Transparency

I firmly believe that any relationship requires transparency. If you are not real, if you are not honest, if you are not true, then any bond you strive to build will be built on a foundation with weaknesses. Lies and deceit become cracks in the foundation, and eventually, it crumbles. Whether you're talking about a person to person relationship, a person to self relationship, or even a person to object relationship, transparency must be present from the beginning.

Which brings me to the Fun Dollars Summer Challenge. I would love to sit here and tell you about how swamped I was with entries, my inbox bursting with emails, but it wasn't. Maybe $50.00 wasn't enough to motivate people. Maybe people are scared to look at what they actually spend.  I am choosing to be transparent with you about what happened with the Fun Dollars Summer Challenge.

It's a little embarrassing to admit, but I have to hold true to my ethic about transparency. I must be 100% honest with my money and with my readers; no secrets, no lies. I could easily make up a story about a person who wrote an amazing entry and won the $50.00. The truth is, no one would be the wiser. But I would know, and I would be laying down a foundation for Fun Dollars with cracks in it. That's not what I want, so here's the truth.

No one entered. Not a single person wrote to me about their experience with Fun Dollars this summer. I literally tried to give away $50.00 and couldn't. I had been anticipating this week all summer long. I dreamed of reading emails about inspired readers who are now taking the steps toward financial responsibility. But no one sent those emails, no one shared their story. So what happened to the $50.00?



Yet another layer of transparency...

I had a fabulous night out. Yep, we paid for a babysitter with my saved-up Fun Dollars. I had it stashed in a hiding place since last week so I wouldn't spend it. Then I found out last Friday that Corey had been asked to represent his company at a dinner auction. It was for the Sedona International Film Festival, and his company is always a title sponsor, so they bought us the tickets. Instead of going to the bank for the money to pay the sitter, I just counted on using the Fun Dollars, and getting more from the bank after choosing a winner for the Challenge.

Can you tell which one is the $15.00 dress
and which one is the $150.00 dress?

The best part was wearing my $15.00 Fun Dollar dress that I wore to the wedding back in July. The
people that attended this event were the president of the Chamber of Commerce, the top realtors
in town, the Mayor of Sedona, and various millionaires. I did not feel a bit out of place in my $15.00 dress. I wore it with confidence, knowing that it was something I had purchased, for me, with my own money. Last night was a prime example of Fun Dollars put to good use.

I don't even plan on recovering my babysitter money. I'm choosing to let the babysitter be a Fun Dollars expense just because everything else about my night out was free. Also, since I don't have to pay anyone else the money, why not spend it on something fun?

Babysitter for the night- $50.00
Balance this pay cycle- $43.00
Happy Spending!