Book Review: Your Money or Your Life

A Great Read for the Green and Frugal
As a New York Times bestseller with reviews that include "life-changing," "...offers a more meaningful, fulfilling life," ...could be the single most important book you ever read," I couldn't help but check it out. It was a fairly quick read, with a focus on transforming your relationship with money so you can focus on the most important things in your life, like family, charitable work and relaxing.

Essentially money is equal to life energy. Given the amount of time we spend working and the amount of time we spend on earth, it's about maximizing what's most valuable. The program is work, but offers some enlightening theories on money (how we spend and why) and, interestingly, the focus is not on budgeting. Now nearly ever personal finance book I've read is always about budgeting, money in should always be more than money out. Your Money or Your Life has you assess exactly what goes in and out, whether or not it's important and how you can make changes that will benefit your life.

In terms of how this book fits into GreenandFrugalLiving.com, it discusses your own sustainability as well as the earth's. By shrinking your resources (i.e., your stuff, junk, clutter), there are numerous opportunities to make money by selling or trading your things.

I sometimes obsess about money and am driven to constantly save a good amount. I like this book because the basic premise is to think differently about money. It's more of a means to an end versus the lifeblood of a family. Your Money or Your Life deals with how to neutrally manage your money and what money means to you. The key, or ultimate goal, is to be financially independent and not be crippled by money, or lack thereof.

Based upon the nine core steps of the book, you really need to read it through once and then go back and take action. That's the point I'm at right now. The first step is to figure out how much money you've made in your lifetime. I've never really thought about it. But as someone who's been working since 1986, I'm looking forward to seeing what that number could be.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on my progress. Beginning today, we're going to track every single penny that comes in and every penny that is spent. That is a challenge unto itself. Most people have a general idea of where their money goes, but as always, the devil is in the details.

If anyone has read Your Money or Your Life and has implemented the steps, I'd love to hear about it!

I'll be posting updates, aptly called "Your Money or Your Life Mondays." Stay tuned...