The Best $5 I Ever Spent

Mr Pape,

We do not know each other, yet you are the one who has single-handedly turned my life around. Last year I was stuck in $13,000 of debt on top of a large mortgage and was living pay cheque to pay cheque. I was headed towards a financial breakdown. Then I picked up your book at an op-shop, and it was the best $5 I ever spent. Reading it kept me up all night, but finally I could see how to start changing my life. Fast forward 12 months and all debts (other than the mortgage) have been paid off and I have a modest $10,000 in Mojo. You don’t know how relieving it feels to go to bed not worrying about money!

Monica

Hey Monica,

As I was reading your story, it made me think of an interview I was doing the other day.

Journo: “What are your top five tips for saving money?”

Barefoot: “Tips are the fairy floss of finance … they look good, but they evaporate in your mouth.”

The journo was not amused.

My guess is that it wasn’t the finance tips in my book that made the difference for you. Rather it was taking the time to reframe your situation and develop a different mindset about what you could achieve.

Your story also made me think about how cool op-shops are. My three-year-old daughter loves our local one. The other day, she used her ‘Smile’ money to buy a princess dress for the bargain price of $3.

Good stuff! (Oh, and there’s nothing modest about having 10 grand in Mojo.)

Scott.