Saving life energy via costuming.

Buy Only What You Need and Use;

• Focus on essentials that serve a purpose;Avoiding impulse buys or unused items to save money.

Clothing that doesn’t need ironing;

• Opt for wrinkle-resistant shirts for work; this saves 15–30 minutes daily on ironing.

• Buy polyester-blend pants over cotton; lower dry-cleaning bills.

Search for downtown cheap deals and maintain natural hair to save plaiting costs;

• Maintain natural hair with quarterly touch ups; avoiding frequent salon visits.

• Shop from discounted stores for your daily costuming needs

Yearly costuming;

• Invest in versatile pieces that get maximum wear; (work, church, outing etc.)

• choose timeless dresses and neutral shoes wearable all year round.

Personal Branding as a need to invest more.

• Buying top quality wears for client meetings can built trust and secure higher paying gigs; offsetting the earlier cost through better income.

Know what to get based on what you do;

• Align purchases with your actual lifestyle and activities.

• Assess hobbies before buying their gears, this prevents regretful spending.

Costume according to your class/ interactions;

• Dress to fit your social and professional circles without excess; having your class in mind will put a check on you while spending for costumes.

Economies of scale in costuming .

• Buy in bulk the useful items to save time shopping and maintain efficiency.

First i realized that Learning is a strong direction for daily decompression because ignorance has numerous negative effects, including poor decision-making, misunderstandings in relationships, and professional setbacks due to poor performance or lack of competitiveness which even raise financial stress. Patience is another realization that will calm the financial stress and decompress daily these cost close to nothing except practice. because financial independence is the experience of having enough.

I came to realize that everything including our meals consume our life energy as we hunt to have them. The time and we spend thinking about say our meals; Shopping our meals, Preparing our meals and as well time taken eating our meals. Considering how much time is spend daily on the meal hunt changes the way we think. This opens our minds into understanding how much life energy (Time) we are spending to just have meals. i believe searching and finding what works for you is important and working to a direction that focuses on long turn happiness. Making sure that ideas and techniques that cut that time, cut expenses, and better your meal quality is important to you.

What worked?
Came to the understanding that money is a game and we play by the rules willingly or unwillingly. Thus there is a much needed discipline for a more control over spending, our choices on how we use it expresses the meaning and purpose of our time. A question was asked on how much are we trading our life energy for and the major focus was on meals.
An interesting topic as came to understand the role economies of scale plays in savings costs as it a part of playing the long term game in which one buys at almost half the price than every one else by acquiring what one uses on a relatively daily basis on large quantities mostly wholesale rather than retail as the cost differs generally, and while engaging in it one has to understand the unit cost per item in order to make better choices in purchase. Good finance is a habit that built one step at a time .In all this when it comes to meals one has to understand the cost of preparing food at home vs eating out on a long term basis.
Would you recommend?
Yes I would recommend as it more a long term thinking strategy rather than a short term survival strategy

Let’s talk about meals;
We highlighted buying in bulk for items like rice, canned goods, or staples that don’t spoil quickly. This reduces per-unit costs through cheaper deals from wholesalers or bulk suppliers.

Savings extend beyond price: It cuts down on frequent delivery or transport fees

A big takeaway was the importance of unit calculations: Always divide total cost by quantity

For fresh items like produce or dairy, we discussed using the “time value of money” principle—negotiating or timing purchases for exclusive deals, such as seasonal sales, farmers’ markets, or apps for discounted near-expiry goods.

Practicing Forbearance;
Skipping or simplifying meals can build discipline and cut costs, but we cautioned against extremes that lead to health issues, like nutrient deficiencies causing medical bills down the line.

Key lessons;
* Accountability with What We Have: Start small—track even minor meal expenses to build awareness
* Ignorance as a Pitfall: Not knowing your true costs leads to leaks.
* Track Everything and Celebrate your Wins.
* Know Where to Apply Strategies
* Build Habits for Long-Term Impact: Make bulk buying or cooking routines automatic
*

Understanding Money, Time, and Life Energy

What Is Money?
Money can be viewed from multiple angles, based on its functions and characteristics:

Legal tender?
Security?
Exchange that holds value?
Commodity generally accepted?
Medium of exchange of time?

The Connection Between Time, Money, and Life Energy;

Time is equivalent to life energy spent; when you work, you’re using up a portion of your life’s limited resources.

Receiving money from someone means they’re giving you a portion of their own life’s energy (earned through their work).

What worked for me.
using my life energy without fair payment creates an overwhelming situation, as it devalues my effort and time.

Realized that every second we spend working/ sleeping/ moving is like cutting a little piece of our own life energy. And money is simply what represents the value of that life energy.

And the really empowering part is that we get to choose how we spend that energy wherever, however and whenever.

So doing anything that doesn’t light me up, is a reminder to think about what really does matter to me.

And it’s okay to aim for something that gives me more value, more meaning, and more joy. Because at the end of the day, this is my life, my energy, and i have the power to shape it in a way that feels really fulfilling.

