If you ever wanted to talk about toilets on this blog, today’s your day!
Got this text from my Auntie who asked if I’d ever shared something like this on the site before, of which I could confidently tell her no – I had not, lol…
But that changes today ;)
Here’s her text that opened up my eyes in more ways than one:
She then sent me an article to prove that she’s not crazy:
6 Feng Shui Tips For Healthy Financial Flow
But of course, I had to research this for myself, and before I knew it I was flushed even deeper into the dark secrets of financial feng shui’ness!
Places like Forbes, HGTV, and dozens of others were encouraging this “financial flow” of money, and even going as far to say it’s why we call it “curren(t)cy!” (nyuck nyuck nyuck)
Why the toilet bowl fascination?
“The toilet holds a downward spiraling energy. When you close the lid, you are protecting chi (energy) from going down and away from you…
Listen to the language of our world and don’t “flush away” your finances. It’s also a good idea to tie red ribbons on the pipes behind the toilet, with the intention of protecting your finances once and for all.” – MindBodyGreen.com
Who knew! But there’s a lot more to this stuff than just potties…
Here’s a list of a half dozen other tips I found while poking around this morning… A great way to expand your mind, if nothing else ;) (And honestly, whether you believe in this stuff or not, if it gets you to manage your own money better then so be it! Just be prepared for what happens when the lids get stuck! Haha…)
Money Flowing Feng Shui Tips:
#1. Clean your stove — The stove represents “abundance,” so it’s good to always keep it clean and rotate the burners so you “open up more channels of opportunity.”
#2. Fix leaks in your house — “Water in feng shui represents two things: (1) money and (2) your emotions… When you fix something in your home, you are fixing it in your life. You don’t want your money leaking out, do you?” – MindBodyGreen.com (Coincidentally, the more leaks you have, the more money you’re also spending on water bills ;) So it really is smart!)
#3. Create a strong front door! — “Creating a strong front door is important, because your house needs it in order to be able to attract Wealth Chi. The front door is called the Mouth of Chi in feng shui, and its strength and auspicious energy are important to a good feng shui house.” – TheSpruce.com (Also recommended: not keeping trash or recycle bins around the front door, getting rid of empty pots (or filling them with plants!), and then keeping the hinges squeak-free for “better balance and harmony”…)
#4. Keep your house decluttered — So you can attract, and *keep*, the energy of wealth! Not to mention better piece of mind, ease on finding stuff faster, less money out the window on more “stuff,” and thousands of other non-feng shui-related benefits ;) The power of minimalism, baby!
#5. Remove dead flowers and branches from your house — “Dead or dried flowers or branches represent dead chi – they are the worst thing to have in your home.” – LearnVest.com)
#6. Decorate your house with symbols of wealth — Like bamboo, fountains, fish symbols, “wealth crystals”, and then a number of colors that signify money as well like gold and purple.
#7. And then lastly, make sure your “money area” is prepared! — “Typically, this is your home office where you manage finances and other work. You will want to include elements like wood, which represent money and wealth. The color blue and pictures of rivers, lakes, and oceans represent water, which nourishes the wood. You can also use mirrors, plants, and small icons that symbolize prosperity.” – TheSpruce.com
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And that’s just the tip of the feng shui iceberg… If I had another 1,300 hours I’d list out all the other tips you could dig up, but for now you’ll just have to be good with front doors and toilet bowls :)
And turns out I actually lied up there to y’all! We HAVE talked about feng shui and finances before on this site! 10 years ago! –> “Is Your Home “Making” You Spend Money?” I guess I had blocked it out after all these years due to the colorful commentary, haha…
Here was my favorite from Bridget:
“Seriously? You always have such great posts, what’s with the voodoo garbage you’re hocking today? Maybe after we all feng shui our homes, we can pray to Jesus for money. If he’s broke this month we’ll ask Buddha.”
(Much funnier to read now than back then ;))
But she has somewhat of a point.
You can feng shui your house all you want, but without the most important ingredient, ain’t nothing going to save your finances no matter how you re-arrange your place. And I think you know what that is:
TAKING ACTION
Using feng shui to get your mind and energy flowing right is great, but just make sure you’re tacking on some good ol’ fashion budgeting and investing along with it. Unfortunately there really isn’t any substitution for it, as much as we wish otherwise!!
