Stacking up dollars
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A strange thing happened on the way to learning to save money — I’ve become more and more reluctant to spend it. There’s something about actually having money in savings that makes me want to continue ADDING to it instead of taking away from it.
I haven’t become a miser by any means — I still eat out, give my son an allowance, buy new clothes, and get my hair done. And of course there was the trip to Italy :)
But I look at spending money differently now. I really think about each purchase, making sure that what I’m buying is actually something that I really want or need. It hurts to take that money out of savings or to use my American Express, so what I’m getting in return had better be worth it.
I’ve never been the kind of person who made a trip to the mall and came back loaded up with shopping bags full of stuff that I didn’t intend to buy. I’ve always been able to go shopping and just enjoy looking at the new things. But now when I shop for those things that I do intend to buy, I’m hyper-aware of the opportunity cost of them. The goal of financial freedom makes it too important to fritter away money on things that I won’t really even enjoy all that much.
October 8th, 2007 at 8:30 am
Would you do a break down on the costs for your trip to Italy, per person?
I’m interested to see. My brother’s girlfriend wants to take my daughters to Europe next summer as a gift, and asked me to come with. I told her I didn’t think I could manage it financially, with college right around the corner for three kids.
ANyhow I’d love to see your break down of costs.
Thank you.
October 8th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I totally agree… I used to buy whatever I wanted and/or needed .. never thinking about saving or when I would get paid again… Now that we actually have a little money in savings I just want to add more and more and not spend it…
October 8th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Money is important and when you give it the right level of respect - your thinking changes. As you mentioned - it’s not about being a miser but it’s a more profound awareness of money - how to save, when to spend and finally how to be smart about managing money.
Excellent post.
- Mark.