Tip Archives - Ra'Co Life

November 8, 2015December 28, 2018

Tip: Spend a Little More, Save a Little Time

Listen to the words from the song by Malvina Reynolds Magic Penny:

It’s just like a magic penny,

hold it tight and you won’t have any.

Lend it, spend it, and you’ll have so many.

They’ll roll all over the floor.

Those who are frugal know a secret… every little dollar not spent aids in saving a big nest egg. Those who are spenders also know a secret… every dollar spent (provided it is done purposefully) can aid in making your life easier in some way. In some ways it also comes back around and you will end up having even more. We have tried it both ways, but for us we see the value in spending a little more to gain ourselves more time.

The roller coaster of money is something to look at. Over the course of most of our lives today, there is the ebb and flow of the market which our jobs seem to follow. We have been at the bottom of the barrel and then flowed well over the top with more money than we ever imagined making. And then we are right back to the bottom of the barrel. For us as freelancers, the roller coaster maybe more extreme than those who have steady jobs, but jobs also come and go these days pretty rapidly. One day you are an executive high flyer, the next jobless. So those who are intelligent… save.

When we set out on this journey of balance (leading us to Guatemala), with the purpose to give ourselves an edge towards more time. So our tip to you is to spend just a little more to save a little more time. In the end you will also have more experiences which drive you forward and you will ultimately have a better and more content life.

I could give a million examples of how this has played out for us, but I opted for a more ‘life story’ for this funny story.

Over the course of the last year as I have put myself out of the work force and into motherhood full time, I have had a chance to try things differently. Kurt and I tried at the beginning of the year to save, get out of debt and try to find out way with less.

But it worked. We were nearly in a place we wanted to be financially after about 8 months. But was it worth it? We realized that we compromised a lot to be there. We missed out on seeing friends and family because of not going back to the states, we didn’t take any trips and we made our lives more complicated by not going to the city or taking private boats. We purposefully made our life harder to save a few bucks and we were extremely bored.

Eventually everything always comes back around for us and our roller coaster of funds left the station. After the year mark, we decided to move into a larger town and rebuild our life here permanently. We took on a car loan, went into debt for taking time off work to have our second child and spend more time with our 2 1/2 year old, had new school fees and had a number of unexpected expenses like travel, furniture, appliances and healthcare. We are at the end of the year with much less money and much more debt, but I can say looking at both sides of the spectrum; spending less to save more money vs. spending a little more to save time and make our lives a little easier, we proudly stand by the latter. We have a full life filled with friends, adventures and beautiful stuff that has made our lives boundlessly better.

There are few times in our lives that we have the opportunity to just step back and experience life. Most people wait until retirement age to travel, enjoy and rest knowing the importance of “striking when its hot” in the workforce. Those are the same people who come right out of graduate school and never leave until they retire. We have done things a little differently all around – we spent time in our 20s just enjoying life, or trying things out. I started a business and then closed it when it became too much. I took a year off to travel and live in Europe in my 30th year, and another year to be pregnant with my 2nd and enjoy my daughter. Kurt traveled in his RV for 6 years in his late 30s and lived in and out of Zen centers around the country. He was in bands in his 20s and showed in galleries before getting a “real job.” He started a raw food delivery service and now took the last 4 years off to be a full time painter and see where he can take it.

We have taken tremendous risks without any level of payment. But we have enjoyed our time exponentially and grown so much from the experiences. We are better suited to help our customers and give back to the world.

September 21, 2015September 20, 2015

Ra’Co Tip: Play Hard, Then Work

Its easy to lose track of the importance of living. Playing is a huge part of that experience and instead of leading with work, leading with play enables a calmness and ability to reset making work an enjoyable experience. It is typical to do it in reserve; start with work and once it is finished you should reward with play. Sadly, the weight of the American Dream is an exhausting, all-consuming experience which requires endless energy leaving very little time and opportunity for little else except rest. But the reality is that the more play you integrate with your life, the less exhausting the work will be.

Play: Engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.

Work: Activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.

Everyday I wake up to the sound of my daughters little pitter patter as she climbs into bed with me. I snuggle and play with her for about 15 minutes before we even think about getting out of bed. I call it our “cuddle time” and it some how creates a leveling in my brain. For me it doesn’t have to be a significant amount of time of play before getting down to brass tacks, but it needs to be foundational. With Iza in my arms I get lost in the moment and forget any responsibility we have other than our time together and it creates a clarity I wouldn’t have otherwise. When the alarm goes off and we know it is time to get breakfast and get ready for school and I start my work, it feels like I have already been rewarded. I work extra hard throughout the day because I am so grateful for the 15 uninterrupted minutes with my little girl.

