Let's be honest. No one can be thrifty and frugal all the time. Maybe it is possible, but a life without a few frivolous financial moves may just not be much of a life at all.
I made a frivolous move today. I spent $1,300 on plane tickets to New Orleans. I will be there for only 24 hours and am coming back home. Not the most judicious use of the travel budget, I know. But it's a decision that makes perfect sense for us and has made the hubby and I very happy. We are going to celebrate one of our best friends' 40th birthday, and all of our other friends will all be there.
It wasn't easy to press the "Book Travel Now" button.
You see, we suffer from hyper-responsible syndrome. We are textbook cheapskates. We do everything "right". We put money in the 529 plan (which we opened before baby was even born). We save a good chunk of our income. We have no credit card debt, no car loans. We have an emergency fund, health insurance. We each get a small weekly adult allowance, spend no more than $500 a month on groceries, gas, and eating out. We save up and pay cash for home repairs and improvements, and take on extra work whenever we can to increase our income.We get movies and books for free from the library.
And do you know what? As our finances have become more secure, our life has become more boring. And, if we aren't careful, our super responsible frugal ways have the potential to turn us into boring people. A lot of frugals stay home because it's cheaper, and we started to walk that fine line. We forget that we once had a lot less than we do now, but still managed to travel overseas and live a full social life without going bankrupt. It's just easier, once you are in your 30s, have a baby and a steady job, to get complacent, to do what's easiest instead of swimming against the stream to have an adventure. Slowly, we have become lulled by the gentle rock of our daily routine.
How many people do you know who are so obsessed with saving a dime that they can never rationalize making their dreams come true? They never take that dream vacation, never open that business, never [insert dream] because it requires money that can be "put to better use" somewhere else.
Everyone's money can always be put to better use, at least when it comes to discretionary income. You could forgo the $4 latte and tack that extra money onto your student loan payment. You could skip the $3 DVD rental and put $3 in savings instead. Sure, we could all do that. But what life does that leave you with?
There is a time and a place for super thrift, but at some point you have to ask "What am I saving my money for?"
Retirement, yes. A noble goal you should save for. But does that mean you can't take a vacation during your working life, in order to save as much as possible?
I know a couple that did that, and then both of them got cancer at age 55. They could have worked all of those years, scrimped and saved, denied themselves all kinds of fun, and then died before they reached their goal. Fortunately, their story had a happy ending. That was 10 years ago, and they managed to retire and start to spend their money.
Some people would use a story like this as a reason not to save for a rainy day. That is the wrong lesson. Save for tomorrow,yes, but don't forget to live your life now. Everything in moderation, including moderation.
This brings me full circle to today, when I clicked "book travel now" on two obscenely-priced plane tickets.
I spent the bulk of my adult life in New Orleans and only moved because I was forced to by a natural disaster. I haven't been back in two years, due to work, pregnancy and the rigors of raising a new baby. We had originally planned to spend a week in New Orleans this month, but the babysitters fell through. I was dejected and sad, but then had an epiphany last night. Go anyway, even if it's just for a day, and no matter how much it costs. So we did it. The little man will stay with grandma this weekend, and the trip will be so fast that no one will have to miss a day of work, not even the hardest-working grandma in town.
Sometimes, being frivolous pays bigger dividends than a bigger savings account.
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