Money is like Manure.

Money, Money, Money, Money. It's fascinating stuff. I'm not very accountable with the little bit that I do have- I spend it on eating out, entertainment, shopping, and it's easy to lose sight of long term goals. Since Eric and I have a goal of running Becky Kazana together full time, I recently decided to actually write down those goals, so I'd have a way to measure our progress and to remind myself of the larger benefits of the daily sacrifices it takes to be thrifty.

I turned our goals into an illustration for our fridge. It'a an interesting portrait- remember what Holly Golightly's mobster accountant tells her in Breakfast at Tiffany's? He says her receipts could be turned into a best selling novel. I imagine that's true of almost anyone's bank account.

Our goals include saving money for a baby or two, money for our emotional and physical health, money for travel (those are airplanes, dressed in the national costumes of places we might want to visit!) and money as a result of creative work- a reward for being a producer, not just a consumer.

Another of my cherished movie axioms about money comes from Hello, Dolly!. She quotes her late husband, saying "Money is like manure. It should be spread around, encouraging young things to grow." Originally, I loved his because I thought of it as avoiding stinginess or miserliness. You can't take it with you, so enjoy it, right? But I think it also means that wealth is something that you must cultivate, care for. Money on it's own isn't an end. It's what you can grow with it, what you nurture with it that makes it valuable. For me, that's my health- my relationships, my body, my mind, and the experiences I will gather over the course of a lifetime. It isn't things, the way I used to think it would be.