That’s right, SPEND MONEY! It may sound weird coming from a personal finance blogger like myself (or the fact that I just wrote about not spending a dime for an entire month! Haha… ) but that’s exactly what it’s there for – to make your life more enjoyable.
The problem people usually have is that they not only spend on things they love, but they also spend on things they *think* they need, or even kinda-sorta-want/need but in the end really don’t want. And then they see their friends with something new & shiny and they have to have that too! That’s way too much spending with not enough limiting.
If you want to be both happy and financially secure, you’ve got to better prioritize where your cash is going. Wanna roll around in a nice Benz? Great! Don’t spend so much on housing when you use 10% of that 4 bedroom home. Want that $5,000 Super Computer Deluxe? Sounds good! Just stop blowing your money on dining out just because you’re lazy. It’s all about asking yourself whether this stuff is indeed important to you, or if you’re just used to spending the money out of habit.
And truth be told, it really doesn’t matter *what*, exactly, you spend your money on – just that it’s going somewhere important to YOU. I could personally care less about a fancy pants computer (so I blog from a 5 y/o laptop), but I very much enjoy traveling. This year I’ll spend anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 roaming around the world because that’s what’s important to ME.
It’s a pretty simple concept if you think about it, you just have to work on putting it to use. Look over your bank statements this week and see if there’s anything on there that really doesn’t get you excited (bills, of course, don’t count – but you can certainly try and cut back on them!). If you find something – and there’s always something – eliminate it. Or return it, or stop it from happening every month. You get the point.
Slap a post-it-note on your credit card if you have to, and write “do I really LOVE this?” on it. If you do, carry on. But if you catch yourself hesitating, take a few more seconds and make sure it fits in with your goals. It’s not going to stop you from buying everything, but overtime it’ll at least help make your decisions go faster.
When it comes down to it, there’s nothing wrong with spending money – just with spending it on stuff you don’t care about. Do your best to weed out the crap in your life and focus on what’s important. The money will still be gone, but at least you enjoyed yourself 😉
Haha! Well he was my idol when I was younger, and intentionally or not I tend to be something of an adventurer myself these days. I travel internationally, I document strange and distant places as a photojournalist, I have a sidecar motorcycle, I do historical reenactments and can shoot pretty much anything you put in my hands, I’ve sailed across the Atlantic twice as a professional tallship sailor, and I’m part-way done with my pilot’s license and once copiloted our family small plane from Houston, TX to above the Arctic Circle in Alaska with my dad over the course of 2 weeks.
Just gies to show that childhood heroes can have a long-lasting effect on who we grow up to become.
damn girl! you’ve accomplished more than a few people put together!! and you’re like, what, in your 20s? Crazy. Good for you. Inspirational!
Yes, I’m 26. Thanks for the encouragement. I often feel like I haven’t really done much at all, so it’s nice to hear stuff like that.
Haha, gotta love that! I used to pimp this old school Honda Prelude back in the day, and there was no way you could convince me NOT to spend money on it – all my part time job $ went into it (over food, clothing, etc). I look back and sometimes think I was crazy, but at the time THAT was what made me happy. Now I ride a ’93 (almost “stock”) Caddy and use my money for mutual funds and plane tickets – things I really didn’t think about back then.
So I think it’s great you’re spending it on your baby 🙂 And even better that it’s now paid off! Great job!
I think a lot of people have “that” car that they spent all their money on. In high school, I had 1 68 Beetle that I was slowly restoring. Almost every dime I made that didn’t go into college savings went into that car.
Part of my money right now is going into restoring a vintage sidecar motorcycle. It’s a blast, and it helps me travel within the 300 mile radius I trust it in, and it’s our second vehicle, so it’s worth it to me. Thankfully, my boyfriend is currently footing much of the bill for it (we are co-owners, both on the title, etc).
Reenactments AND sidecar motorcycle? Who are you Indian Jones? 😉
Perfectly put, J! 😀
Sadly, after over a year of pure car dedication, I’m allowing some clothing purchases back into my life… But only a few, only high quality and only good deals. I work much better with limits.
But, since I made one clothing purchase ($50) to celebrate paying off my 240SX, time to buy her something nice, finally, instead of making a car payment next month. 😉
This is exactly why I manage my finances – so I can spend more on what I love. Thanks for the reminder.
Work it out, brotha!
