Spend Less and Live (perhaps even write) More?

Just read a fantastic book; The Spend Less Handbook: 365 Tips for a Better Quality of Life While Actually Spending Less by Rebecca Ash, Capstone Publishing (2008). Although it chiefly focuses on saving money, it also talks about the links between a consumer mentality, stress and why we are not leading the life we dream of.

Consider; 'You won’t get to the end of your life and wish you’d made more money – you’ll wish you spent more time staring at the clouds, playing with your children or doing something more meaningful' and 'Remember that you only have one life, and you really ought to live life as if you only had a few months left of it. Make time to do things that will add real value to your life – things that will make you feel like the person you want to be, the person you would like to be remembered as when you die.'

It features a poem which I have never seen before which I feel sums it all up:

Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better to paint a picture, or write a letter, bake a cake, or plant a seed. Ponder the difference between want and need.

Dust if you must, but there’s not much time, with rivers to swim and mountains to climb! Music to hear, and books to read, friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world’s out there with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair, a flutter of snow, a shower of rain, this day will not come round again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind, old age will come and its not kind. And when you go, and go you must, you, yourself, will make more dust!

Anonymous