This Is the One Big Thing I Don't Mind Spending a Lot of Money On
KEY POINTS
- In our family, we try to be careful with our money.
- We live on a budget and limit splurges.
- But we are always happy to spend money on travel because of the memories we're making.
We travel a lot, but there's a good reason we feel this is worth spending money on.
When it comes to spending, I generally try to be pretty conservative. I want to save a lot for my future and to make sure I can cover the cost of an education for two children. Plus, I'm potentially interested in retiring early, or at least having the ability to do so, so I'm investing heavily for my later years.
But, although I am a pretty frugal person in many areas, there is one thing I absolutely do not mind spending a lot of money on.
I'm always happy to splurge on vacations
The one big thing that I am always willing to spend money on is vacations with my family. In fact, this is one of the biggest line items in my budget outside of saving and housing costs.
We take a lot of vacations, going on eight trips just this past summer alone. And while I look for some ways to be frugal on my trips, like staying at campgrounds and cooking some of our meals ourselves, I'm also sometimes willing to splurge for special experiences while on vacation. Recently, for example, we rented a beachside cabana so our elderly dog was able to come with us to the beach for the day -- even though it cost more than $100 for the day.
There's a simple reason why I am happy to spend money both on taking lots of trips and on these special experiences while we are away. I believe the memories we are making on these trips are priceless and that planning, executing, and looking back on these vacations will bring us far more happiness than any of the stuff we would potentially purchase with our funds otherwise.
Since I have two small kids and a dog I adore, my husband and I are more than willing to shell out the cash needed to make the most of the time with our family that we can never get back. Soon enough, our kids will be grown and won't want to spend tons of time going on adventures with us any more, and we don't want to look back and wish we had done more.
There's nothing wrong with splurging on things you find worth it -- as long as you budget for it
For us, vacations are the thing we have chosen to spend a lot of money on. For other people, it might be something else, like expensive meals out or a fancy car that makes them feel good every time they drive it.
And the reality is, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having that one thing (or even a few things) that you spend on. The key, though, is to budget for this and make sure you aren't setting yourself up for financial hardship by doing it. We wouldn't charge all these vacations on our credit cards because we know that would make life harder, so we make sacrifices in other areas to enable us to spend on what we value most.
If you have something you love that you want to spend money on, take a look at your budget and see if you can find a way to do it that will still allow you to save for your future and avoid borrowing. If you can, there's no reason not to indulge yourself with your hard-earned cash.
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