I definitely try to live my life this way: there are things I love to do — like travel — but it feels like a lot of personal finance experts want me to feel bad about spending my money. I’m not interested in a guilt trip because I choose to prioritize some of the stuff I actually enjoy doing over building up the biggest savings account ever.
Why hello there Mrs. Thursday 🙂 It’s true some bloggers harp on extreme frugality. Not my deal, but pretty cool to see how our niche can be broken down to sub-niches like that as well. Lots of opinions out there.
This post is great!
I get a lot of flak from the travel blogger community because I don’t put all of my savings toward travel (one of my passions). A lot of my money goes toward historical reenacting, which is another of my passions (and unfortunately, not a cheap hobby). This doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Why? Because the money is going toward something that I really enjoy, and that makes me happy. As you said, money is there to help make you happy, so why not use it?
Cool! I’m very familiar with the historical reenactment stuff. I’d never do myself, but find it all pretty fascinating 🙂 Good for you in sticking to your guns (literally).
Wow, I think you’re the first person in the lifestyle design community who I’ve met who even has a clue what historical reenacting is!
i try to culture myself every now and then 😉
Glad to see someone who sees us as culture, rather than just “those weirdos”.
Agree man, cuz what kinda donkey spends money on stuff they don’t want?! 😛
I decided to go to Hawaii this past Saturday last minute, and here I am! Spending stuff on the stuff I like… which is being in a freaking awesome place and enjoying life.
Peace.
Haha….what that guy below says 😉
and one of these days I’ll be paying a visit to you so you best have my room all fixed up! I need lots of bananas, lottery tickets, and a blogging station. Those are my requests, thanks.
Sorry, I already have one wife. Don’t need another!
I read a blog post somewhere a few weeks ago about people tending to be attracted to their financial opposites. It happened here. But things aren’t really that bad. We just disagree on how often we should go out to eat.
That is certainly the case with me and my boyfriend. I tend to value my time over money, so I only work enough hours to pay my bills with a tiny amount extra. He values money over time, so he works a lot. He has always had savings and is constantly stressed about them, I’ve never had savings and thus am never stressed about them. I actually wrote a post about it here: http://www.driftingfocus.com/blogs/?p=6117
Pretty interesting how we all match up to our sign. others. I could talk finance all day long, but my wife would rather poke her eyes out 😉 Works out if both parties are happy though.
Yep, it does. It works out with us because while Marc is more money-based, he also is more than happy to use his higher income to pay a larger portion of the bills, thus allowing me more time to work on getting somewhere with my photography career.
“what kinda donkey spends money on stuff they don’t want?”
The kinda donkey with a wife that does want the stuff! 😀
wait, what did I do there? I’m all kinds of comment-messed up – sorry guys! too much beer already…but if you live in a nice area too Edward, perhaps I’ll stop by there too?
This is a vital concept. Spend your money on quality stuff, instead of fluff items.
I recently realized that I have not spent any money on writing utensils recently. For awhile there, I was looking at pens, trying new ones out… searching for the right pen, without really being aware. Apparently I found it. Only a few weeks ago, I noticed that I had not even looked at pens since Christmas, after receiving the pen I have been using ever since.
While this might be a nerdy example, it is a perfect illustration. I have a $30 pen that I use on a daily basis and love. I spent many multiples of $5 in search for that pen. If I had gone with my first instinct and gotten the pen that I really wanted, I could have saved more than this pen cost.
Hah! That’s a great example, I love it! I think we all do this to some extent so if you can catch yourself like you did it’s awesome 🙂 Even if others could care less about $30 pens. Which, oddly enough, I literally JUST found a nice case of them from at least 2 xmas’s ago! was hiding in my closet those dirty dogs….but yeah, great example indeed! thx for sharing.
How true is that one! You can only spend money once and it seems we all struggle with that basic fact.
Only a few weeks ago I was having a discussion with friends of the in-laws about keeping track of spendings (essential habit if you ask me) and first I was rediculed for tracking every cent. Shortly after they made the statement that they had better “Spend the money before it was gone”
Quite disturbing if you ask me. But at least it inspired to a blogpost about it.
Asking yourself “Do I want it, or do I need it” is so much help, follow it with your suggestion “what else could I spend this on”and you have a winning combination.
Greets, Christiaan
Yeah dawg, you know it! People will hate if you try and bring out some wisdom every now and then – just brush it off and keep rockin’ those financial moves 😉 Some people just have no desire to change their financial ways unfort.