Money, money, money...must be funny...

Every 2 years or so, I start a new blog. There is a lot of enthusiasm at the beginning. Slowly, life catches up and my posts begin to dwindle and eventually die. Much like my gym aspirations. This one is my 2018 attempt. Lets see where this goes :)

Given that the pounds didn't get cut off my waist, I thought of cutting  some off my wallet. Yes, my goal for 2018 is to save more money. The prospects of making more dough is kinda bleak at this point - Dont plan to change jobs, marry(prefix a 're') a rich man or win a lottery. All I can potentially do  is to delete the Fashion apps on my phone, attend fewer of my son's friends' birthday parties or steal my husband's credit card with the CVV number. I dont stand a chance to become a millionaire in this birth, but as I was thinking through this, I wanted to share what I want to call 'My 11 money commandments'.

1. Everyone has issues with money. The poor have less of it, the rich want more of it, and even the saints want to renounce it.
2. As you start making more money, you realize you want to make even more. Than before.
3. Some people are just destined to be spenders. Even if they decide to save, the world conspires hugely and ensures they return to their old (err, current) habits. Likewise, the savers are just destined to be savers. It was hard coded in their genes.
4. Even spending money requires practice. It does not and will not come naturally, unless someone makes a serious effort. Ask a miser.
5. The most crazy discussions at the end of any event is the worth of the gifts that came without price tags. Of course, it is fashion now to give gifts with the tags (chop off the discount tags alone, I say) - you might as well know your worth. Better still, state your budget to the receiver and ask them to pick their gift within that.
6. Speaking of gifts, most often, the rationale that one uses to give gifts is - Give equivalent to what you got. It's not what you can afford that matters. What matters is whether you break even with the person from whom you received a gift.
7. The richest are usually the thriftiest, the stingiest and the most calculative. Corollary : The poorest are usually the most indulgent and the most generous.
8. Generally forgiving people can let go of many things you said or did, but if you had a nasty word or deed related to money, it's a broken glass. 
9. In a smart woman's world, borrowing money from another girl friend is the hardest thing ever. She can share her deepest, darkest, wildest things with her best friend, but asking the same friend for money is something that would make her squirm. 
10. In today's world, the clothes a person wears, the car a person drives or the phone a person carries are no indication of the money they actually have.
11. And the last one, the best lessons you can teach your child is to help him appreciate what money can do. And certainly teach him to appreciate what it cannot do.

Thats all for today's gyan. Let me go back to my happy place in Amazon :)