The net worth is struggling to maintain itself these days, and to be honest, I’m not thinking about money to the point of obsession like I used to. Instead, I’m experiencing the things that I haven’t been able to do since college:

learning how to cook
writing a book

My husband is doing something he’s always wanted to do:

earning a master’s degree

While my co-personal finance bloggers experience rapid growth this year, we’re setting different goals for ourselves that involve personal development and enrichment. I work part time until May, which is the coolest feeling I have ever experiencing about work. Working 9 to 5+++ was the most miserable experience I have ever had.

Now I don’t have to worry about what the boss thinks or if I’ll lose my job or how to spend my messily vacation days. I have total freedom for myself, which no one else in my office experiences. Sure I get paid less. But at some point, we have to ask ourselves what matters most: lots of money or lots of freedom.

I read a fantastic book that illustrated the way I was feeling:
The Anti 9-to-5 : Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube

I suggest that anyone feeling frustrated with work take a glance. It has some fantastic strategies for reflecting on what makes you happiest and determining how to obtain the best situation for your working self. The fact that it’s targeted to women is something pretty much only relevant in the title. The rest is easily male or female.

It turns out your people-pleasing work ethic may not get you ahead. You’re not taking any risks to make the company—and you—any better. Kate White, author of Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do is already teaching me a few useful strategies… and I just started the book.

This subsection really stood out in my mind:

Never Appear at the Mercy of Your Time

Because it’s important to a good girl to be perceived as a hard worker, she never minds (in fact she likes it) if someone catches her looking a little frantic: riffling through papers, dashing down the hall with her hair flying, lugging home a huge pile of work on Friday afternoon. Begin in overdrive, she believes, shows everyone that she not only has lots to do but is getting it done.

Though it’s import to be perceived as energetic, acting frazzled or short on time actually creates the impression that you aren’t under control, and that calamity is waiting just around the corner to ambush you. It makes bosses reluctant to turn more responsibility over to you and it makes co-workers and subordinates as anxious as passengers on a bumpy 747.

Anyone else seen him/herself doing this same thing in the past?

When I quit my job last month, I felt pretty uncertain of where life would go, especially because my husband quit his job the month before. I never expected to find such satisfaction in setting and accomplishing my goals instead of my employer’s.

Living without a constant paycheck is tough. When working for someone else, you start to depend on this little burst of wealth every two weeks when a boss gives you a check. When you don’t get that check, I think that you fight a little harder. You don’t clean your house as much, but you keep working when you get home after a long day.

My husband and I can only keep up this schedule until December when he starts graduate school, so I’m trying to make the most of each day. Freedom spoils you, though. I feel like I’ll be like the new college graduates with skewed perceptions of how work and life should be.

But then again, I think college grads believe in something that we long ago forgot:

1. Work and pleasure can be the same thing.
I don’t mean that you have to love every moment of everything that you’re doing—that’s impossible. But shouldn’t you be just as eager to start your work day as you are to finish?

2. Little favors can lead to big favors. Sometimes you can accomplish a lot more when you team up with others who have different skills and ideas. We’ve really tried to build good connections. While we were in Germany recently, our real estate projects kept developing. Our real estate agent was willing to serve as our emergency contact. My sister was depositing monies at the bank. And several great contractors and handymen tackled a few of our dreaded projects while my dad stopped in during his lunch breaks to follow up. With the exception of family, everyone else helped us along because we’ve helped them in the past, and they know we’ll have work for them in the future, too. Bosses can’t be feared, and as a boss, you can’t always appear so fearful.

3. Life is about living.
My last boss was a workaholic, and it made him furious that I wanted to leave at the end of the day. My memories of college often involved doing the least amount necessary to generate the most pleasing results. You figured out exactly what score you had to get on final exams to maintain your grade. And how many people actually read every text that they were supposed to? School was about more than what you learned in class. Work shouldn’t consume you when life holds far more.

4. Money isn’t everything.
I’m not thinking of reverting back to Ramen Noodles. But whatever happened to the thrill of a free meal or cheap living? How about riding that bicycle even when you can afford the gas now? We work to make money, and suddenly we don’t know what to do without the huge sums of money. You become entrenched by growing “necessities”.

5. You don’t have to be an expert to give it a shot.
In the workplace, it’s easy to see the people that are better than you and become passive. Sometimes it’s even easier for the boss to literally remind you of how unknowing you are because you lack the experience, the knowledge he has, or just plain common sense (HIS point-of-view). In college, we were fearless—what’s the worse that could happen? The sense of adventure vanishes at work, I’ve noticed. Don’t just stick with what you’re good at. Take a leap at the things you’ve never tried or don’t do as well.

