Okay, so what happens when you decide that you want to lock down your finances, follow a budget and get out of debt. We know that getting out of debt can be a boring and tiring experience, but you can take some precautions to guard against that.
First of all, stick to your budget, but allow yourself a little indulgence on rare occasion. Why? Well, it’s my opinion that everyone only has so much willpower to give to something, and eventually they will break and indulge anyway, so little indulgences keep away the big ones. So, what types of indulgences are little? Well, when you’ve got your finances locked down, and you’re buying basic needs only when it comes to groceries, TV and movies/shows etc., on occasion it wouldn’t hurt to buy a nice meal from the grocery. Make that a special family night with a nice meal and some board games or something. Or, you could save a couple of bucks every week out of your grocery budget to take the family to the movies or some other inexpensive activity. Your choice! The point is to indulge occasionally to keep you focused and on task, without blowing through your budget. If you never treat yourself, you might fall off the wagon. Notice to those of you who are “used to” treating yourselves…this does not mean you can do your normal “treating”…no mani/pedi’s, or blowouts, or daily cupcake from the specialty $10 a cupcake store, or expensive clothes/shoes/tools. This is a small indulgence. A $20 pick me up a couple of times a month. If you can’t stick to that, you’ll never get out of debt. And no, you don’t “deserve” those mani/pedi’s, because they are what got you into debt in the first place!
Trying to do 2 or more hard things, like getting out of debt and quitting smoking (for example) at the same time, means even more added stress to your willpower. You have to give a little slack and indulge yourself while getting out of debt, because the alternative,in this example, is indulging in smoking. Not cool. And indulging a little there would save you money anyway, since once you quit smoking, you would have a ton of cash to put toward paying down your debt!
What’s the take away? Get on a budget. Pay off your debt. Learn to live like an adult who doesn’t get everything they want every time they want it. But stay on this path for the long haul by making the occasional small ticket splurge!
Tags: Budgeting, Financial planning, Money tips, Personal responsibility, saving money, Spending Money
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