Spend Money On What You Love

Everyone has heard about how you shouldn’t spend money on coffee everyday, or you shouldn’t spend money on this or that. The money all adds up they say, three dollars for coffee, for every work day comes to over $700 dollars in a year. However I say spend the three dollars if that makes you happy. Spend money on what you love. Honestly, why else does money exist? No, you should not spend so much money to put yourself into debt and you should budget your money and spend wisely, but why else do you have money but to spend it.

So go out to eat every once in awhile, live life, buy a movie, buy a book, buy opera tickets, buy a new pair of shoes, do something with your money. I personally invest currently around 75 – 80% of my income, but I still spend money event though it would be far smarter to save my money and invest it. However I wish to enjoy life, I don’t want to live in a bubble for the rest of my life, I don’t want to be the person who is in debt because they spend so much yet at the same time I also want to love the things that I do own and allow myself little pleasures every so often, so I spend a little more on certain things.

For me personally, books, a pair of excellent jeans, a great casual jacket, electronics, and my cappuccinos, these are my weaknesses. These are all things that I could buy cheaper, but I make the conscious decision that I want to enjoy what I own, so I spend a little bit extra on these items. The jeans that I bought, they weren’t in the $200 or more price range, they were more than I have ever spent on a pair of jeans or for that matter more than any other piece of clothing in my closet. But, they look great on me, I enjoy how I look in them, I get compliments from women with them, my ex-girlfriend told me I had a great ass in them, so for that I’ll spend the extra money. Why, because I want to look good, I like being able to walk out and look great. However I also temper that by buying a great many of my clothes on sale or discounted, it still looks great and unless you are a real clothing snob, majority of people won’t notice the difference, and those that do, I probably don’t want to be around you. The casual leather jacket that I bought is the same thing, I love how it looks, it is probably my favorite article of clothing, and I went and bought it when I was already spending more than I planned to on the jeans, but it was exactly what I was looking for, so I bought without second-guessing myself, and you know what I would never go back and change my mind about it or the jeans.

What am I trying to say, spend money on the things that you love. You know what it is that makes you smile and love every penny you spent, that is the thing that you should not worry about cost. It doesn’t mean you can’t and shouldn’t shop smart, but when you see something you love, don’t think, react. This does not mean to simply spend until you no longer have any money. When I bought my jeans and jacket, I cut back on spending in other areas to make up for it, I also did not buy anything outrageous for several months afterwards.

My general rule of thumb is for anything over 50 or so dollars, I wait thirty days to see if I still want it after that amount of time. (Note: Remember that I’m in college, not earning a full time salary here, vary your personal spending limit for your income.) I have broken this rule exactly 3 times in my life. Each time, I broke this rule I smiled looking at the bill, knowing, that I had/would:

1. Spent less than I was willing
2. Loved what I was buying
3. Received input from people important in my life on the decision
4. Slept at least one night or more on the decision and still wanted to buy it
5. Go back and do it all over again, in a heart beat, even if I could have saved that money and had doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled what I spent by now

So, go out today or this week and realize something – money is there to be spent, not locked away in an IRA, or a money market fund, but money is to spent. Enjoy life, especially if you are young, money you can always earn again. Happiness is something that you should have in your life, find what makes you happy and go out and get out.

Notes:
This blog article was formed from the reading of several different blog and newspaper articles.