What I know for sure

[image: communal art by incarcerated women in the Resolana Project]
Sometimes, like every aged person facing a birthday (tomorrow) I wonder what wisdom I have to give this world. Well, here it is, a little bit of my hard-earned wisdom:

1. Always round prices up mentally. So a VZ Navigator app for your cellphone is not $9.99 a month, it's $10.00 a month. (It is widely believed that you feel 9 is a much smaller number than 10, and that $299 is much smaller than $300. That's why they do that.)

2. Never think in terms of monthly cost. Multiply every monthly price times 12. Thus, the VZ Navigator does not cost "just $10.00 a month." It costs $120 a year, while Mapquest is still free. If you like, you can multiply that times ten years and contemplate a nice vacation somewhere with palm trees.

What does this have to do with the life of spirit that I so often write about? Well, managing money well is a blessing that can lead to a pleasant old age in which you are free to live the way you wanted to when you were a child. (Which might include taking up weaving!)