Money date No. 22: The world is overwhelming and I feel fine
(Sorry, not “fine,” I meant “exhausted.” But good things are still happening.)
Hi! I’m here today with an out-of-schedule money date, because next week I’m running a crossover podcast episode with my friend Cristy de la Cruz of Somatic Wisdom. And I’m feeling this extra hard today: In the midst of everything, it’s such a joy to sit down each week to write to you.
Since this is sort of a “bonus” money date, I’m removing the paywall so everyone can follow along. If you’re not already a paid subscriber, this is what you’re missing! Upgrade your subscription to get access to money dates as they come out every other week (and the full archive).
Last week was… so much. My god. I was traveling for five days, which is already enough to process. Plus there was the election on Tuesday, where Wisconsin gave Donald Trump and Elon Musk a long-overdue middle finger in our vital state supreme court race. And the stock market tanked like six times after Trump did what business owners somehow believed he wouldn’t do: passed the tariffs he’d touted constantly during the campaign.1 And then hundreds of thousands of people showed up to protest on Saturday in 1,400 cities around the world (thank you!).
My personal finances might be the furthest thing from my mind after all of this. It’s tough to juggle a life in general, but juggling everything this regime is throwing at us on top of living a life in this society is nearly impossible. It’s probably time to re-disconnect from the onslaught of headlines and get back to the basics of my family, my home, tending my community.
💡 Inspired by a Healthy Rich contributor, a money date is an exercise I crafted for You Don’t Need a Budget. I encourage you to steal my questions to guide your own reflections!
This is where free subscribers would normally see a paywall — enjoy your free money date this week, and upgrade to paid if you want to read them all!
What’s the most joyful thing you did with money this week?
I took myself to Salt Lake City for the ACES conference! This is joyful because I get to surround myself with editing nerds (which I’ve already gushed about), but also because it’s a feat to foot that bill myself.
The right conference is an incredible opportunity for learning, networking, self-promotion, making friends and being among people who share your passions. But they’re expensive — registration fees, flights, hotels, days of eating out, plus the temptation to buy books and products from vendors. They’re not really designed with freelancers in mind; these events are built to come out of a corporate “professional development” budget.
But I committed some of my business funds to these pricy trips this year as part of book promotion. And ACES has my heart. I’m really proud to be able to treat myself to these experiences while working for myself.
Is there anything you did with money this week that you’d like to change or avoid in the future? Why?
I accepted an assignment from a new client for April, even though I told myself I wasn’t going to take on new work this month. I earned enough in March to buy room to slow down, I’ve been barreling toward burnout since Christmas and I need the rest. I took this assignment because it was easy to justify — but it doesn’t set a good tone for the month! Will I have the fortitude to say no to the next assignment offered? Or will I continue to be driven by the scarcity mindset of freelancing and take everything I can?
What did you do (financially or otherwise) to support your goals this week?
I sold out of copies of You Don’t Need a Budget at the conference! I was nervous about my presentation and even more nervous about bringing books to sell — because people are there for words, not money talk, right? And after a decade and a half of starting and abandoning creative projects that never had any legs, I’ve trained myself to expect failure. But YDNAB is speaking to people in a way my previous work didn’t, and I continue to be surprised and delighted by the response.
So, selling books was a great contributor to my goal of selling books — but a much greater contributor to my overall goals was learning that it’s time to have some confidence in my ability to succeed.
Based on your experience this week, are there any changes you want to make to your commitments or goals?
One lovely thing about being on vacation (even a working vacation!) is not looking at my money map :) Real life pauses for a few days, and bills and debts can wait until I’m home. So, no changes to my money map this week, because I’ve enjoyed a few days of not thinking about it. I’ll tally up my travel costs and settle back into the day to day, and maybe I’ll have clearer plans by my next money date!
Your turn!
How was your week in money? Share your reflections in the comments. These comments remain a private, subscriber-only space — please be kind about other people’s relationships with money, so we can continue to encourage and get comfortable with talking about money.
Yesterday, Trump backed off the extreme tariffs for most countries, limiting the trade war to China. I’m glad for anyone who was worried about their retirement account, but irritated that this capitulation to capitalists is probably enough to keep Republicans from abandoning the clown at the head of their party.
I made a huge purchase I’ve wanted to make most of my life — a grain mill. I had been shopping for a used one for a couple of years. Last week I decided I should do it before the tariffs kicked in. I already bake our bread. Now searching for a local farmer who will sell me some wheat right off the farm.
It wasn't a huge purchase, but one that will help my daughter on her education journey. She's decided to get her degree in journalism (and boy do we need journalism with integrity now) so I bought her a comprehensive journalism guide from Writer's Digest. A resource to get her started until school begins.