Curriculum and Learning Resources

Your Money or Your Life

By Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin
Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, IL
Geneva, IL
Thanks to Cynthia Wade, DRE at UU Society of Geneva, IL for sharing this workshop with us!

This book was copyrighted in 1992 and is published by
The Penguin Group, New, York, New York.

The book and workbook are both available through
Alternatives for Simple Living
5312 Morningside Avenue
P.O. Box 2787,
Sioux City, IA 51106
1.800.821.6153
www.SimpleLiving.org

We choose to begin this series on Simple Living
with the video, Affluenza.
This highly acclaimed documentary from PBS
sets the stage for a frank discussion of the power of money in our lives.
The video and also a book are both also available from
Alternatives for Simple Living.

We used Sarah Ban Breathnache's Simple Abundance.
It is copyrighted 1995 and published by Time Warner.

Each participant was encouraged to keep a gratitude journal
which they could choose to share with the group.

We advertised this series in the community newspaper and
about 60% of our participants came from outside our congregation.
Many of those people have continued to attend services here
and some have signed the membership book.

Your Money or Your Life
Workshop Outline

Day One - Getting Started
Homework:
Gratitude Journal
Read Prologue and Chapter 1
Procure Social Security Statement of Earnings - 1-800-772-1213
Create and begin to use daily tracking method for ALL Expenses

Day Two - The Money Trap
Homework:
Gratitude Journal
Read Chapter 2
Continue tracking expenses
Create and begin to itemize all possessions
Continue working on Survival/Comfort/Luxury/Clutter chart
Sharing resources

Day Three - What is Money?
Homework:
Gratitude Journal
Read Chapter 3
Continue tracking expenses
Continue itemizing all possessions
Calculate real hourly wage information
Sharing resources

Day Four - Knowing where Your Money Goes
Homework:
Gratitude Journal
Read Chapter 4
Continue tracking expenses
Continue itemizing all possessions
Create monthly tabulation form for spending patterns
Sharing resources

Day Five - Fulfillment and Purpose
Homework:
Gratitude Journal
Read Chapter 5
Continue tracking expenses
Continue itemizing all possessions
Complete month-end tabulation
Sharing resources

Day Six - Making Life Energy Visible
Homework:
Gratitude Journal
Read Chapter 6-9
Continue tracking expenses
Continue itemizing all possessions
Make a commitment to change
Sharing resources

Day Seven - Looking at Progress
Gratitude Journal
Tracking method and support documents
Inventory of possessions Written commitments and progress
Sharing resources

Lesson One
Getting Started

Ingathering
Chalice Lighting and Reading - "Money and the Meaning of Life - October 23" from Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnache
Introductions
Name
One word that describes your relationship with money
What do you want to gain or change by your participation in this workshop?
Attitudes of Gratitude

Reflection/Discussion -
"If you 'win' the world, but lose your life, what have you gained?"

Reading from Your Money or Your Life
Prologue: xxix-xxx. What You Can Expect from this Book
Chapter 2. Keep Track of Every Cent, A Spiritual Discipline,
But Why?

Exercise - Tracking Expenses

Discussion

Summary

Homework
Gratitude Journal
Read Prologue and Chapter 1
Procure Social Security Statement of Earnings - 1-800-772-1213
Create and begin to use daily tracking method for ALL Expenses
Sharing resources

Closing
Reflections
Reading -
"When a man is warmed by the several modes I have described, what does he want next? Surely not more warmth of the same kind, as more and richer food, larger and more splendid houses, fine and more abundant clothing, more numerous, incessant and hotter fires, and the like. When he has obtained those things which are necessary to life, there is another alternative than to obtain the superfluities, and this is, to adventure on life now, his vacation from humbler toil having commenced." Henry David Thoreau

Handouts
Guidelines
Tracking Chart

Lesson Two
The Money Trap

Ingathering
Chalice Lighting and Reading
Brief Check-in
Attitudes of Gratitude

Reflection/Discussion -
Tracking Expenses - How did it go?

