Happiness Project Month #7: Money (Part II)

"Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work." ~Robert Orben

I have to admit that I was pretty excited about this month's Happiness Project topic. I'm the girl who has her checkbook perfectly balanced, has money automatically put into savings, and keeps track to the PENNY of where my money goes each month. I blame (thank) Gran and her childhood during the Great Depression. I grew up spending lots of time with her and she totally rubbed off. I say this so you understand....I'm a dork and that is why I was excited.

I identified 5 goals for the month: (1) Indulge in a splurge; (2) No paying to eat out; (3) Donate to a worthy cause; (4) Get financial advice from someone smarter than me; and (5) Read a good financial book. Here we go.....

Indulge in a splurge.
You know the saying, "Sometimes the best laid plans?" What about the saying, "Money doesn't buy happiness?" Yea. Remember those. Now, be honest. How many of you, when looking at the list of five goals above would think that splurging would make you the happiest of all of them? In my experience, this was the ONLY goal that actually was detrimental to my happiness! Here's how it went down.

I thought for a couple of weeks about what my splurge might be. Camera? New headboard? New suit? And then.....it hit me. What is one thing that I love and have always thought was the epitome of a successful woman? You guessed it....shoes! Not just any shoes. JIMMY CHOO'S. Now, before you think I'm crazy, I'm not about to pay $1000 for shoes. But I did find some on sale online for like 90% off (I'm sure they're from like 5 seasons ago, but whatev!) and I got super excited. So I contacted my friend Miss Penthouse View, who is the only person I know who owns any Jimmy Choo's and picked her brain.

(Above you see my hand actually holding a pair of her Jimmy Choo's...this was the first pair I'd touched ever in my life. Sigh.)

So Miss Penthouse View warned me they run small and that I should probably try them on. There's apparently nowhere to do that in this state, but fortunately there is a Sak's 5th Avenue in Tulsa. So....when I was in Oklahoma earlier this month, I went to try them on.....I was SO excited. And then I was SO disappointed. To say they run small is an understatement. My feet were no way, no how fitting into a size 10. You're thinking, okay....then get an 11 or 12. Yea, problem. The on sale Jimmy Choo's that I was coveting only go up to a size 10. Just like that, my big ol' feet dashed my dream.

After the stress of this situation, I just gave up. I didn't really want to splurge on anything else. So...big fat fail on this goal. But, I did learn that spending money just doesn't make me happy. In fact, it makes me the opposite. So maybe in the scheme of the Happiness Project, this was actually a success!

No paying to eat out.
I read all the time about how much money people spend eating out. In general, I eat out less than the average person. In part because I'm cheap, and in part because I don't like fast food, which prevents me from running through a drive through on my way home. But I still spend about $40-50 a month on eating out. I wanted to cut this out for the month.

Now, notice that I said I just cut out PAYING to eat out. Hey--a girl's gotta eat. If a boy wants to buy me a steak dinner, who am I to say no? I only cheated one time on my plan--dinner at the Martini Bar on my trip to Oklahoma....but.....(1) I was traveling and had no choice; (2) it was Girl's Weekend; and (3) eating out only once in three days on a trip is pretty good!

Did this increase my happiness? I think so--I liked not spending money on it, and I kind of liked having this goal to achieve. Will I stick with it forever? No way, but I do think I'll be more careful about limiting my spending on eating out after this.

Donate to a worthy cause.
You guys read about this yesterday! If you missed it, click here! Hands down my favorite part of the month.

Get financial advice and read a good financial book.
I don't talk about work or my co-workers on my blog. I'll make a little exception here. My boss is the smartest person I know. Seriously, that man can have a conversation about anything with anyone and he just knows something about everything and sounds brilliant! I'd been told before he loves to talk about investing. Sure enough, he does and he was willing to share his thoughts with me! He explained what the best investments are for someone like me who is a little afraid of the stock market (and FYI--index funds!), how to figure stock to bond ratios, what other types of considerations I needed to make (like disability insurance, regular old savings, retirement plans). He should totally charge for this advice, but I'm glad he didn't!

Anyway, during that conversation, he said that he would email me the link for a great book to read, but when the email came turns out he just went off and ordered it for me! His suggestion was Making the Most of your Money Now by Jane Bryant Quinn. I can't recommend this book enough--it's got checklists based on your age and marital status and goals....and it's really easy to read and covers EVERYTHING you could ever want to know. Fair warning---it's like 4 inches thick, but don't be overwhelmed!

Having the coversation with him and getting started on the first few chapters of this book did make me happier--I feel like I have much more of an idea about what I want to be doing and I think that this book will be a great resource in the years to come!

Conclusion.
All in all, I thought that my project was successful this month in making me happier. I feel grown up and responsible when I do these kind of things. :) Not going to lie though.....I do still wish I was writing this blog with a brand new pair of Jimmy Choo's on my feet! Stay tuned next month to read about my next topic!