This past weekend, my wife and I took advantage of the holiday to go out to a friend’s cabin in West Tennessee.
We swapped out our usual airport routine and instagramable adventure for a grounded cheap trip.
Our total cost for the weekend was somewhere around $200, including groceries and gas.
We got to connect on a deep level, with limited distractions. While not cut off from the world, the simple act of not being at home already removed any sense of need to be productive. And at the same time, the lack of options for activities, meant we zero’ed in on slowing down.
We played Catan. She read The Thursday Murder Club and I read Damn Rome. We ventured into very wet, slippery and fragrant woods. And we prepared some perfectly seared smashburgers together. That was all we did in 48 hours. There was nothing to show-off on social media. By most external accounts this was a “boring” weekend.
$200. 48 hours. Nothing to post.
And one of the best weekends I can remember.
Money is just stored time. The same $200 would not cover the Prada wallet I bought when I let social pressure define what I valued. The money is not what made the weekend. The decision to spend the two days like that is.
Most of us never think about what money truly is. We equate money with value.
But for me, money buys time which is what I ultimately value. How I use my money shows what I value.
The pull
If that principle were easy to follow, this would be a much shorter newsletter.
I’m not immune. Of course, I look longingly at the first class seats as I walk through the cabin to the back of the plane. When I drive by the updated version of my 2018 car, I get annoyed by my tiny screen. The pull is constant and it’s not accidental - it was engineered. After World War II, America made it a social sport to acquire more and better. “Keeping up with the Joneses” became a way of life.
Resist the pull to undervalue the $200 weekend and splurge on a $4000 luxury escape.
The work is to turn your hard earned wages into freedom of time. It is building a system that spends it in alignment with your values. Make the decision before it reaches your pleasure centers in your brain.
The system I've ended up with looks less like a budget and more like a river.