What Do Souvenirs Have to Do with Financial Independence?
What we choose to spend our money on, or rather not spend our money on, directly affects our ability and the timing of achieving Financial Independence.
Money that is not spent on souvenirs can instead be directly placed into your investments. This can range between tens to hundreds of pounds, depending on how much you usually spend on keepsakes.
Choose to prioritise experiences over things. Spend time with loved ones. Having valuable experiences where our relationships are strengthened as we do things together other than shopping. This increases happiness and leads to the type of life that is desired once you reach Financial Independence. Instead of sacrificing relationships in the now, spend that time with loved ones building bonds, creating lifetime memories.
I have yet experienced a shopping trip, where as a family we revisit the memory of that shopping trip time and time again and the joy that it brings. Whereas we revisit in our collective memories the great days out and tours of beautiful and fascinating places of the world.
Souvenir Hunting as Taught Behaviour
When we pass by, or just walk straight through the gift shop we are teaching our children that the “stuff” is not important. We don’t need to bother with it. We don’t need to waste our time there.
Whereby, if we spend considerable time within the gift shops browsing and selecting our purchases, we are teaching our children that we place high value on that action. That we value the stuff.
Sometimes the time spent in a gift shop can form a substantial proportion of the time at the location or attraction. Surely the point of visiting the place was to take part in the experience. Not just to go shopping at the end?
The Must Have Memento
For years for me, going on holiday meant buying souvenirs.
- To have something to remember the holiday
- Something to show that we had been to a certain location
- So that other people could see that I had travelled
On holiday I would always take the time to go through the shops to see what was available to buy.
Little trinkets, bookmarks, postcards, fridge magnets. At first glance the variety can seem almost endless.
Eventually you start to realise that most of the stuff is generic and made in another part of the world far away. Often of very low quality and for sale at an inflated price with the name of the place or attraction added to make it “Special.”
Some years back, around the time when I really started to question the number of possessions I had along with the flow of incoming items into our home. I started to question the true value of souvenirs.
Money, Time, and Space
When buying and sourcing souvenirs first there is the initial outlay of funds for the item. This can range depending on budget and desire.
We save up to go on holiday (hopefully, because if you pay for a holiday using debt that is an even bigger problem, and a huge mistake. You will have to work for longer to pay it off), then we spend a portion of our precious holiday time going around shops looking for “stuff” that we consider to be “just right,” to show others and ourselves that we were there.
All the while not actually taking part in the experiences or that much needed relaxation. We are shopping. This time the scenery is different to the shops that we usually visit at home.
I do not really want to go shopping at home, least of all while on Holiday.
We also need to consider the time it takes to source the keepsake, and the space it will take up not just in our luggage, but in our homes.
Once we have brought the item home (which can be stress inducing to make sure that it arrives back safe and secure), we must find a space for it and look after it and clean it until the day we eventually realise it is just tat/ junk/ rubbish.
It will either stay in the same spot for years to come, end up in storage, get binned, or succumb to one of the variety of ways we choose to manage our excess stuff.
That item that we just “had to have” quite quickly becomes the background noise of our lives. Even the most beautiful of tokens lose their allure and charm.
Becoming less special as time passes.
Hunting For That Special Something
Last week we went on holiday to the beautiful coastal town of Lyme Regis in the South West of England. Over the past 20 years we have visited the area many times.
Each previous visit without question we would spend considerable time going around the shops, having a good “look.”
Hunting for something great and special to bring home.
The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site, and is well known for the fossils of ammonites and belemnites that can be found while walking along the sea shore.
I love fossil hunting, looking for fossils, looking at fossils and holding them brings me joy. I get a certain kick from them. Over the years I have not been shy in my purchases. From fossil coasters, to jewellery, to actual fossil specimens. We usually come home with something to remember the place by.
The thing is, eventually they all end up in a drawer, or in a box or get broken from use. It just ends up being money spent on things that do not have the expected return on investment. The “Joy” I felt when I first purchased the item is diminished as time goes by until it becomes junk, and becomes a burden to care for and then dispose.
Value Experiences More Than Things
For this latest visit, we thought more about what we wanted from the holiday. We still went to a few shops, but the things we bought were perishable. Such as amazing vanilla fudge, great meals with family. Visits to the National Marine Aquarium and to many of the natural beauty spots such as Durdle Door and Portland.
Instead of spending time in the shops we did more things together. We played mini golf, walked along the Ammonite Pavement, found our own fossils in Charmouth, went to the Lyme Regis Museum, and visited Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens.
The things we took home were pictures and videos of us doing things together as a family, creating memories. We did so many things and had a most wonderful time together.
That is what I am choosing to remember. Not the shopping opportunities.
Packing for our return was easy. Taking less time than previous visits, and was completed with the minimum of fuss because we did not need to find space for all the extras.
What we did bring home from our trip was some of the tastiest vanilla fudge, a pen and a pencil for the children, and a new scarf for myself to replace one that had worn out.
Next Generation
Initially the children really wanted to look in the gift shops, we permitted them to purchase one item each, the catch was that they would have to use their own pocket money. They were not used to that.
Usually, we would pay for things. Now that the children had to pay for their own keepsakes, they carefully considered the options. They chose well and will cherish those items far more than if they had been given several.
For the remainder of the holiday the children were not fussed about visiting gift shops. They had all that they needed, plus quite a few treats. Most of all they had time with us as a family.
What they really want is the time that we spend together as a family, creating memories. Living life.
They would rather trade all the souvenirs for more time together as a family.
Time to talk, and play, and roll down grassy hills, to experience life together as a family.
Priorities
Do you want to prioritise shopping and the thrill of buying something “special,” or will you choose to create meaningful memories of shared experiences?
You get to choose how you want to spend your money and time.
Choose wisely.