Spending money?
Say what?
I’m usually all about saving money, but I think in some small ways I’m starting to change my tune.
I’ve been straight up miserly since childhood – I was the kid with several piggy banks stuffed full, who never spent my birthday money on anything.
I had so much cash that in high school I became the go-to friend for a loan. And I didn’t mind at all.
In college, I rode a skateboard to work because I didn’t own a car. I stretched restaurant gift cards by ordering nothing but muffins and tea. I made my friends all birthday cakes, with 88 cent mixes and a 50 cent can of soda.
When we first got married, I could make dinner for four adults with a single chicken breast and Knorr Pasta Side. No exaggeration.
Pre-owned clothing. Pre-owned furniture. Flipping a house. Craigslisting. Putting off car repairs. You name it, we do it super frugally.
But today, I spent $30 on Christmas wrapping supplies, and I realized something.
We have been so careful with our money, for so long, that we deserve to spend a little of it on making our lives easier.
My husband got a sort-of promotion this year (he went from teacher to principal, but not the fancy kind of well-paid principal) and so far we haven’t really taken advantage of that whatsoever. We’ve been saving up for a big vacation next year for five years, and we have some home remodeling we’ve budgeted for, but our day-to-day spending remains super tight-fisted.
Until I stopped in the Christmas aisles of the store today, and bought the first wrapping paper I liked, and the fancy name tags, and the nice ribbon. Most years, I wait until I can get to the bigger store (an hour away) with the BIG rolls of INEXPENSIVE wrapping paper, and spend hours DIYing decorations and tags for the packages. It takes forever. I enjoy it at the beginning but then it majorly stresses me out. So this year, I just paid for the fancy stuff right now, in early November, and can leisurely wrap my presents at will.
Definitely worth $30.
There are other things I’ve recently decided are worth the money or cupboard space after years of refusing them.
A griddle. I always felt like owning an electric griddle was a kitchen-space extravagance; after all, can’t I just use a pan on the stove.
But I’ve got a pretty large family now, and making pancakes two at a time in a pan was taking more time than it was worth. I asked for a griddle as a gift (a practical one – it flips over to become an indoor grill) and have used it multiple times already in only a couple weeks.
Good pens. Sure, I could stick it out with the free or very-inexpensive ballpoint pens, but I do a lot of handwriting and every single time I touch a ballpoint to paper I’m irritated. (I have a problem.) Flair pens, always, regardless of the extra $.
Better hangers. YEARS of slipping clothes, followed by years of breaking hangers, and I’ve finally landed on all-one-piece metal hangers coated in something. Worth the extra.
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Essentially, if I use it every day and it’s not too extravagant, or if it will save me serious stress and effort, it has become worth it to me. After all, I’ve spent 25 years being careful with my money – and you can’t take it with you.