American Dream

September 12, 2015September 15, 2015

Ra’Co Tip: Mistakes

Making mistakes is part of the journey of life and in some way is the more educational route. Often you will learn a new life lesson along the way. But so many of us get caught up in the concept of perfection forgetting that perfection doesn’t lead to a rounded experience overall and that allowing mistakes to happen via risk is often the most important hidden reward.

Remember to be conscious as your mistake is made, or to reflect on it after the fact if you are not aware during. Be thoughtful about honoring your time and energy required to figure out how you got there and how you will get out of it. Often your intentional path will be adjusted based on your new found learnings.

An act or thought that unintentionally deviates from what is correct, right, or true.

I left Hospitality Services, Inc work full time for myself building a design studio and to give it a try with a business partner and best friend. We had dreams of building a product line in her namesake and creating a sustainable business. She had no business experience or investment capital and she was weary about getting involved. I pushed her to do something out of her comfort zone and to focus on sweat equity instead of HEARING her say, “No.” The end result was what you would expect; a loss of a 12 year old friendship and a product line in her name that she had no desire to do anything with. We parted ways.

Learning: What I learned from this was to listen better and to really HEAR people. I get it now when someone says, “No” and I back away willingly.

My new path due to my mistake: I realized my friend and I had co-dependent friendship that wouldn’t stand the test of time, and letting it go enabled me to walk away and build a new set of healthy friendships. One of those relationships was Kurt. Another piece of this was realizing that I didn’t want to have a lifestyle product line or to invest in building a brick n’ mortar operation. I wanted to be free from all boundaries to travel and explore. I moved to London right after the end of our business, then onto Ithaca, Beacon, New York City and finally Guatemala.

September 5, 2015December 27, 2018

Ra’Co Tip: Be Kind

Our mother’s always told us to treat others as we want to be treated, but now as a parent myself I would like to establish this as “Be Kind to Everyone, No Matter What.” There really are no reasons or excuses why kindness shouldn’t be how you want to be treated, and in life I believe things have been left too esoteric and not direct enough.

The term ‘Kind’ stems from the Germanic root of kin meaning natural or native to. In someways I believe Kind to be a form of truth and wholeness growing from within something. It is also a physical act of doing something for someone else and can be split between being a noun and a verb depending on how it is put into action.

I have had a lot of kindness bestowed upon me in life. First my parents who offered me every opportunity, then wonderful teachers who shared their incredible journey’s with me and finally staff who have doted and cared for me throughout the years. I see life as a journey through acts of Kind, and like others gifts to me of kindness, I always return the favor. My heart is fuller because of it.

One story comes to mind which I wanted to share:
In 2010 as I was ending my marriage to my 1st husband, I had to find a new place to live in London. I looked absolutely everywhere to find a good roommate situation in a non-shit hole. It was honestly a challenge for my price range I could afford. I looked first in some of the hip and trendy sections of town which seemed more affordable, but I came up short. At 28 it seemed I was a bit washed up and out of my league in terms of ‘hipness.’

I found Luca through a roommate site and sent her an email of my situation. After yoga one Saturday we met at the apartment. I was seriously like a scared little girl and I remember at the time I had horrendous acne from stress and allergies. I really couldn’t be in a worst spot emotionally. Luca interviewed me as I had been interviewed 10x before in the other apartments I looked into. Towards the end of the conversation I felt comfortable and more at ease with her so I told her how much I wanted to find a good place to heal. I was broken from living away from home, having lost my partner and was beginning to transition away from a company I built more than a decade before.

She called me later that evening with the decision for me to be able to live with her. This to me was one of the greatest acts of Kind I had received and mostly because it was from her. Luca is a selfless, giving and wonderful friend. She offered me a chance to reset my life and helped to ground me once again. She was going through a similar situation with her long term boyfriend from Australia, so we were two hot single girls living together in a fabulous apartment in Camden Town, North London.

While we have not stayed too much in touch outside of the occasional Facebook message and email, Luca will always hold a special place in my heart due to her kindness.

Resources

Stories of Kindness around the world, Kindspring.org
Origin of the word Kind, Answers.com