As Ismar Schorsch says, "To learn to live with less in this land of milk and honey will demand of all of us, each in his own way, a rapid expansion of our inner resources..."

 

 

 

Melissa is a published author in the Portland Metro area. The Your Money or Your Life program helped Melissa and her husband pay back $56,000 in debt so that they may work collectively on promoting sustainability. They are currently working on the last step of the program; achieving financial independence. They live off the land with their organic garden and orchard in the neighborhood of Milwaukie/Oak Grove and are making plans to remodel their small home to make it more self sustaining; including rainwater collection, solar power and higher energy efficiency modifications.

 

As her husband Kelly works for Sustainable Northwest, Melissa has had the opportunity to work in several different venues with the organization to support SNW's work in helping rural communities and economies become more sustainable. Melissa presents marketing workshops for artists and "Living Simply" classes in community colleges while she works on literary projects--exploring the integration of spirit and sustainability. Visit her website: earthdharma.com

 

 

IDEAS ON FINANCIAL INTEGRITY: I think it is important to define what retirement truly means to me. It does not mean the dream I was given by society as a whole; work until I am 65 and then live off of my nest egg, win the lottery or rise above my competition by cheating, lying and killing myself with too much work...I wanted my life to be more than just working until I can't work anymore at something I made great money at--but hated doing every minute of the day. I didn't want to wait to do the things I want to do now. Life is too short and too unpredictable.

 

I'm not sitting on a pile of gold coins and pirate plunder like Daffy Duck.  I am not a 'wealthy miser'.

 

I am just living simply. I am buying what I really want to buy, that which gives me the most fulfillment for the dollar and the best use of the life energy I gave up to get it. If I have to work for money, (as I do from time to time for financial backing on personal projects I am interested in) I work on the projects that align most with my values. And my values are more about humanity living in harmony with nature, sustainable community and teamwork rather than being the most clever at getting money. I get something back from that kind of work, and when I spend money, I know what I did to be able to buy it.

 

So as you will see by what you read about me in my essay "Writing with an Old Pen", I am retired from just working to spend money, to be a shopping machine, to impress others with what I had to give up just to be able to own something of value. If I want a boat, I will find a way to buy it, but it will not be because I MUST HAVE IT, it will be because it is the very best use of my life energy and my dollar...And it is "enough", which is what Your Money or Your Life is all about. That program saved my life and my spirit.  Could it get any better than that? Isn't that what we are all truly looking for? Whatever is "enough"?

 

 

 

WRITING WITH AN OLD PEN  By Melissa C. Reardon

 

I bought an old pen when I was still working at a “good corporate job”.  I thought it would make myself feel more important because I owned a nice expensive pen. 

My life was an illusion of self importance; the stress of my high paying job made my spirit and body weak with neglect.  My days were full of anger and frustration,

as well as, desperation for a better life than what I had.  But when I pulled out that pen in the middle of a high powered meeting, I felt important and successful.

 

I spent a lot of money without really knowing exactly how much I made, how much I saved (which was very little), how much I owed or how much I spent. 

I just went through my days, making money and spending it, because I thought that was all that mattered.  But as the months went by, one after another,

I began to realize that I did not like the people I worked with. I didn’t like the pressure to be “better” than everyone else and I did not like the feeling that

no matter what, there would never be enough money to make this anger and discomfort go away for good.

 

When I was working at my former job, I needed to “spend money to make money” in order to look successful.  I had to buy expensive suits, pay for

executive lunches and presentations, use a cell phone, drive a huge SUV and have acrylic nails done every two weeks.  Then because I was depressed and

really unhappy with my job environment, I would go on spending sprees and throw down the credit cards at $500 a pop.  So I racked up a lot of debt. I

had accumulated $56,000 of debt in car leases and credit card balances.

 

 

That was a difficult pill to swallow.

 

 

Then my health took a turn for the worse, making me afraid, which also made me think.  What else could I be doing with my life?  Wasn’t there something

more meaningful out there than just selling another piece of office furniture? Where else could I invest my energy?  Is money really the only reason I’m here

on this planet and the only thing that can make me happy?  I began to fight for my life, fight for what was more fulfilling for me.  What I was doing for a living

exploited and polluted not only the environment, but also the people working within it.  I quit my job and started my own business without understanding the

financial situation I was really in. The writing on the wall hit me hard as the tiny savings account I had accumulated ran out.  I was forced to evaluate what my

financial picture was before I ended up taking another job that would make me just as unhappy.  

 

 

That’s when “Your Money or Your Life” came into my world.  It helped me realize that I had to make some changes and that there was life at the end of the tunnel.

As we worked through the first steps of YMOYL, my husband and I began to see the illusion we had been living year after year and the price we had paid to believe that illusion. 

We thought  we were successful.  It was difficult to see just how much we had bought into the “financial advice” we had been given by TV and advertising.

We weren’t managing our money at all.  But we had hope thanks to YMOYL.

 

We started at the beginning, taking the bills at the top of the debt pile and slowly paying them off.  We tracked our income, our expenses, our outgoing life energy

and the slowly decreasing debt balances with fervor.  We decided what purchases were ones that were fulfilling to us and got rid of the ones that did not fit our life mission. 

I let my natural nails grow back, drove the leased SUV back to Seattle to the bank and started over.  It was a painful but freeing process. We wanted to be free of

what we felt was “indentured servitude” to the credit card companies and banks.  We wanted to be free to do non-profit work and creative work, the kind of work

that doesn’t pay like the jobs we’d been doing in the past.  I ran my business according to the principles of the program, allowing the business to have a better

credit rating than I did for quite a few years. Thanks to this, the business helped pay off a significant portion of our debt within six years.

 

After working the steps in this program, we are getting closer and closer to financial independence.  The purchases we make are on a cash only basis except for our mortgage. 

We do not have any credit cards, which works just fine for us.  We purchased a house with a conscious decision to make that investment.  Our purchases are fulfilling to us,

which in turn, motivates us to continue the meaningful work we do now. I am an author, musician and artisan.  I teach, coach and provide editing services to creative people. 

My husband works for an organization that promotes sustainability in urban and rural communities.  Our savings plan is on track for achieving financial independence

within the next few years.

 

As I write my short stories and journal with this old pen, I remember how it used to be.  It is amazing how happy life is now, thanks to the work we did together and with the support of  “Your Money or Your Life”.  We could not have done this without the help of this program, and are thankful to the authors for giving us such useful and gracious knowledge that helped us create a fulfilling life together.

Copyright 2007 Melissa C. Reardon