Increased Income and Decreased Generosity

I’ve been earning a little more money lately. By “a little,” I mean “maybe $1,000 more per month than I was making last year.”

A few weeks ago, when I was doing my weekly freelancing round-up on my Tumblr, I posted that week’s income under the headline This Week in Freelancing: What Should I Do With All This Money? (The most immediate answer will probably be: 2015 estimated taxes.)

It turns out that what I’m not doing with this money is giving it to other people.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, of course I am still exchanging money for goods and services, and of course I am still tipping my Great Clips stylist 100% on a $15 tab. But I’m not donating my money right now, or giving it to Kickstarters, or adding new Patreons to my patreonage. I am not investing in other people, even though I have more income at my disposal to make those investments.

It’s that idea of “disposal” that kind of tips it. When I wrote about kids and allowances a few weeks ago, I wrote that of course I spent my 25 cents on an ice cream, because I knew that it would take way too long to save those quarters for anything that wasn’t an ice cream.

Likewise, if you’re earning “enough” and you’ve got a little bit left over, and you’re only ever going to have a little bit left over, why not share some of what you’ve got?

Now I’ve got more than a little bit left over, and I’m starting to think of my money as stackable units. (This feels like a very Minecraft thing, except I’ve never played Minecraft.) Stack enough money together and I’ve got a debt payment. Stack more money together and I could move into a bigger apartment. Start another stack for savings.

And boy-oh-boy do I not want to let any of that money leave those stacks. I am, very literally, hoarding all of my gold coins for myself.

I feel like once I take stock of this new balance between income and expenses, which is something I looked at briefly in January and need to examine more closely after I get my taxes finished, I’ll be able to say “okay, I can stack this much, and spend this much, and have this much left over to share.” Because I don’t particularly like the idea of becoming a person who doesn’t share, now that she’s got hers.

But it’s a strange feeling, to be finally able to think about mid- and long-term finances after a couple of years of living paycheck to credit card to paycheck. And I really want to share this money with my own future.

And then start sharing with everyone else again.

Support The Billfold

The Billfold continues to exist thanks to support from our readers. Help us continue to do our work by making a monthly pledge on Patreon or a one-time-only contribution through PayPal.