I welcome my cohort and friend Christophe to “AimSimple”! He’s a much better writer than I am so hopefully he’ll be writing often; check out his wonderfully written personal first entry on the topic of happiness. I mean, who doesn’t want to achieve happiness? Here’s to our path to achieving simplicity in our lives!
Archive for June, 2008
Welcome Christophe!
Jun 11
Invest in happiness : Part 1
Jun 11
When my parents brought up the idea of gifting me $10,000 just for the feat of having made it to 25 -without medical help-, I had mixed feelings. Sure I could use the money, but “did my parents save and sacrifice all their lives for me to have a better TV?”, I thought. Also, I just could not bear the thought of facing my parents’ legacy every night. So, in a swirl of guilt, enlightenment and cluelessness, I said “why don’t we invest the money in happiness instead?”. Needless to say, my parents were proud. And scared. And did not have any idea what I was talking about. So I proceeded to explain them that my greatest joy would be for them to use the money to reunite my siblings, I and all the kids the next summer in a nice vacation spot. This would be an amazing treat for us and a great way for them to once again bring us all together. We would basically buy ourselves a lifetime of memories.
That was one of the best ideas of my life (I can count those on the fingers of… well, just one finger). In the last five years, my family and I have done two of these “reunion vacations” and they truly brought us closer together. That money would have been gotten, spent and forgotten in a minute had my siblings and I received it ourselves. So, we are the living proof that investing in happiness works! I still miss that TV, though… but guilt, there is none.
As a group, we humans, are surprisingly lucid about what makes us happy: a satisfying family life, deep friendships, a meaningful career and a personal feeling of usefulness and belonging are cited endlessly in the happiness polls. But when comes the time to put our money where our mouth is, all that goes out the window and the lust for a big house, two big Lexus’, a trophy career and tons of stuff seems to prevail. What is happening to us?
Can we blame our behaviour on marketing? How convenient… Maybe it is the culture! Possible. Huh, maybe it is us? Now we are getting warmer. Let’s face it, we are suckers for status. It makes us feel good. Status is our favorite measuring stick. We just love to feel like giants among midgets.
Over the next weeks, I will expose my everyday struggle between the desire for status and the longing for a happier, simpler more satisfying life. I look forward to hear from the readers about their own struggles as well.
But in the meanwhile, let us all invest in happiness first!
For part 2, click here
De-Cluttering, a Continuation
Okay, so I lied. It’s been about a month since my last post, and I haven’t yet itemized all the material things that I own. I have however, been able to sell:
- Panasonic FZ10, which at one point was my baby. I had previously used it for concerts, sporting events, so it had been used, but since I had purchased my Nikon D-SLR, it often sat in the closet, collecting dust. The few times I had used it since my Nikon entered my life, I was quite disappointed with the image quality. Of course, before the Nikon, it had been leaps and bounds compared to my small point and shoot. The only times it had proved useful was when sports / concerts venues did not permit bringing in a SLR camera. So off it went. Not for much, approximately 50 bucks, after ebay fees and Paypal fees. (Grrr…) But better than it taking some room and collecting dust. It’s too bad it had a dent though, because I think it would have sold for more.
- 2 IOMEGA Zip Drives. Yeah, you remember those? I find that they can be sold for some money, believe it or not. I would estimate less than 20 after ebay and PayPal fees.
- A Collector’s item toy that as much as I loved had no real home which I was able to get for 60bucks.
So, I have been able to sell a few things. Unfortunately my rating at ebay has dropped from 100% to about 87% due to ebay’s new feedback policy where neutral feedback counts against you. And since I only have 22 items of feedback – purchasing and selling, the neutral ones are doing much damage to my feedback. And the thing is, the reason they were neutral had nothing to do with me. I have a few other items that have just been lying around my house that would be great for kids, but are of no use to me. That is my next battle.
Say NO to Credit Card Offers
Have you felt that you are constantly receiving Credit Card offers? That the mailbox is overflowing with offers from all sorts of credit card companies saying that you are now pre-approved for the credit card and asking (er… begging) you to please spend with them. Not only are they annoying, but by not sending these annoying forms they could save a bit of paper because I don’t even look at them. I just have to go to the trouble in ripping up my private information and sending it through the shredder. I had heard that it was possible to opt out of receiving these kind of offers, and when I did a search, there indeed is. OptOutPrescreen.com gives you the option to opt out. You have the choice to, as stated on their web site:
- Opt-Out from receiving Firm Offers for Five Years – (electronically through [their] website)
- Opt-Out from receiving Firm Offers permanently – (mail Permanent Opt-Out Election form available through [their] website)
- Opt-In and be eligible to receive Firm Offers. This option is for consumers who have previously completed an Opt-Out request – (electronically through [their] website).
I had completed the form several months ago, and now receive no credit card offers. I had not opted out of any ads – but that will probably be my next step. Having eliminated receiving credit card offers, I have eliminated the constant “spam” I was receiving in the box and increased a bit more time in terms no longer having to go through envelope after envelope ripping up my information. Hopefully you too can do the same – it sure feels nicer not having all those useless offers coming to my door. Also for those who have a tendency to accept those offers, it would be a way of preventing the temptation by not allowing them to come to your door at all.