Reading from Your Money or Your Life - Chapter 1
Pages 12-13 Is More Better?
Pages 23-25 The Fulfillment Curve and Enough

Exercise - Fulfillment Curve
Discussion
Guided Meditation
Homework
Gratitude Journal
Read Chapter 2
Continue tracking expenses
Begin to itemize all possessions
Continue working on Survival/Comfort/Luxury/Clutter chart
Sharing resources

Closing
Reflections
Readings
"More than ever, we have big houses and broken homes, high income and low morale, secured rights and diminished civility. We excel at making a living but often fail at making a life. We celebrate our prosperity but yearn for purpose. We cherish our freedoms but long for connection. In an age of plenty, we feel spiritual hunger." Psychologist David Meyer

"Empty-handed we come into the world and empty-handed, beyond question, we must leave it; if we have food and clothing to last us out, let us be content with that. Those who would be rich fall into temptation, the devil's trap for them, all those useless and dangerous appetites which sink men into ruin here and perdition hereafter. The love of money is a root from which every kind of evil springs." First Timothy 6: 7-10

Handouts
Survival/Comfort/Luxury/Clutter Chart
Fulfillment Curve Graphs
Monthly Expense Chart
Income, Investments Summary Chart
Household Inventory Chart
www.newroadmap.org
www.simpleliving.net

Lesson Three
What is Money?

Ingathering
Chalice Lighting and Reading - "Spending Habits" - October 26 from Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnache
Brief Check-in
Attitudes of Gratitude

Reflection/Discussion
Inventorying your Possessions
The Fulfillment Curve

Reading from Your Money or Your Life - Chapter 2
Pages 46-48 - Money as Security and Social Acceptance
Pages 57-59 - Financial and Psychological Freedom
Pages 67-68 - Life Energy v. Salary

Reflection/Discussion
What did you learn about money as a child?
Did your adult caregivers have different ideas about money?
Whose did you adopt?

Exercise - Computing your REAL Hourly Wage - pages 64-64 - Your Money or Your Life

Homework
Gratitude Journal
Read Chapter 3
Continue tracking expenses
Continue to itemize all possessions
Complete Survival/Comfort/Luxury/Clutter chart
REAL Wage Calculation
Sharing resources

Closing
Reflections
Readings
"People don't need enormous cars, they need respect. They don't need closets full of clothes, they need to feel attractive and they need excitement and variety and beauty. People don't need electronic equipment; they need something worthwhile to do with their lives. People need identity, community, challenge, acknowledgement, love, and joy. To try to fill these needs with material things is to setup an unquenchable appetite for false solutions to real and never-satisfied problems. The resulting psychological emptiness is one of the major forces behind the desire for material growth."
Donella Meadows, Beyond the Limits

Handouts
Spending like a turkey
Checklist: Life Energy v. Salary

Lesson Four
Knowing Where Your Money Goes

Ingathering
Chalice Lighting and Reading - October 28 "Financial Serenity" from Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnache
Brief Check-in
Attitudes of Gratitude

Reflection/Discussion
Tracking Expenses, Inventorying Possessions, Understanding Your Fulfillment Chart
Your REAL Hourly Wage

Reading from Your Money or Your Life - Chapter 3
Pages 76-79 - Budgets Like Diets, Don't Work
Pages 81-82 - No Shame, No Blame
Pages 90-93 - Making Money Real

Reflection/Discussion

Exercise - Create a monthly tabulation form reflective of your own individual characteristics

Homework
Gratitude Journal
Read Chapter 4
Continue tracking expenses
Continue to itemize all possessions
Sharing resources

