second-hand store. Good with pets and plants? Walk and water them for a fee!
9. Go shopping in your closets before you make your way to the mall. If you have a problem with shopping and are thinking that you need a new black pair of slacks or a 2-inch pump, check your closets. You've probably bought them. (maybe even twice.) If not, check in your best friend's closet.
10.Pick up a book and empower yourself about money (or borrow it from the library). Read and internalize straightforward, practical advice from African-American personal finance experts like Michelle Singletary, Lynette Khalfani, and Glenda Bridgforth. These women are present-day pioneers in counseling and educating the black community about their financial hygiene.
Finance 101 For the Undergraduate that Needs to Know
Yes, you've been accepted. An excellent financial aid package, scholarship, work-study, or a combination of the three. You may be the first in your family to go to college or the first to attend college in the U.S. You've been warned about the dangers of college life:drugs, boys, walking home late at night, sex, and mindless recreational activities/squandering of time.
But, what about money? What tips, strategies, and warnings are part of your arsenal as you venture into adulthood away from home. Here are ten tips that every young sistah should know before they hit campus:
1. Stay away from free credit card offers/vendors.
At the beginning of every semester, credit card companies flock to college campuses in search of unsuspecting prey--young, undisciplined coeds-- and approve them for credit card at interest rates as obscene as 24%. They do this because they know that the typical American college student is consumption-driven and fiscally unsavvy. What often results is that college students rack up uber levels of debt, find it difficult to repay, and end up ruining their credit. Plus, they have nothing of benefit to show for it other than outdated dorm furniture, clothes, and accessories.
2.Live like an undergraduate, not a superstar.
Your primary objective in going to college is equip you with the intellectual foundation, network contacts, and social skills needed to navigate your personal and professional path upon graduation--not to be featured on the college version of MTV Cribs. Decorate your room with inspirational figures, quotes, and artifacts. Keep it clean and conducive to study.
3.Make your part-time money work full-time for you.
Save 10% of your income no matter how modest your take-home pay will be. With youth and compound interest on your side, you can begin stashing money away for retirement, home-buying, and graduate school while you continue to study (and while you actually do not mind having to work).
4.Apply for scholarships.
There is literally thousands of dollars out there waiting to be grabbed--only if you take the initiative. Scholarship websites like fastweb.com and your college's career center have listings of scholarships, fellowships, and grants based on field of study, age, ethnicity, state, and nationality.
5. Take a finance course.
Take advantage of all of the information/courses that your university has to offer. A basic finance course will equip you with invaluable knowledge about investing and savings. It will also provide insight into the role of that consumption (spending) plays in a capitalist economy and the workings of the nation's chief financial institutions.
6.Secure an internship.
Get hands-on experience in a particular field during your summer vacation. Internships help you discover if a job ideally matches your strengths, talents, and abilities. Additionally, summer internships often translate into full-time jobs at a higher starting salary after graduation.
7.Sell your old textbooks.
There are some textbooks, books, and other materials that you may not want to add to your personal library. List or post them at the Student Union, E-bay, or other high-traffic areas as a way to recoup a portion of its price.
8.Study-abroad.
As participants in a global village, there will be a demand for multicultural and multilingual individual. Use travel abroad and student-exchange to bolster your resume and future earning power while it enhances your world view, sense of self, and cultural competence.
9. Book trips for major holidays in advance.
The dates for Fall Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break are made available at the beginning of the academic year. Take advantage of this information and save hundreds of dollars by avoiding the price-gauging that accompanies last-minute reservations.
10. Rent with the option to buy.
If you know that you are going to remain in the same city after graduation because of an employment prospect, a serious relationship, or continued study, look for housing that offers an option of buying after several years of renting.
But, what about money? What tips, strategies, and warnings are part of your arsenal as you venture into adulthood away from home. Here are ten tips that every young sistah should know before they hit campus:
1. Stay away from free credit card offers/vendors.
At the beginning of every semester, credit card companies flock to college campuses in search of unsuspecting prey--young, undisciplined coeds-- and approve them for credit card at interest rates as obscene as 24%. They do this because they know that the typical American college student is consumption-driven and fiscally unsavvy. What often results is that college students rack up uber levels of debt, find it difficult to repay, and end up ruining their credit. Plus, they have nothing of benefit to show for it other than outdated dorm furniture, clothes, and accessories.
2.Live like an undergraduate, not a superstar.
Your primary objective in going to college is equip you with the intellectual foundation, network contacts, and social skills needed to navigate your personal and professional path upon graduation--not to be featured on the college version of MTV Cribs. Decorate your room with inspirational figures, quotes, and artifacts. Keep it clean and conducive to study.
3.Make your part-time money work full-time for you.
Save 10% of your income no matter how modest your take-home pay will be. With youth and compound interest on your side, you can begin stashing money away for retirement, home-buying, and graduate school while you continue to study (and while you actually do not mind having to work).
4.Apply for scholarships.
There is literally thousands of dollars out there waiting to be grabbed--only if you take the initiative. Scholarship websites like fastweb.com and your college's career center have listings of scholarships, fellowships, and grants based on field of study, age, ethnicity, state, and nationality.
5. Take a finance course.
Take advantage of all of the information/courses that your university has to offer. A basic finance course will equip you with invaluable knowledge about investing and savings. It will also provide insight into the role of that consumption (spending) plays in a capitalist economy and the workings of the nation's chief financial institutions.
6.Secure an internship.
Get hands-on experience in a particular field during your summer vacation. Internships help you discover if a job ideally matches your strengths, talents, and abilities. Additionally, summer internships often translate into full-time jobs at a higher starting salary after graduation.
7.Sell your old textbooks.
