My involvement in Kiva.org isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I find myself spending way too much time on there looking for new loans to fund.
As of today I have loaned out a total of $20,050 (654 loans) to third world entrepeneurs. I totally blew the $10,000 goal I set earlier in the summer out of the water. I don’t think it’s healthy for someone my age to that involved in charitable loaning so I’ll scale things down a bit.
I should be spending my money on drugs, women and booze right? I kid. I do enjoy a drink every now and then but I practice moderation. The thought of taking something so far that you’d have to leave it behind forever is crazy.
Instead I plan on doing a massive renovation to my living space and throw away all the couches, coffee tables, desks and so forth. It’ll be one of those unfrugal moments in my life where I’ll be spending money on things that don’t really matter but makes me happy. Kind of like getting the overpriced stitched hats at Disneyland but it’s part of the experience and makes you happy. Getting a squishy couch to replace my broken down one to enjoy the upcoming football season is at the top of my list of furniture to replace.
I’ll still be adding more money to Kiva every month but in much smaller amounts. $400/month sounds just about right. I still believe in Kiva’s mission and will try to inspire others to participate. Funding $20k worth of loans in under 3 months isn’t happening again in the near future though.
Lending on Kiva can be very addictive! For a while, I was putting about 50% of my income in Kiva, which probably wasn’t good for portfolio diversification, but it felt great to help entrepreneurs.