On money...

[MorningGlow]

Well, I had a fascinating experience with that ol' bugaboo, the green stuff we're ensnared by, lately. I just have to share!

We've all heard the lesson that to make money we have to separate ourselves from it and not be bound to it. To get money, give it away--right? Well, I have a pretty hard time with that one, I will admit! I'm not a pennypincher, but I am always fretting about being able to pay bills and having enough money in the checking account to cover unexpected expenses--things like that. DH and I aren't broke, but we aren't swimming in it by any means (living paycheck to paycheck basically), and of course with my impending "unemployment" (freedom) coming up, it's been on my mind. I've been trying not to care--do the Zen thing and trust that the Universe will provide, but in all honesty, it's tough!

Today I kind of let it all go because of a friend. He had had a fight with his wife and was terribly upset about it, especially because it was about money and work (for those of you who know the hellhole that is my and OceanSpirit's workplace, he works there too and is terribly overworked and underpaid). They're newlyweds and have just bought a house, so money is tight, and what with the awful things going on at work, the situation just escalated. I felt so bad for him that I handed him all the money in my wallet (big deal--$9 :eyes: ) and told him to go buy his wife some flowers, then sit down and have a serious discussion about their options regarding work and cash. (Hey, I've been married for 10 years--I know all about money fights!)

He wouldn't accept the money--snuck it back into my office when I wasn't looking--but after that? It was highly amusing! Two bottles of water fell out of the machine although I only paid for one. My hair stylist wouldn't accept any payment for cutting my hair--said to consider it a celebratory good-luck gift for leaving my job. And I got home to find a duplicate $100 semiprecious stone sphere on my doorstep--I had bought one several months ago and a second one was sent to me by mistake! (I sent the seller an e-mail asking how to send it back, of course.)

Yeppers, folks, give your money away and it will come back to you threefold. I like this lesson! :)

[SeattleGirl]

1. Wow, MD! That's a wonderful story!!!

Gave me goosebumps, in fact. I've heard that too, about giving money to get money, and I also have difficulty with that.

Having said that, while I am in debt, and still not up to full time work (getting there, though), I have a friend who is far worse off than I am. He has no cable, no internet, no home phone. He got a pay-as-you-go phone, but can't get very many minutes. He's searching for a job so obviously he needs a way for employers to get hold of him. I just got him a card for 250 minutes, and will get him another one when I get paid. When I was buying it, my wallet said, "But, you can't afford this," but another voice said, "You can't afford NOT to do this," so I did it.

Who knows what will come out of this, but time will tell.

Thanks for sharing this story, MorningGlow! :hug:

[stellanoir]

3. At the risk of sounding prosaic SG

"pay it forward" for sure.

[SeattleGirl]

4. Pay it forward, indeed, steallanoir.

I think it's a great way to live. (Of course, by that I mean paying the positive forward.) :hi:

[MorningGlow]

5. That's sweet of you to do, SG

Yeah, interesting how our heads and our hearts have such differences of opinion! Our largest supermarket chain has a fundraiser for a food pantry a couple of times a year, and it's on now--all you have to do is, at the checkout, rip off a coupon on the counter for $2, $3, or $5 and give it to the cashier, and that amount of money gets added to your bill. I do it automatically now, even if it's just the $2 coupon. DH was with me the other day and as we were leaving asked, "What'd you do that for?" I said, "They need it." He said, "WE need it." I said, "Fine. If we find we're starving to death with me not working a full-time job, we can visit the food bank and get something to eat."

We are all one.

[SeattleGirl]

8. I do the coupon thing every year for breast cancer research.

One of our supermarket chains has a thing every year where you can do something similar to the food bank thing, and I always give. Not only is it a good cause, but it's personal to me, as my mother is a breast cancer survivor.

[stellanoir]

2. LOL You've got some great affirmations happenin' there girl.

These are all excellent omens. :woohoo:

What the heck do I know though. . . ?

I may be a reincarnated leumerian hell bent on barter who utterly sucks at capitalism workin' mostly for karmic brownie points. Do they tax them yet???

Gonna post a unbelievably nuclear thread in GD for my Lunar return tomorrow so heads up.

Peace until then.

Sweet dreams.

[MorningGlow]

6. Thanks, Stella!

:woohoo:

I get the feeling the Universe was sending me the message, "See? You're going to be fine--stop worrying about money."

And hey, you say "reincarnated lemurian hell bent on barter who utterly sucks at capitalism workin' mostly for karmic brownie points" like it's a bad thing...! :evilgrin:

On the lookout for the next big OBSW thread--!

[Rock_Garden]

7. Fantastic story!

You still gave your coworker what he needed. Freely give and freely receive.

[MorningGlow]

9. Perhaps my advice was more constructive than the money for flowers

1) You will not divorce over this--trust me. 2) Calm down, apologize, sit down, and talk about your monetary situation to work up a plan.

Sure 'nuff, they're not divorcing, and they did start talking frankly about their cash flow problems. I hope they're on the road to regular open communication on the topic.

:hi:

[TexasLady]

10. great story!

I really needed to read this one!

[MorningGlow]

11. Just read your thread, TexasLady

I can totally relate--there's always that hesitation when it comes to money, isn't there? It's rare when we can truly convince ourselves to go for it and not worry about it. Sounds like you've got the perfect opportunity to have a great time with a minimum amount of expense--definitely go for it! :hi:

[bliss_eternal]

12. Wonderful story, MorningGlow...!

Thanks so much for sharing! :hi: It's SO true, too. If you need money--give some (or something) away.

A few months ago, I insisted that dh take some old clothes from our closets to the local second hand store. (I'm big on recycling :P) Prior to this we gave some items we couldn't use to people he works with. To be honest, I didn't think twice about it. I can't stand the thought of just throwing things that someone may be able to use in the trash.

Anyway, within days the blessings started to pour in--an unexpected dividend came in the mail, we were at a restaurant getting food to go--they comped our entire order and gave us free dessert. Just over and over again we were recieving that which we didn't expect. Amazing stuff, isn't it? ;)