Free The Simple Dollar by Trent Hamm Page A

something local, ask for it. If you feel a rapport starting, suggest doing something together, perhaps sharing a meal with all of your neighbors.
Take the passions you identified in Chapter 2 , “ What’s Missing ,” and locate communities centered around them, both online and offline. Use Google as a starting point and seek out places where people congregate in relation to your interests. If you have friends that share passions with you, ask them about communities.
Dip a toe into each of these communities. Listen to what’s being said. Offer up information and resources you have to help. Keep in mind the nature of social intelligence as you get involved. You’ll find that some communities “click” for you and others do not—that’s normal.
Get involved in communities that “click” with you. Give heavily of yourself at first by putting in effort to add to the value of the community. Contribute ideas and materials to the group and see what others do with it. As you grow, don’t be afraid to ask for help from these communities—if you’re a giving member, you’ll be amazed to find how much help is out there.
Use communities to help each other. The real value comes when you see opportunities for one community to benefit another community and you can make that connection. Let’s say you’re passionate about woodworking and you’re involved in a woodworking community. One of your coworkers asks for a recommendation of a local woodworker. By combining your foothold in both communities, you increase the value of each one—and increase your own value in each community.

Chapter 7. Minding the Gap
    I recall the rush of excitement as I held my first real-world paycheck in my hand. After taxes and savings, it amounted to $1,300 and a whirlwind of products and possibilities paraded through my mind—a new television for the living room, a small “celebration” spree at the bookstore, and picking up a couple DVDs I’d been eyeing. I needed a new hard drive for my computer, and it’d be awesome to take Sarah out for a great dinner. Oh sure, I had some bills to pay, but once those were out of the way, it was time to have some fun. I knew there was something else I should be doing with that money. Our wedding and honeymoon were less than a year away, and there was a nebulous dream about owning a house of our own. But that was tomorrow. Time to play today.

    July 2002

    It would be easy for me to look back and say I regret the hundreds of thousands of dollars that I blew through during the third decade of my life.
     
    I don’t, though, at least not in a general sense. My memories of those years are filled with a lot of peak experiences that I wouldn’t trade away at any price.

    What I do regret is how much I
wasted
on the ordinary experiences and things that didn’t really add much at all to my life. I bought so many things without thinking about them at all along the way. I threw down $20 bills over and over again on quick experiences that, in the end, didn’t really add a thing to my life. It was mindless, thoughtless spending—the type of things that brings a really quick rush when you do them, but fills you with regret later when you realize your wallet is empty.

    I don’t begrudge a dime that I spent on the great things. I begrudge the money I wasted on the lesser things.

     
Spending Less Than You Earn
    When your paycheck comes in, you have to spend a certain portion of it on your required bills—energy, communications, housing, basic food, transportation, clothing, insurance, and other areas. In essence, these cover your physiological needs: nutrition, safety, and so on.

    Most people have a substantial surplus left over after that—and, unsurprisingly, they spend it. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2009, the average American family spends $2,816 on entertainment, $2,668 on dining out, $808 on a nebulous category of “miscellaneous expenses,” $588 on personal care products,