Morning!!

So continuing our trend of sharing great ideas from the community this week, here’s a handful more tips and ways to *think* about things differently today. More so around life and being a better person than finances, but of course they’re all intertwined when it comes to Living Your Best Life.

I hope you find something here that resonates with you!!

If you missed yesterday’s tips, click here next: 4 Great Ways to Spread Investments Around

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YOU 2.0

“A concept I teach in my book, Manage Money Like a BOSS, is “YOU 2.0”.

Essentially you ask yourself what would the next level version of me do? How would I dress? What would I say yes to? What would I say no to? How would I conduct my business?

I tell people to create an alter ego to check in with. So when I’m faced with a decision relative to my business, or my life even, I ask “what would Queen Christine do?”

– Christine Luken

[I love this idea so much… Used to do something similar at college parties when I wanted to feel what it was like to be a rock star (I’d go as “Johnny Love” and my friends would all be my band members, haha…), but in Adult World I can see this working well too ;) Alternate You is always more confident than normal you!]

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Celebrating the 1sts of The Month

About 5 years ago, my wife and I started a tradition of celebrating the 1st of every month. It sounds silly, but we love it.

We do this because:

1) It began when we bought our first rental property together. Rent checks come in on the 1st of each month, and even though most (sometimes all) of the rent goes to pay the property expenses, this was our first taste of ‘passive’ income.

2) It encourages us to talk about finances and check in with each other regularly. Over the years we’ve watched our plans come to fruition, which reinforces how important our communication is.

3) It makes celebration a regular activity in our household. Small things or large things, everything in our life deserves to be celebrated. We never forget how lucky we are.

– 5 A.M. Joel

[Extra credit: putting Bone Thugs and Harmony’s “1st of tha Month” on rotation during these meetings ;)]

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Being Selfless w/ Your Food

I heard someone I admire once say “It’s hard not to be selfish,” and I appreciated her honesty because I think that’s true for most of us, certainly for me.

A small, non-money trick I do to combat my natural selfishness is I try to always give the best of the food in our fridge to whomever is around, usually my husband. And I don’t tell him. That’s another trick: do something selfless and keep it to yourself.

– Kathleen

[I tried this the other day!! I really REALLY wanted the last brownie we made in our house, but as soon as I went to grab it (because of course I had to grab it before someone else did!) I remembered this message and stopped myself in my tracks. I actually had to physically remove myself from the house so I wouldn’t continue to be tempted, and I $hit you not – when I came back home that brownie was long gone!! No idea who consumed it, but I know they enjoyed every morsel ;)]

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Using Clothes as a Diversion

I lost my husband a few years ago and I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me. I wanted them to find something else to talk about me apart from my loss, so I bought new stylish clothes.

People would still talk about my loss, but they could not help talking about how good I looked. I had not known until then that I (apparently) had a beautiful structure, and people started looking at me in a different way – not disrespectfully, but appreciating what they saw.

My girlfriends and female colleagues kept on saying how beautifully the bodycon clothes fitted me. I also bought very stylish non-bodycon dresses. At first I was self-conscious, but now I am used to it after five years of both old and new colleagues mentioning the same thing.

Fortunately, I had the disposable income to change my wardrobe and this was really good for my mental health.

-Claire

In re: to our post on when it make sense to spend more on your looks

[And if you’re wondering what the heck a “bodycon” dress is like I was, here’s the answer ;) “A bodycon dress is a tight figure-hugging dress, often made from stretchy material. The name derives from “body confidence”.]

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Secret Love Notes

When I was little, my Mum used to sneak love letters into my lunch box.

It was embarrassing as a kid… I’d pull out my sandwich at school and the wrapper would have a big “I LOVE YOU” written across the top. Sometimes she’d draw love hearts all over my bananas and oranges with a sharpie.

As much as I told Mum to stop doing it, I secretly liked it.

– 5 A.M. Joel

Love reminders I wrote for my wife while making her hard boiled eggs for the week. :)

[My boy Joel again!! I’m telling you, such a nice addition to my mornings seeing his notes come through and giving me a few seconds of contemplation… This note prompted me to write a huge “I 🖤 you” on a flap of a cardboard box I knew my wife would come across later in the day – and it totally made her day. Next up is sneaking into my kids’ lunches and seeing what I can scribble on :)]

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The Back up Store

I’m a practicing minimalist and consider stores a storage place that hold every single item I need (my backup options). I just need to give the store some money when I want to use it.

– Kate

In re: to my post the other day on failing as an adult (and minimalist!)

[Such a great shift in mindset, isn’t it? Let SOMEONE ELSE store all the things you’ll need in the future and don’t even worry about it! What a concept! :)]

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And that’s all for today! Hope you found something good here!

Any other tips/tricks you guys use that you want to pass over?

Went through some of my old blog posts and came across a few other snippets that might spark some ideas as well. From 19 Ways to Be Better Today Than Yesterday:

• Say sorry for something that wasn’t your fault
• Pick up some pieces of trash in your neighborhood
• Ask a colleague if there’s anything you can do to help them out (if you work from home, put up a note on social media like “I’ve got 10 free minutes – anyone need help with anything?”)
• Fold the laundry or do the dishes or cook dinner, or do whatever else your significant other typically does – but *beat them* to it. When they look shocked, just press your fingers to their lips Dumb & Dumber style and whisper, “Shhhhh…”

Doesn’t take much to make someone’s day ;)