So big thanks for the fun digression today, Auntie, but I’ll be sticking to my trusty FIRE path as it’s continued to flow just fine for me over the years ;) You can bet that I’ll now think of you every time I go to use the bathroom though! Haha…
Happy flowing!
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This post was originally shared in 2018, but had to bring it back in case anyone’s looking for something to do while stuck at home ;) A cleaner place = a cleaner mind at the very least, so you really can’t go wrong either way! See how many of those items you can check off and let us know what happens!
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#5. Remove dead flowers and branches from your house
We have a dog who tries to bring in an outside stick any time she finds one and wants to keep it (it’s really cute!) We tell her to drop it at the door but she sometimes brings it in before we notice and hides it. Can I be excused from #5’s bad chi?
Haha… As long as you spend 5 mins a day looking for the dead sticks you get a pass – whether you find them or not :)
I have quite a few leaks in my house, including two leaky faucets and drafty doors. Clearly I have a lot of work to do on the feng- shui front….
You went way down the hole this time J!
Keeping my home decluttered is a constant challenge. Keeping myself mostly minimalist is not hard. Doing the same for my kids toys is a huge one. As much as I’d love to start throwing away toys, I’ll never allow myself to do it.
SAME HERE. And every passing year they keep piling and piling up! Though my wife and I will go through them and sneak out the old ones every few months without telling a soul.. we used to feel bad about it, but considering they’ve never once missed any of them I’m thinking we need to put it in overdrive ;)
I’m going to put a plug in here for re-thinking the whole toy thing. I’m 43, I just moved, and I have been unpacking a boatload of my own toys, my mother’s toys, and her parents’ toys because MY MOTHER CAN’T THROW ANYTHING AWAY. I have currently sitting around:
-a gallon-sized bag full of Fisher Price Little People.
-half a dozen action figures to include Bobba Fett, the Dukes of Hazard, and Klinger from MASH. (I absolutely LOVE that I had a Klinger action figure as a child!)
-a HUGE box of Barbies and paraphernalia.
-another few boxes of dolls: Strawberry Shortcake, Sea Wees, My Little Pony.
-a big stack of old Archie comics.
-a variety of old toys and stuffed animals from the 40s and beyond.
-an assortment of matchbox cars and smaller Transformers.
That’s what I’ve come across SO FAR. I offloaded my stuffed animals, the rest of the matchbox cars, and a slew of other things over the years already. And let’s not even talk about board games!
On one hand, they bring back some nice childhood memories, and yes I am planning on selling most of it (have you seen what Sea Wees are going for on Ebay??). I’m going to keep track of what I sell and what it goes for, it should be an interesting study once I’m done. It’s a questionable investment, though. My parents didn’t know when I was 5 what things might be worth now; was it really worth it to store it in boxes for 35 or so years? Keep moving it around? Is it going to be worth the work to get it cleaned up, photograph it, and sell it? Dunno.
On the other hand, OMG, why mom why?? What I have to deal with is the tip of the iceberg when compared to what she’s kept at their house….
I’ve actually started listing my Unpacking Find of the Day on FB because some of the stuff that I have kept/my parents have offloaded on me is just fascinating. My great grandmother’s copper coffee ewer. My first camera (Kodak Instamatic!). My grandmother’s beaded purses from the 20s (in fantastic shape). Three Nazi medals from 1939 a cousin brought back as “liberated” souvenirs. I have no idea why I have a black and white slide of Toni Morrison, but I’m guessing I picked it up while doing work/study in the PR department of my university??
FASCINATING!!!
This is the stuff juicy blogs are made of, haha… You totally need to document it all, or at least write up a summary report with fun stats and #’s that we can share here :) I bet you make a ton of $$$ off all that!
Started the blog a week or so ago but it’s not up and running yet…. :D
I also found a coffee can of old coins my dad collected while in the Navy and immediately thought of you. Mostly interntional stuff, but not all. Haven’t had a chance to paw through it yet.
!!!!!!
SO COOL!!!
Look for the coins pre 1960s as a lot of them were made of silver and worth some decent money – even international ones.