There are some textbooks, books, and other materials that you may not want to add to your personal library. List or post them at the Student Union, E-bay, or other high-traffic areas as a way to recoup a portion of its price.
8.Study-abroad.
As participants in a global village, there will be a demand for multicultural and multilingual individual. Use travel abroad and student-exchange to bolster your resume and future earning power while it enhances your world view, sense of self, and cultural competence.
9. Book trips for major holidays in advance.
The dates for Fall Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break are made available at the beginning of the academic year. Take advantage of this information and save hundreds of dollars by avoiding the price-gauging that accompanies last-minute reservations.
10. Rent with the option to buy.
If you know that you are going to remain in the same city after graduation because of an employment prospect, a serious relationship, or continued study, look for housing that offers an option of buying after several years of renting.
Monday, December 3, 2007
How Much Should "Holiday Spirit" Really Cost?
With the holidays coming up, there is always the financial pressure to spend. We see it in the attention paid to Black Friday, an increase in the number of "discounted" deals-- to Broadway, from your favorite retail outlet, and holiday wish lists from your co-workers and family. And let's be honest, maybe even you caught the spirit. Maybe you have been hoping that Uncle Joe and Aunt Agnes got your not-so subtle hints about how a new laptop, laser printer, and suede leather jacket would make perfect accents to your wardrobe and home decor.
Holiday spirit and consumption have been mass marketed as one in the same. They, however, are not. They are mutually exclusive. The former is rooted primarily in a spiritual realm, with the belief that humanity should minister love, kindness, and goodness to the world in the same manner as Jesus Christ did, who Christians consider to be the human representation of God. The latter is big business hard at work trying to separate you from your hard-earned money with the rationale that spending money equates giving love.
Does this mean that I advocate that there should be no gift giving this holiday season? Not necessarily; some people genuinely get joy out of gift-giving, while others use this argument to mask their stinginess, selfishness, and thoughtlessness. I am, however, saying that there are several ways of showing love, kindness, and goodness to people in your immediate cypher that do not have to leave you indigent, financially resentful, and fiscally put-upon...
1. Some Thoughts Actually Do Count
Many of us lead thankless lives. As women, the burden of nurturing, attending to, sacrificing for the better good of the team, often is expected and overlooked. Often the best gifts for these "superwomen" are appreciation, recognition, and gratitude. During this holiday season, take a moment to write a letter, send a poem, produce a video journal, choreograph an interpretative dance, make an abstract drawing, take them to the pier to watch the sunset, or run a hot bath for these women in your life. The impact of these thoughtful acts will well be felt beyond the New Year.
2. Memories Are Priceless
The Adinkra symbol "sankofa", a bird looking backwards, while flying forward, serves as a mainstay in Ghanaian sculpture and art. It is also representative of a metaphysical understanding of the interconnectivity of the former self with the present self. The few times that we do stop to "smell the roses", do we also stop to reflect on our former selves, our journeys into this presentness? During this holiday season, give the gift of life: dig through the City archives to find your grandparents' birth certificates, honor the memories and histories that you have created by making a scrapbook, get your best friends together and take a group picture.
3. Give Time
We are living increasingly detached lives in this country--where technology and work have replaced human connection, conversation, and building. Often times, people that care for you the most, want YOU. Your time, your attention, your presence, your energy. As a gift, make time for those with whom you have lost contact. (phone call, card, visit). Reconnecting with those special people enriches your life way more than the newest, hottest, priciest thingamabob that mass media are peddling.
Holiday spirit and consumption have been mass marketed as one in the same. They, however, are not. They are mutually exclusive. The former is rooted primarily in a spiritual realm, with the belief that humanity should minister love, kindness, and goodness to the world in the same manner as Jesus Christ did, who Christians consider to be the human representation of God. The latter is big business hard at work trying to separate you from your hard-earned money with the rationale that spending money equates giving love.
Does this mean that I advocate that there should be no gift giving this holiday season? Not necessarily; some people genuinely get joy out of gift-giving, while others use this argument to mask their stinginess, selfishness, and thoughtlessness. I am, however, saying that there are several ways of showing love, kindness, and goodness to people in your immediate cypher that do not have to leave you indigent, financially resentful, and fiscally put-upon...
1. Some Thoughts Actually Do Count
Many of us lead thankless lives. As women, the burden of nurturing, attending to, sacrificing for the better good of the team, often is expected and overlooked. Often the best gifts for these "superwomen" are appreciation, recognition, and gratitude. During this holiday season, take a moment to write a letter, send a poem, produce a video journal, choreograph an interpretative dance, make an abstract drawing, take them to the pier to watch the sunset, or run a hot bath for these women in your life. The impact of these thoughtful acts will well be felt beyond the New Year.
2. Memories Are Priceless
The Adinkra symbol "sankofa", a bird looking backwards, while flying forward, serves as a mainstay in Ghanaian sculpture and art. It is also representative of a metaphysical understanding of the interconnectivity of the former self with the present self. The few times that we do stop to "smell the roses", do we also stop to reflect on our former selves, our journeys into this presentness? During this holiday season, give the gift of life: dig through the City archives to find your grandparents' birth certificates, honor the memories and histories that you have created by making a scrapbook, get your best friends together and take a group picture.
3. Give Time
We are living increasingly detached lives in this country--where technology and work have replaced human connection, conversation, and building. Often times, people that care for you the most, want YOU. Your time, your attention, your presence, your energy. As a gift, make time for those with whom you have lost contact. (phone call, card, visit). Reconnecting with those special people enriches your life way more than the newest, hottest, priciest thingamabob that mass media are peddling.
4. Reference the Bible
Remind greedy, gift-hungry folk that if Jesus, the Lord and Savior of millions, only got three gifts, from three different people, there is no reason why they, mere mortals, should expect much more.
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