VII. Closing
Reflections
Readings
"Man today is fascinated by the possibility of buying more, better and especially new things. He is consumption hungry. To buy the latest gadget, the latest model of anything that is on the market, is the dream of everybody, in comparison to which the real pleasure is quite secondary. Modern man, if he dared to be articulate about his concept of heaven, would describe a vision, which would look like the biggest department store in the world. He would wander around open mouthed in this heaven of gadgets and commodities, provided only that there were ever more and new things to buy and perhaps that his neighbors were just a little less privileged than he." Erich Fromm, 1955

Handouts
Eden Crest Developments Cartoon
Monthly Expense Chart
Figures 3-1, -2, -3, -4
Checklist - Page 103-108

Lesson Five
Fulfillment and Purpose

Ingathering
Chalice Lighting and Reading
Brief Check-in
Attitudes of Gratitude

Reflection/Discussion

Reading from Your Money or Your Life - Chapter 5
Pages 148-151
Pages 157-165

Exercise - Discovering joy, fulfillment and purpose
Identify and discover joy in your life.
Applying consciousness to your spending brings about a natural decrease in expenses and an increased sense of control over money. Aligning your spending with your life purpose provides an ongoing feedback mechanism that will continue to help you spend only with intent.
Did I receive fulfillment, satisfaction and value in proportion to the life energy that I spent?
Is this expenditure of life energy in alignment with my values and my life purpose?
What are my values? What is my life purpose?

Homework
Gratitude Journal
Read Chapter 5
Continue tracking expenses
Continue to itemize all possessions
Sharing resources
Complete month end tabulations
List total dollars spent and convert into hours of life energy
Review and determine survival/comfort/luxury/clutter and fulfillment
Where do you choose to make some changes? Identify at least one area to focus on.

Closing
Reflections
Reading - The story of Sally Morris, Your Money or Your Life page 161

Lesson Six
Making Life Energy Visible

Ingathering

Chalice Lighting

Brief Check-in

Attitudes of Gratitude

Review of Our Work Together
Make Peace with Your Past
Lifetime Income
New Worth
Being in the Present - Tracking Your Life Energy
REAL Hourly Wage
Tracking Expenses
Where Does It All Go?
Monthly Tabulations of Income and Expenses
Transforming Your Life
Did I receive fulfillment, satisfaction and value in proportion to life energy spent?
Is this expenditure of life energy in alignment with my values and life purpose?
How might this expenditure change if I didn't have to work for a living?
Making Life Energy Visible
Charting the relationship between income/expenses/fulfillment
Valuing Your Life Energy
Minimize Spending
Maximize Income
The Crossover Point
Managing Finances for Financial Independence
Living Your Authentic Life

Reflection/Discussion
What have you learned?
What "picture" has emerged for you in examining your relationship with money?

Exercise - Create a visual images of
Income vs. expenses
Where do you want to be?

Reflection/Discussion
Where did you decide to make a change?
How are you going to effect that change?

Exercise - Write a letter to yourself (Facilitator will then mail this to participants approximately seven days prior to the reunion meeting.)
My commitment to myself is . . .
I will work to honor this commitment by . . .

Homework
Gratitude Journal
Finish Reading the Book
Continue tracking expenses
Continue to itemize all possessions
Continue month end tabulations
Follow Up Meeting

Closing
Reflections
Reading - "Becoming More Magnetic to Money" - October 30 from Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnache

Lesson Seven
Reunion

Ingathering - Chalice Lighting and Reading
January 17, "Harmony: Achieving Balance in Our Lives" by Sarah Ban Breathnache in Simple Abundance

Reflection/Discussion
What is your most significant insight from doing this program?
Have your spending and saving patterns changed?
Has the quality of your life changed? If so, how?
Do you have any plans for the future that you would like to share?

Exercise
Remind yourself of the commitment that you made to yourself in the letter that you just received. Have you honored your commitment? If not, why not? Do you wish to recommit? What changes do you need to make to be more successful this next time?

Attitudes of Gratitude

Closing
Reflections
Reading - January 24 "Blessing our Circumstances" by Sarah Ban Breathnache in Simple Abundance