Of course, financial feng shui can work. Why? Because every time you close a toilet lid, fix a leak, or remove an empty pot from the front door, you think about your finances, and oops, you remember that you have not paid the water bill (which is pretty high because of that leak), funded your IRA, or set up a budget. Hey, whatever works . . .
Hey – that works for me! I don’t care what it takes to get people to think about $$$ more – bring it on! :)
I love this post J Money!
Mindful Money just like people practice Mindful Eating.
You know it :)
My family is obsessed with feng shui. When we bought our first home, my dad asked me of I checked the feng shui. I just said the house was in our price range and met our needs, and that’s why we bought it.
I think there is a lot of wisdom in the feng shui concept, but the housing market is sometimes too sensitive for us to care about it.
That’s great, haha… Is your dad’s house all feng shui’d out? (and is his wealth multiplying?)
My house is situated at a T intersection and it’s facing the street directly. People say that houses in this setting is having money flowing out to the street. My argument is that money is actually flowing in. Direction of flow can change and I believe that I am changing the flow because talk is cheap. Action speaks louder than words and I took actions to make the money flow in.
Heyo!!
#4. Keep your house decluttered Yes! Less to clean, fix, find, store, etc. We are hosting an upcoming yard sale to help declutter our house and make a little extra cash too!
Those feng shui tips are good ideas in general. I think it’s like keeping a clean desk. It helps to get you in the right mental state. It’s priming your mind to think about money more.
I used to think of feng shui as phoney baloney but their interior design tips ring true even if you don’t know quite why they make sense. It IS weird to enter a house and face a mirror. It IS unsettling to work with your back to a door. In terms of finances, it bothered me to have a savings account labeled “The Future” with $0 in it. (I have savings, just not in that account). So I closed it. And obviously that doesn’t change anything in terms of my finances, but money is about emotion more than it is about math. Next, I have to remove all the negative symbolism in my apartment- which basically means all the Redskins paraphernalia …
NOOOOO!!!!!
REDSKINS FOR LIFE!!!! ;)
I love it! Anything we can do to put positive energy on our finances is worth sharing! :)
Thanks! Love the variety of posts you share :0)
We do try to spice it up around here, haha…
Imagine spending more money trying to feng shui your house as opposed to paying off debt or saving or investing that money.
I do like visual reminders and money does flow. And remember what your mind believes it will conceive so whatever gets someone to do more of what’s financially good for them is “fo sho” a good thing (for sure ).
Haha yup… Whatever it takes sometimes :) And most feng shui stuff doesn’t really cost money, does it? Putting things in certain order and keeping areas free of messes/stuff? in fact, probably saves you more over time!
As a chemical engineer I didn’t understand a single sentence in this post, in fact it all made my head hurt. I close the lid on the toilet because I’m afraid of my wife, period. Yesterday I noticed that my wife had hung up some pictures of places in the world we have vacationed on the wall right beside the recliner I often read in, they’ve been there about a year, I had never noticed them. I’m going to go look for a post with spreadsheets in it now.
Stop, haha…
Haha!!! This is probably my husband’s #1 motivation for continuing to close the toilet lid, too. His mother never let her sons leave the seat up due to the potential for the next person to fall in. But toilets can also spray urine and fecal matter up to 20ft away, so I can’t even stand the lid up! The few times in our 20yrs together that I have caught the toilet lid open he has legit watched me rip the towels off the rack and go on about how gross that is and that I’m not wiping my face or hands on feces covered towels. It’s one of my biggest pet peeves, and fortunately he is really good about the lid. I try to return the favor when he has a pet peeve.
You guys would die in my household full of boys :)
(and apparently dog too – who I caught slurping out of the toilet last night at 3 am!!!)
Love it.
I feel like these lessons are really practical. When my house is a mess I am not nearly as creative or productive.
When my house is put together I feel mentally much better.
Looks like you have a good goal to work on this week :)
I think my one is eating my meals and not leaving even one rice grain or eating chicken so that there is no meat left only the bone. The idea being that we should not waste abdundance given to us. It makes me think twice when I buy stuff will I actually use it or will it end up as something lying around the house. It has made me become a person who hates any type of wastage e.g. like squeeze the last bit of toothpaste or not letting the water run while brushing your teeth.
Great thing to be cognisant of for sure :) Helps extend that $$$ too!