NPR is doing a nationwide project called StoryCorps where people are invited to share their lives. For forty minutes, a person can interview a relative or friend, have the information stored in the National Archives, and most importantly, walk home with a personal copy of the recording.

Ever since my dad and I decided that I would interview my grandma the day after her 90th birthday celebration, my dad has been urging me to record my memories before they become as fuzzy as memories are to my grandma.

Share your lessons on money

My grandma didn’t know much about her own money; my grandfather cared for the books. He died years ago, and I can no longer ask him about his experiences and lessons. Today, such disparities are few. You know about your money, and you know the strengths that are bringing you more money. Start keeping a record of your lessons.

The sad truth is that most of us don’t have living grandparents or family members experienced with wealth over time that we can talk to. It’s pretty hard for them to look back even if we have such people around.

You don’t have to have wealth now to record your experiences. In fact, that’s not the perspective future generations can truly learn from. The mission at Aridni is to walk our readers through our lessons. Have you ever seen a book or self-help program that truly starts at the beginning? Seems like they’re always skipping a step—like you already have the million dollar idea or something! These books sell a philosophy; they don’t offer frankness during each step of wealth building. A personal connection who wants YOU to succeed (not another book sold) offers far more useful nuggets.

I learned a lot from my grandma and family traditions that day. I only wonder how much more I could have learned if she’d written them down when she was younger.

How to write your financial journal

1. Address the journal entry to someone close to you so that you’re more likely to write personal thoughts. I start with: dear friend.
2. Talk about where you stand with your finances today
3. How did you get where you are today?
4. Where do you hope to financially stand in the future? Why?
5. What are some ideas and plans you have for obtaining that goal?
6. What are some smart decisions that you have made?
7. Any mistakes?

Have you ever noticed how many little things never get done because you’re so busy focusing on important things and urgent things? Look around your environment, and you’ll probably find over fifty of these things - e-mail accounts that need cleaned out, pictures that need framed or hung, products that need to be returned, faucets that need repaired… Trying to conquer all of these little chores would be impossible.

Yet finishing a few small tasks might actually boost your attitude.

Every time I see the charm that needs a chain, I get horribly depressed for a moment. I only see the unfinished necklace once a week or so, yet every time, it lowers my mood. There’s one thing I’m not getting taken care of. Why not take fifteen minutes to get a chain and be done with it? Why don’t you take care of your little things. We all know why we don’t. We have a million reasons and a million other things that are more important.

For the next week, I challenge you to start tackling some of these nagging areas that you neglect. Every time you take care of another box of clutter or flush out unused bookmarks on your computer, you’ll get a small boost. It’s a jolt without the caffine. You’ll feel better about yourself and your day. More positive energy feels great. Your mind will feel refreshed and ready to tackle other things… like that net worth.

Can you measure your life beyond your net worth? I’ll be the first to admit that a lot of my transactions revolve around a mental note of how much wealth I want. But what’s the point of more money in your life?

I spent the last week in a hospice in Germany where my husband’s grandmother taught me some great life lessons in her final moments.

1. What’s the point of money if it doesn’t grant you more opportunity and experiences?
My husband’s grandma grew up in Czechoslovakia under communism, which you probably know was a world of black market survival. People who had things to offer like food and medical care were in high demand. You could skip a few bread lines and police punishments if you had something to bribe with. In communism, money meant higher survival. It also meant a chance to escape to the west. Use the resources you are given to create a better life for yourself and others. Don’t steal from the poor; enrich lives.

2. Don’t work for money; let it work for you. Have a reason for wanting money besides just wanting money. After establishing themselves in the west, my husband’s grandparents started with nothing and worked hard to establish a good life. Use money to spoil your guests with the best ice cream, get a good education, own a computer capable of meeting your needs, and travel the world… and not just in five-start, English-speaking countries, for goodness sake!

3. Don’t let anyone else tell you what to do with your money.
Have you ever noticed how many “friends” people who win the lottery have all of a sudden? Everyone has an idea of where your money should go. Some people have your best interest in mind. Most people, of course, have themselves in mind. If you’re working hard with integrity, you have the right to spend your money as you see fit. You have to be smart about your spending and investing, of course. Yet something tells me that if you have worked your way to wealth, you’re going to be smart. Nonetheless…

4. Treat yourself when you’ve earned it, and save and save when you haven’t.
At first, you might think of Dairy Queen treats and French fries. Don’t forget the computers, cell phones, cars, and other fancy upgrades that you “need” and “want”. The media floods us with expectations. How many advertisements tell you that you deserve their product? They don’t even know you! They can’t say what you deserve and what you don’t. Resist the easy ability to dive into debt. It’s hard; you’ve got to try, though. Make smart choices. Live a good life.

