Tag Archives: values

Living Your Values

Posted on by
6

Values.

This is a word I have thought about a lot lately. I’m trying to align how I spend my time with what I value. I’m trying to spend my money with companies whose values are similar to my own or at least whose values are things I can live with. I’m trying to be careful to not allow people whose opinions I do not value drag down my energy. I’m trying to question the true values of those who want something from me. I find that some people will manipulate you at every turn if they want your vote/money/help regardless of whose grandmother they have to sell to get their way.

Values matter.

This week, I took two very small actions to speak up for my values. Last night I went to Wheatberry Bookstore in downtown Chillicothe where I bought a couple of books. I’m calling them birthday gifts for myself because, as my mother would say, I need more books like I need another hole in my head.

This won’t stop me from buying them, mind you, but my birthday is coming and who can argue with presents?

Buying books is hardly an act of revolution but Wheatberry is a charming independent bookstore in a downtown where small businesses are suffering because of construction. Honestly, it isn’t nearly as bad as locals think it is and I had no trouble navigating where I needed to be.

If I want them to survive, I need to make sure I’m supporting them. Granted, my two book purchase won’t make that much of a difference but my two books and your two books and someone else’s two books will add up.

I value having a bookstore nearby and I value the programs, kids stuff, and community mindedness they bring to the table. Supporting authors is important to me as is making sure a variety of books are accessible locally.

I need to act like they matter.

The other thing I did was join in a chorus of voices expressing our dissatisfaction that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) was entertaining the idea gas powered boats should be allowed on Lake Hope.

In a busy, noisy and all together sometimes unpleasant world, Lake Hope is a last bastion of quiet and calm. I hike there. I know people who bird watch and pass the day floating around in their kayaks. I have sat near the shore reading and solving all the world’s problems beneath a peaceful autumn sky. The air is cleaner and the world feels lighter once your boots hit the trail at Lake Hope State Park.

I get irritated when people are hiking with loud music or let their kids scream like banshees on a forest trail. Yes, I sound like an old crank but that kind of noise scares away the wildlife and ruins the experience for everyone around. I certainly don’t want to listen to someone’s boat motor.

So I wrote a letter like many people and became part of a movement that forced ODNR to listen. A single voice might not have mattered but a lot of us together brought meaningful change.

Humans need a place where we can go for free and listen to the frogs, watch a squirrel scurry up a tree, and witness a turtle sunbathing on a half submerged log. We need a place to go where your only job is to enjoy the aroma of pine trees and the crunch of fallen leaves underfoot.

The wonderful thing about living in America is that we can make individual contributions that will matter. A single snowflake is hardly noticeable but put enough of them together and you might have a blizzard on your hands.

Contact your politicians. Stand up for what you know is right. Support the businesses you want to keep in your community. Get your friends to help too.

Exercise your right to free speech and stand up for what matters to you. Living your values is how things get done.

No Spend Challenge, Values And Self Awareness

Posted on by
4

Money is personal. How much we have, what we lack, why we save it, where we keep it, and how we spend it are all very personal topics.

It’s month two of my No Spend Challenge with looser rules to accommodate my current life needs. I have eaten restaurant food a few times – either by choice or necessity. My fella and I celebrated Valentine’s Day. I bought a pack of gum I didn’t need. But I haven’t been out shopping the winter sale racks or binge buying all the things I thought of during my very strict January No Spend Challenge. In fact, I did find a small rug for my bedroom but otherwise haven’t been out buying from my January wish list. 

It has been pretty good.  I have put some extra money toward debt and haven’t had to sweat over my soaring winter heating costs. Like everyone else though, what’s leftover each month is shrinking and it appears this will worsen. 

This challenge is not just about not saving money. It’s about assessing priorities. If I feel an urge to shop, I commonly ask myself if I want trinkets now or if I want adventure later. Would I prefer those dollars in savings for something better another day?

What is it that I value? At this stage in life, I value, learning, exploration, home, and having a reliable car that will take me to work so I can support myself. I also value giving my little former street urchin of a cat the life he thinks he deserves.

And it’s a good life, I assure you.  

Is my spending in line with these things? This is the real question at play here. Will the choices I make at the checkout support the things I just named? Or will they detract from those things I value? 

A No Spend Challenge also encourages deeper questions. One of those involves who I spend my money with. For example, I mostly value a brick and mortar business more than an online one. That’s because a business that invests in a community presence is investing in the community. This is done in many ways including through occupying vacant space, payroll, local taxes, and supporting local fundraisers for the chamber or schools. 

Plus, the employees and owners get to know their customers and do their darndest to keep them happy.

Walmart says “here’s a product that appeals to the lowest common denominator. Take it or leave it.” Amazon sells everything you’ll ever need but they don’t invest locally. They don’t care if your kids’ team needs new uniforms and they won’t answer the call to help when the VFW van needs repairs. That’s a burden for local businesses to share. 

