If you want to have money, by definition you need to live by the following equation:
Money In > Money Out
It doesn’t matter if the Money In is $2. As long as the Money Out is $1, you’re in good shape.
To better understand the right half of my equation, this past week I wrote down everything I’ve consumed in some way, and then turned the list into per/day amounts, seen here:
Rent: $670 per month/30 days in a month = $22.33
Cable & Internet: $20 per month/30 days in a month = $0.67
Air Conditioning: $15 per month/30 days in month = $0.50
Car Insurance: $40 per month/30 days in month = $1.33
Renters Insurance: $7 per month/30 days in month = $0.24
Shampoo: $3/90 days before refill = $0.03
Toothpaste: $3/90 days before refill = $0.03
Deodorant: $4 per month/30 days = $0.13
Shaving Cream: $1.50/180 days = $0.01
Dollar Shave Club Razors: $6 per month/30 days in month = $0.20
Breakfast: free (provided at work) = $0.00
Lunch: $2.50/day (an average of eating out vs. packing lunch) = $2.50
Dinner/Snacks: $100 grocery receipt per two weeks/2 people/14 days = $3.57
Soap/Detergent/Trash Bags $7/2 weeks = $0.50
Recreation/Eating Out/Dollar Movies/Red Box/Camping: $30 per week/7 days = $4.28
Gasoline: $45 fill up/21 days between fill-ups = $2.14
Laundry: $3/14 days per batch = $0.21
Clothes: $30 Holly spends on me each month/30 days in month = $1.00
Random Purchases on Ebay/Amazon: $45/month = $1.50
Miscellaneous: $20/month (because I’m sure I’m forgetting something!) = $0.67
It costs me $41.83 to live each day.
It costs me $1.74 to live each hour.
Luckily, I do make more than $1.74/hour, so I’m getting richer all the time!
As I move into the working world and hammer out my own philosophies on money and careers and lifestyle, I’ve come to believe that if you keep 2 things in mind, you can live a very happy life.
1. Always keep your per day Money In > Money Out.
This doesn’t mean you have to go hate your life sitting at a desk. It also doesn’t mean that your Money In has to double or triple your Money Out. It just has to be greater. Remember, guys killing themselves at work to make 100K a year probably have a much higher Money Out to compensate for their lifestyle. And, chances are they’re not following rule number 2:
2. Your life = Your time. Spend your life (time) doing something you love.
How many of you could do exactly what you love and still make $41.83 per day? I’m guessing most of you. Name a passion and I’ll name a way that you can make 40 bucks a day off of it. Seriously, try me in the comments. How many of you could make 40 bucks working less than 8 hours a day? Unless you’re being treated illegally, I’m guessing that you can. I made $362 in my sleep the last couple of nights (https://www.udemy.com/adwords-step-by-step-guide/), so that I can spend my waking hours exactly the way I want to.
Want more stuff or a mortgage or a lawn or kids? Your per/day cost is going to go up, yes, but hopefully your skills and residual income and ideas will improve as well. You don’t need to trade your soul for these things. Want to go on a vacation to Europe? Just put that in your per day costs and spread it out over the 5-6 months leading up to it. No sweat. My tickets showed up in my inbox today, and I’m certainly no millionaire.
You’re living now, not once you retire in a hundred years. So do what you need to do (get creative!) to bring your Money In up, or your Money Out down. Stay on top of that equation, even if it’s only a matter of pennies, and you will sweetly slumber.
And when you wake, you will spend your life (time) living your dreams.
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