How does the idea of having more money than you need make you feel? Take out a pen and paper and write this down:

I want to be wealthy so that I can ______________________.

To reach my goal, I am willing to sacrifice the following: _____________________.

My husband and I often discuss these two questions to better understand our mission and keep ourselves in check:
We want to be wealthy so that we can—point blank—enrich our lives and give back to the community. We believe that each person has a responsibility to give back to society. My husband wants to make a positive contribution to alternative energy, more intelligent use of resources like wind, and ideas like the electric car. In other words, he wants to work against the major oil companies and car manufacturers… which obviously translates into low-paying work. At the same time, he wants to support our family, we both want to get more education, and we want to travel (he’s from Germany. What could we do to even afford live there a few years?). I think of all of the volunteer activities I’d like to do, all of the really cool but no money jobs I’d like to try, probono work I want to offer, and how much time I want to devote to my future family the way my mom dedicated herself to me.

Can a person hold wealth and still hold integrity? Your thoughts establish the role of money in your life. I only hope that through Aridni, we can help readers establish a positive, ethical means to their ultimate dream.

For question two, my husband and I figure we are risking only two things with our investment strategies: security and time.

If we—or you—feel fearful, uncertainty is going to take control. If you feel good about yourself and the efforts you are making, your positive ideas can cultivate more change and more satisfaction. I hope that Aridni generates more people like my husband who want to find a way to dedicate themselves to change our country desperately needs. With fuel prices alone, I’m sure you can agree. All I know is that I had more cheaters in my college business ethics 400-level class than any other class. How can we live that way?

Pull out your piece of (recycled?) paper one more time and answer the following:
Do you make/want to make money by creating for other people or by competing and cheating other people?

Do you devote yourself to the highest good, not just for yourself, but for as many people as you can touch?

Would you get satisfaction signing up for multiple rewards cards from companies who don’t catch your trickery because it means more money for you?

Do your methods of making money imply selfishness and greed in the eyes of others?

Does every dollar that you make equal a dollar that another person loses?

And finally, years from now, if you were to teach a thousand people how to become wealthy the way you did, would you have done these people and society a disservice?

In your quest for wealth, remember to give. Exhaust yourself in personal sacrifice.

In 1920, an American woman was considered ambitious if she cast her vote on Election Day. Now women’s voices can go beyond the polls to actually having a say about who gets on the ballot in the first place. That’s because of women’s increased entrepreneurial success in the private sector which contributes the majority of funds for political campaigns.

According to Millionaire Women, Inc., “women are starting new businesses at twice the rate of men“! (7). Furthermore, “the number of women who are now building businesses has increased two-and-a-half times faster than all U.S. businesses, and female investors are the newest market for brockerage firms to pursue” (8). Now, more than ever, successful women are able to make sizeable campaign contributions to candidates who speak to women’s issues instead of hoping their husbands will support the interests that matter to them.

How can you join this growing crowd of female entrepreneurs? Millionaire Women says that information and inspiration are the two prerequisities to realizing wealth (6). In interviews with female Presidents and CEOs, including Hewlett-Packard Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina and Avon Chairman and CEO Andrea Jung (8), Millionaire Women discovered that there are three secrets to success.

The first secret is: (Continue reading this article…)

I’ve found something great—really great. Without diving into the health reasons or humanitarian reasons, lets only look at our grocery bills. I feel like an infomercial, yet this discovery is great on the wallet.

Cut back on the meat.

Meat is often the most expensive item we incorporate into our meals… nearly every one of our meals, too. Imagine if you could eliminate that expensive chunk of your grocery bill. I’m not saying cut off all meat consumption; cut back.

Eating meatless meals doesn’t mean salad every night. Todd gags at the thought of tofu, but no one said that eating meatless meals meant eating things you don’t like. Handfuls of recipes exist in the cookbooks sitting on your shelf and computer.

My proof:
Before we were married, my husband spent $300 on food every month for himself. Now that we’re married and cutting the majority of meat from our diet, we’re spending less than $300. On top of that, we’re able to afford more organic and unprocessed foods.

Plus, we’re left with fewer dishes coated in grease. Martha Stewart, THAT is a good thing.