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Archive for November, 2009

  

Where My Treasure Is

Posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Over the past couple of months, I have been buckling down on my expenses, trying to keep the unnecessary stuff from creeping in and making a huge splash in my bank account. I have to say that, thanks to careful monitoring and tracking, I have been doing quite well. With the impending move to a new apartment coming, my budget is going to get a major shock (security deposits are nasty) and my push for frugality will be even more important.

That said, I feel that I may be prioritizing my money a bit poorly. While I do spend money on meaningful things (a gym membership, good books, music, tasteful clothing, and so on), there is one huge gap where I am not spending nearly enough: charity. This was hit home at a recent leadership meeting with Forefront, where it became very evident how a small minority of the members was propping up the church. (The extent to which I donate to other causes such as Multiple Sclerosis or Movember is nice but also a bit lacking.)

Some people commit the first 10% of their income to charity. I met one couple who did this last week, and it really threw me for a loop. The message that they were sending by doing this is that trying to make the world a better place was their first priority, before making rent or getting groceries. I, personally, am someone who is interested in making the world a better place but allocating that first chunk of my [disposable] income is completely foreign to me. All of my life, I have been taught that charity is nice, but saving money (especially at an early age) is important to leading a long and happy (read: prosperous) life.

At some point in the future, I am confident that I can do both; when I happen to make more money than I know what to do with under reasonable circumstances, it would become way more comfortable to give it away. Just look at my boss, Mike Bloomberg, and all of the money that he has been donating now that he’s in a place in life where accidentally finding a few thousand dollars in his pants might be a common occurrence. (Go Mike!)

But it’s not about comfort, is it? If I am truly interested in effecting a positive change in the world around me, then I should be willing to sacrifice the comfort and to get serious about charity. As it is written (and often said), where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.  I would then be investing in the change that I want to see in the world, and I would be way more interested (and involved) in ensuring that the investment is used wisely and effectively.

Truthfully, I do not imagine that this is going to be a massive change all at once; I feel that I have to warm myself up to it and slowly work my way to rebalancing my budget to accommodate this. But I am committing to it. And if you’re reading this, then you are probably fortunate enough to have many luxuries impressed upon you, and you are probably in a place where you could rethink where your heart is.

Of Leaves

Posted on Sunday, November 8th, 2009

It’s fall here in New York City and some of the best pictures to had are happening all around us; leaves are changing colours and they are giving the last part of their lives to litter our streets with their beauty. I remember when I was a kid, I would love the smell of dry leaves as I walked through fields on the way to and from school. While I can’t exactly do that anymore here, I still get a mild satisfaction in hearing the crunch beneath my feet as I walk.

Speaking of leaves, who knows where “turning over a new leaf” came from? When I think about it, it doesn’t really make sense; when you turn over a new leaf, you get the other side of the leaf. You still had the leaf before, so it’s not like it’s something entirely novel. Also, depending on the leaf, the other side may very well look like the side that was visible. Combining these, turning over a new leaf isn’t really that big of a deal, is it?

Anyhow, I digress. There are a couple of “leaf-turning” events that I am particularly interested in noting:

1. First, I went back to and old leaf of mine. A few months ago, I was going to the gym really regularly and I was showing some pretty good results. Then, I went to the UK and my membership to the gym expired while I was there. When I got back, I kept on finding too many reasons to not go, so the end result is that I just stopped altogether. (The secondary result is me getting out of shape in a hurry.) To prevent this from happening again, I joined a better gym with more locations and a higher price tag. That means that it is more accessible and, if I don’t go, it becomes a more expensive loss to me. (Nothing like a little guilt to motivate me, right?) I am really happy with the experience so far (except for the realization of how far I have actually fallen since June), so let’s hope that it keeps up!

2. Second, and perhaps more exciting, is that I have signed the lease to my very own apartment!! That’s right — I’m finally growing up and getting my own place. It’s on the Upper East Side (where an increasingly large part of my life is currently centred) in a doorman elevator building. The unit is newly renovated and the kicker is that the kitchen features brand-new, full-sized stainless steel appliances and plenty of gorgeous granite countertops. At long long LONG last, I can feel comfortable cooking again! Granted, this won’t hold a candle to the Viking range, dual-oven equipped kitchen that I was so blessed to have back in 2007 but this is going to me MY kitchen! I actually haven’t heard confirmation that my application was approved, but the leasing office said that everything looked good on paper and they just needed to ensure that everything I wrote down was the truth. So I am reasonably certain that by the middle of this week, I will be the tenant of my very own one-bedroom apartment! (As an aside, I am loathing the thought of how expensive furnishing the place is going to be. Ugh.) Plenty of good times will be had; you have my word on it! Pictures to follow (once I get approved). 🙂

Update: It seems that turning over a new leaf means turning over a leaf of paper, yielding a blank page. Makes sense.

  
Leaf