2 Ways to Invest Your Money in Memories
How did you spend your Christmas holiday? Was it full of boxes, wrapping paper and bows? If you're anything like the typical American family, your Christmas holiday celebration was filled with all sorts of new gadgets and gizmos. A few years ago, my wife decided that spending money on that "new tie" I told her I wanted just didn't seem right. I chalk it up to the fact that she's a genius, but she decided that we should take the money we were going to spend on Christmas and invest those dollars into EXPERIENCES and MEMORIES, rather than new stuff. How she came this this conclusion, she cannot say specifically, but I would bet it came from all the books she's been reading over the past handful of years that continuously stress memories over materials.
Memories make life less cluttered. Memories keep, while stuff wastes away. With a greater focus on memories, money diminishes in importance in life and we have found happiness exists more in the little things that memories provide.
So what are 2 ways to invest your money into memories? Well here are just three things we did just this past Christmas to get your brain thinking.
1) Instead of getting our nieces and nephews the "latest and greatest" game or toy, we took them to Chicago for the day and experienced Legoland in Schaumburg. We had 5 of them spend the night before we departed. It was a night we will never forget. The day trip to Chicago consisted of Legoland, lots of food and Lincoln Park Zoo's "Zoolights" which has become a favorite of ours over the past few years.
2) My brother Patrick and his wife Ari moved to upstate New York this year. It's the first time that any of the Climie boys have lived at a distance and we are still adjusting to the change. Patrick sent over "Christmas wish list" that consisted of golf balls, golf glove, etc. While there is nothing wrong with any of the items he requested, I wanted to make sure we had a great experience together while he was in Grand Rapids. So we decided to head out to the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex and try to luge. Muskegon is the only place in the USA that has an outdoor luge track open to the public. It was a great adventure which included crashes, speed and lots of adrenaline.
Do you invest in memories throughout the year? If you do, what are you going to do in 2014 that you didn't do in 2013?
Check out a fun video that we put together for these two experiences in 2013!
http://animoto.com/play/v17ThyfW7fr521PQehSC6A
Tiberius Images is a Grand Rapids photographer that photographs people, places and events. Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, they serve clients throughout the world and are available for travel.