Thinking about that; why am i not spending money on things that are truly and seriously valuable to me?

– I learnt to invest on things that add value to me. (Truly add value to me).
– Watch how much time of the day give to value addition.
– Avoiding life energy draining activities but better skills on valuable skills.

Book club 14 October.

Highlights

Knowledge as enlightenment.
Recognizing that we have clutter in our lives is one step to financial enlightenment; of this; we know what we need and don’t and so deal with it accordingly.

A stinking character;
As we clear up our material clutter; the same should be done in our minds. We should learn to control our turbulent, wandering thoughts on gazingas hardly needed in our lives.

Harnessing greediness.
Having known & differentiated our needs from our wants; hoarding up clutter shows how greedy we can be in our lives and this may make us end up with nothing in the end.

No use basket.
Collecting items we hardly use in one particular place can help us assess and sort those that are valuable or not. It also clears up space within our homes for better things.

Recycling opportunity;
Having collected clutter; we can be open to different ideas on how we can dispose, or recycle it for a much better purpose.

What worked? Well I have learnt in simple terms clutter is anything in excess for me , learning to let go of clutter is opening up space for something new to happen, I learnt clutter is not only physical but it’s all mental, it brings more guilt than satisfaction and also letting go of clutter comes from knowing what clutter is cause one cannot treat what one doesn’t know. So in all this what worked was first identifying what I had in excess in terms of materialistic items and this was possible through the exercise of inventory control and storing what excess in view of giving it out as it’s being organized

What didn’t work?
That is yet to be seen as everything seems to be getting clearer day by day

Would you recommend?
Yes I would recommend it , because decluttering opens us up for growth in more ways than one

Lessons I Have Learned

1. Clutter is anything I haven’t used in the past three weeks.
I’ve realized that the things lying around unused are not just objects — they’re distractions. If I haven’t needed them recently, they’re likely cluttering my space and my focus.

2. Mental clutter is just as real as physical clutter.
The overload from social media, photos, and files stored on my devices can occupy unnecessary mental space. Decluttering my mind is as important as decluttering my home.

3. I’ve introduced a “No Use Bucket” 🪣.
This is where I place items I’m unsure about. Over time, I observe whether I truly need them. If not, I let them go. It’s a practical way to stay conscious of what serves me and what doesn’t.

4. Clutter suppresses freedom and fulfillment.
I’ve learned that holding onto too many things — whether physical or mental — can create invisible weight. It drains energy and time that could be used for growth and joy.

5. I now choose focus and purpose.
My energy is better spent pursuing my goals. I’m learning to direct my focus only toward what aligns with my intentions and contributes to my fulfillment.

I got myself asking this question, what’s the difference between enough and settling for less?

What worked?
This chapter made me realize the extent of enough’, fulfillment at every step of the way and outcomes.

I noticed that our desires change as per the season we are in nonetheless, it also taught me to be appreciative of what i consider enough.

Because to me enough is by my set standard of what enough is (by choice), however, people may want to impose their enough on us, again according to what season, at times mood they are in.

So, Fulfillment is achieved at every stage of our lives even though we barely notice it and to me this made my day to be appreciative of the achievements.

To me this is a self discovery Journey and its better to be personal to get the financial success.

What worked? The need and desire to know where I am currently, where I came from through past experiences and where I would be going by knowing what emotions came with knowing my own reactions to personal questions about what a particular topic made me feel?, what a particular I understand by the word enough, and that my networth is not my self worth that surely was a great realization, and another great realization was the first step to any financial freedom was knowing what I have , something that can’t be avoided. Would I recommend? Yes I would recommend because this surely helps one come in terms with their past bad financial habits and develop better financial freedom habits

From my reading i learnt;

“Enough” means reaching the point where what you have meets your needs. It’s not about how much you own or how far you’ve gone, but about understanding when something is truly sufficient. Sometimes, people keep wanting more, thinking it will make them happier — but more doesn’t always mean better.

Everyone’s idea of enough is different. For one person, a single plate of food is enough; for another, it may not be. To recognize enough, you have to look at yourself honestly and ask, “Do I really need more right now, or am I just wanting more?”
When you can answer that question with peace in your heart, you’ve found your enough.

Everything we do has a cause and an effect. The choices we make — how much we take, what we use, and what we desire — are the causes. The results that come afterward are the effects. We cannot always control what happens after, but we can control what we choose to do now.

If our causes are guided by knowing what is enough, the effects will often be peaceful and good. But if our causes are driven by greed or carelessness, the effects may bring waste or regret.

Knowing when enough is enough helps us live wisely. It reminds us that peace does not come from having everything, but from understanding when we already have what we truly need.

What’s enough “in your own life”.
I would recommend; yes 😉
1. It’s subjective: steve.
2.A choice:
3.Technological advancement brings enlightenment:
4. Taming our desires.
5. Knowing where we exceed while acquiring our needs.