The best things in life….

Against a backdrop of the country’s recession-depression I pondered the impact of having to cut back on spending today.

After visiting an exquisite (free) exhibition of ceramics at the Korean Cultural Centre and wandering into the wonderful (free) Photographers Gallery (where Hans Aarsman’s Photography Against Consumerism includes ‘Desired things photographed – not bought’) my optimism was reinforced by the sight of a young oriental man with a huge smile outside the National Gallery.
He held aloft a placard offering ‘Free Hugs’. Priceless.

A brain wave

The human condition sometimes seems characterized by a cycle of endless repetition. We are endowed – but also trapped by – a brain that wants to compel us to keep doing the same things. The smoker who can’t give up, the gambler who’s drawn to the betting shop and the shopaholic who’s convinced just one more purchase is the route to happiness. We truly are habit machines if we give in to our compulsions.

It’s hard to tell the brain to stop doing something.

But it is easy to tell it to do something else.

That’s why the Do Something Different approach is at the heart of Sheconomics – and the book is full of ways to Do Something Different with money. It simply makes being good with money a bit of a no-brainer.