What does it mean to Live Big®?

May 22, 2009 Financial Planning, Fun Stuff By: Lauren Mireles

What does Live Big mean? Some may interpret it as meaning “spend big”, “live large” or a recommendation to some other form of overindulgence. But Live Big is about the size of your life, not the size of your wallet. In crazy economic times, it can sometimes be difficult to remember the areas in our life where we can Live Big without spending (much, if any) money. But if we can find the place of gratitude for what we have, we can find joy in the most mundane of places, and, hopefully, at least get our minds off of how scary the world can feel at times. We offer these ideas for your consideration. And we will be updating this page with additions from anyone who wants to participate, so please send us any ideas you might have.

Walk the dog (borrow one if you don’t have one of your own)

Read all those books you’ve been collecting, meanwhile drinking all that tea that has accumulated in your cupboard

Continue to make your Charitable Contributions

Have a book swap party with everyone bringing a few books they’d like to swap and a refreshment

Use Netflix’s “Surprise Me” feature to watch something new

Play cards or a board game with someone fun

Watch a comedy routine and laugh the day/night away

Dance

Look at old pictures and marvel at how great you still look

Watch a thunderstorm – on a porch if possible

Volunteer at an animal shelter

Feed someone’s parking meter

Throw a Board Game Night at your house for friends, family, neighbors

If you find a tails up penny, turn it over for someone else to find a heads up penny

Print the photos you’ve been meaning to get off of your phone and put them in a photo album or scrapbook

Have a special story time with your children or grandchildren

Put a puzzle together

Give yourself a beaming ear-to-ear smile for five minutes, just because you’re alive. A big grin triggers a flood of serotonin and endorphins, creating a virtuous cycle; literally creating happiness where none may have existed before

Give special attention to your spouse

Hug your pet

Visit a restaurant, winery, or brewery and taste the new releases

Get an almost free vacation through a home exchange

Read a book to your child – Mo Willems is hilarious

Clean out your closets and donate good, usable clothing and shoes to the Homeless Shelter program in town

Go for a walk with your partner or friend and enjoy discussing the day

Go out to dinner and a ballgame with good friends

Hug someone (be careful, in general it should be someone who you know)

Get on Zoom or FaceTime and call friends all over the world

Watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” or “Love Actually” or some other super feel good movie

Write a letter to a soldier

Teach a teenager how to balance a checkbook

Journal

Burn an aromatherapy candle

Do a craft (find something on sale at Michael’s or another craft shop)

Make somebody laugh

Donate blood

If you have a premium streaming service, invite your friends over to watch shows they might otherwise not get to see

Go to the library and check out books and/or other neat accessories

Feed someone’s parking meter

Be a Big Sister or Big Brother

Make a quilt

Organize a silly 2k or 5k walk/run in your neighborhood

Take silly/pretty pictures just for fun

Plant some flowers or vegetables and watch them come up from seed

Discover a new park and go for a hike

Stare at the spring flowers

Kiss your spouse

Write a letter to someone you love

Another happy movie to watch: About a Boy

Listen to a feel-good playlist during your commute to work

Eat a square or two of Lindt 70% Cocoa Dark Chocolat

Volunteer at the Homeless Shelter program in town. Gain gratitude that you aren’t homeless and can help others

Teach a class of 3-5 year olds

Don’t live in worry for your future – enjoy today

Remember, if you pray, why worry? If you worry, why pray?

Trust your financial planner to help optimize your financial goals

Listen to songs from different periods in your life

Start a gratitude journal (every morning/evening, write down 5 things for which you are grateful)

Write a poem, or at least read one

Make a game out of cooking dinner for a week using only ingredients already found in your pantry or freezer (adding fresh vegetables)

Exercise

Breathe, pray, meditate

Volunteer

Listen to music

Make a hobby out of finding free weekend activities and planning outings with family friends

Get fresh vegetables from a farmers’ market

Catch a snowflake on your tongue

Give a stranger a compliment

Pay a true compliment to someone who annoys you

Match all your mismatched socks

Create something (stained glass, a photo album, a collage)

Color – with a child, by yourself, outside the lines

Visit monuments and museums in your area

Bake some bread or cookies and share them with a neighbor or friend

Take a leisurely walk around a new neighborhood in your city – be a “tourist”

Smell the spring flowers

Hug your spouse

Call a friend and tell them you value their friendship

Pay it forward, volunteer, it comes back tenfold

Take a yoga class

Pet a dog

Volunteer at the Food Pantry and serve meals to homeless and underprivileged communities

Instead of going to a photo studio for family pictures, set up a “studio” at home and have a friend take the pictures