But I’m paying more and more attention to how businesses invest their money and who they support politically. If their values don’t align with mine in the vaguest of ways, I tend to spend less. It’s a pain because sometimes that means going to one place for some things I can’t get anywhere else locally and then to another store or two for the rest. It’s a small price to pay knowing that I’m not handing over all my money to a company that financially supports things I do not believe in.  

I feel better knowing that I’m doing something, not out of spite, but out of principle. The bottom line is the only thing that matters to most companies. Why would I give them my hard earned money if I feel like they use it to work against me?

Other beneficial lines of thinking and questions come from my No Spend Challenge. Most them center on waste and excess. Food waste is a big one as I take big steps to prevent waste during a challenge. Although, I’m sad to report that I have been so busy and so mentally tired for the last couple of weeks, there has been more waste than normal. It happens and I’m back on track now. Forgiveness is important too. 

I also think about the cost of clutter. When we don’t know what we own, we often buy things thinking we are doing good. Clutter takes up space in closets and drawers and can weigh us down mentally. I have a coworker who has empty closets in her home and I just can’t fathom what that must be like. My closets are all full and attempts to slim down their contents never seem to go as planned. 

I also learn things about myself and my values. I recently realized I have a hard time letting go of things there are nice, that are a good brand or that I might need someday. Case in point: I was gifted a set of KitchenAid pots and pans about twenty years ago. This is a good brand and I have always liked them. The two skillets wore out years ago but the pots and lids are still in decent condition. They look ok. Things stick sometimes in the big pot but they get the job done. 

The problem is that they take up a lot of cabinet space and I would like to have a set that nests. I have looked at a few sets but can never pull the trigger. After all, what’s left of the old set is a good brand and they still work ok. 

Never mind that I have definitely gotten good use from them and they aren’t serving me as well as I would like. Of course, I might have room to store them if I would weed out some other stuff I don’t need.

I’m a work in progress, friends.

This No Spend Challenge seems like such an innocent thing! Stop shopping, save some money, break some bad habits! But it really is a rabbit hole of sorts. You know something? I like a good rabbit hole and I like when I force myself to question my own beliefs and ways of doing things. 

Are you doing some version of a No Soend Challenge? Tell me about it!!

The Week Between Years

Posted on by
8

Darkness has fallen, Scout is sitting in a box I had hoped to use, and sweet potatoes are roasting in the oven. The wind is vicious here on the ridge and it’s raining hard enough that I can’t help but wonder what it would look like if it were a few degrees colder and snowing.

It’s the week between years. Those precious few days between Christmas and New Year’s where we are all in a cookie coma and no one knows what day it is. It’s going on 5:30 p.m. and I can honestly say, I don’t recall looking at the clock even once today.

I don’t care what time it is.

Instead of following schedules and clocks or responding to buzzes, dings and rings, I’m simply enjoying the quiet of my home. Truth is, my home is a bit of a disaster as I continue disassembling Christmas and reimagining some pine and lights into something beautiful for winter. I have been putting away Christmas gifts, pausing some to read a chapter in my book and allowing Scout the chance to enjoy my being home. Every time I sit to read, he cozies up next to me for a catnap and a good snore.

This is the week I typically spend preparing for the next chapter. After months of adventuring followed by a season of gluttony and spending, it’s time to dial back the celebratory, almost uncontrolled aspects of my lifestyle into a season of wintering.

I’m so excited for this upcoming season of hibernation and rest. I will take my cue from nature and spend the next couple of months quietly resting, recharging and nurturing myself.

Each January is defined by a No Spend Challenge. This serves many purposes for me and is something I eagerly anticipate every year. I have written about this before and will again soon but, in short, it’s a time to reset habits and to go back to the roots of who I am and what I value. January is defined by staying home to rest and to appreciate all that I have already. It’s defined by finding creative solutions and using what I own rather than embracing the cultural norm that new is always better and that spending can solve every problem.

I reduce food waste, read lots, create more and feather my nest in ways big and small. 

Sometimes the challenge lasts just for 31 days while some years it extends into February and March. Some people in my life think it’s silly or that it’s a form of deprivation but they couldn’t be more wrong. It’s about celebrating all that I have and realigning my values so that I’m using my time and resources in ways that are meaningful to me. 

Those sweet potatoes in the oven have been languishing here for a while. They could easily be wasted if forgotten. They will be used as a base for bowls for a few days – breakfast bowls with eggs over easy, sauteed peppers and onions as well as perhaps a salmon bowl or two with chipotle ranch dressing, spinach and green peppers. Every ingredient will be from my fridge or pantry and will require no store runs for oddball things that will be used just once.

My mental shift into January has begun although, it turns out I have a return to make at TJ Maxx tomorrow. Since I’ll be in that store and a few others, I’ll look around but am hoping the sight of what’s left on the bargain table carcass after the post holiday sales will leave a lasting impression of just how much excess junk there is out there that I simply don’t need.

Meanwhile, my friends, I hope you are enjoying this week between years and that you are living your very best life embracing what you value. Have a great evening!