Are you wasting money by doing this?
We've got lots to talk about - from updates on our failed real estate investment to thoughts on a common spending pitfall - so let's dive right in!
📝 What's New
We recently updated our resources page! If you're interested in checking out some of our favorite things - YouTube channels, podcasts, books, all the things... see our Resources Notion page here and our Amazon storefront here.
The Notion page is divided into "views." So you can click one of the labels at the top of the table to see resources divided by category.
💲 Money Minute
The past few years have involved a lot of turmoil, major decision-making, and change. We both feel like we've aged a decade in 2 years, and Nick says the grey in his beard proves there's some truth to that. 😂
But man, have we learned some things!
This week's podcast is all about 5 lessons we've learned from our recent real estate failures, and how this experience is improving our vision process moving forward. You can catch that episode here.
⚓︎ Craft Your Money Story
A magazine headline recently caught my (Hanna's) attention:
5 New European Hot Spots to Beat Your Friends To
This headline breaks my heart.
That's because Nick sees day after day just how many people let their spending be heavily influenced by this type of thinking. And I feel how strongly I'm pulled to this type of thinking!
Here are a few reasons why I hate this headline. Rest assured, I could make the list much longer.
It encourages you to be dissatisfied with your own life.
"Geeze, I never get to travel out of the country. Our camping trips are so boring compared to Europe."
It promotes comparison-driven decision-making and spending.
"I need to travel to [cool place] before my friends make it there." Or, "I need to make sure my vacation is more impressive than so-and-so's." Or, "I need to make sure I get to travel to [cool place] more often than [name of that co-worker you're in an unspoken competition with]."
It tells you that feeding your ego is a worthwhile pursuit.
"My friends are going to think I'm so [cool, rich, impressive] when they see pictures of me on this vacation."
It's a lie.
If you've read The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, you'll be familiar with this idea.
When people see pictures of you on vacation, they don't think, "Wow, she's so [cool, rich, impressive]!"
You think that's what they're going to think. But in reality, they just think about themselves.
Their head-talk is probably saying something like, "People would think I'm so [cool, rich, impressive] if I went on a trip like that!"
And do you want to know the worst part? If you spend money on anything because of influences like this, you'll have an approximately zero percent chance of actually enjoying it. Because you'll be way too absorbed posting pictures and doom-scrolling to keep an eye on the "competition" in your social circle.
I know this type of stuff seems incredibly silly when it's written out, but we are all susceptible to it. It's so very human.
A huge part of Nick and me crafting our money story is starting our day in the Bible together, and praying that the Lord would open our eyes to and protect us from subtle influences like this magazine headline. And trust me, we need help with it multiple times every. single. day.
Not only do I not want to spend my money in this way, but I also don't want to be that type of "friend" to the people around me. Big emphasis on the air quotes around "friend!"
So this week, we encourage you to keep an eye out for the covert influences in your life. What spending has crept into your budget without you consciously realizing it? How and why do you think that happened? And most importantly, how can you make more intentional stewardship decisions moving forward?
But remember, the point of this reflection isn't to beat yourself up. Crafting your money story is a process. And as one of my favorite artists just reminded me - The process is the point!
Until next week,
Nick + Hanna
RV life. It's Margo's dream come true... the whole family living in one giant crate together. 😅
