Posted on February 5, 2020 by dragonspitapothecary
I have always been a saver mostly and have never really enjoyed spending large sums of money. Namely because I didn’t always have it and when I do I want to keep it for as long as possible; you know for rainy days and emergencies. Maybe this is because I had a tin piggy bank as a kid that had a little girl under an umbrella with a a saying around the lid about saving for a rainy day.
It’s not that I don’t ever spend money on myself because well I do. I particularly like to buy really nice handbags. I also like pretty jewelry, clothes, nice appliances at home and well things that make life easy, convenient and sometimes even fun. I love saving up for trips with the family and am constantly looking for travel deals to make that possible. I however always look at the price tag and will question myself on if this is the right time to buy whatever it is I’m looking at.
Today it is so easy to just shop anytime and anywhere. Virtually anything can be delivered to our doorsteps and we are 1-click away from anything we could possibly need or want. It’s almost too convenient and thus makes it easy for us to get into debt quickly. It happens and some of us really struggle with turning off those notifications of what’s in our shopping carts. Honestly it takes a lot of self-discipline to control spending given how easy it is spend money we don’t even have in our accounts. We often think it will be ok; we’ll have the money for it but then something will happen and we don’t. Instead we have a growing pile of debt we cannot ever get ahead on.
When my husband couldn’t work anymore and I was going through some challenging changes in my career we really worried how we would live like we had been living. It was and still sometimes is quite scary. A job can be gone tomorrow along with it that steady paycheck we get every other week as well as the insurance, benefits and paid vacation time. Savings can be eaten up quickly as we cover expenses or need to dip into it for repairs or replacements to keep life functioning. It’s these hard experiences that have shaped my cautious spending behaviors and why I question everything before handing over a credit card. Is it needed? Is it the right quality? Will it last? What’s the guarantee? How will we pay for it? Is now a good time to do this? Constant questions with sometimes no right answer.
With the expenses of living today I think many of us feel these same money pressures. We worry about our security and livelihood more than we should have to generally. We dread our jobs each morning but know they are an evil necessity and we pray that it will hold out. We see our children or even ourselves with massive education debt well before they are even in established jobs and worry how that will be paid off. Everything can seem just so expensive to simply live! So making decisions on handbags and things I love to treat myself with has to really be a comfortable purchase for me. It makes me somewhat jaded I think when I’m approached with “good deals” or “buy now” opportunities.
It wasn’t that we were destitute when my husband couldn’t work anymore because we were not but we were realistic of the risk this presented to our livelihood now. That extra income was gone and living on one paycheck not knowing when that job could be eliminated can be really stressful. I fully admit that I started looking at natural living as a way to simply cut expenses for the rainy day possibilities. I needed some assurances and control against those fears and risks. I wanted to safeguard our livelihood as much as possible so cutting what we spent on things seemed a good strategy. I didn’t have time for couponing and shopping sales either so I needed real solutions that worked and I could budget for consistently.
Over the past 2 years we have changed a lot of how we spend money for our household, personal care and medical needs. It’s not quite akin to living off the grid but it certainly has changed our home and reshaped shopping lists. It has definitely changed how I think about what I buy and why. I can say I’m honestly in love with spending my time and money on these solutions because I can count on them to work and they are a fit for our budget. It’s weird to say that a bottle of essential oil can save the day but it literally did and it kept some money in the bank too. I have controls like I’ve never had before when it comes to buying what my family needs without being caught in the 6 week sales cycles of stores hoping for the lowest prices and
if I have a coupon for something we need.
The majority of shopping we do in our home is online and a nice little UPS driver or our friendly mail person brings it to the door. Even the dog food comes this way now. Inside the boxes will be our household cleaners, personal care items and some oils to use for health and in recipes I make for products around the house. Oh we do still go to the grocery store but even that is done online and we arrive to have it loaded in the van. Everything we buy now I’m no longer looking at prices but at impact and value it has to our family. We have saved a lot of money in this process so I can now say the value is in ensuring we get a very good quality and that it is good for us.
It truly is weird for me to say I love to spend because I don’t really but I love to spend on things that are serving my family well and that are not costing us a bundle to provide. I love seeing that money stay in our accounts for rainy days that you know are going to come sooner or later. To me this is what true living well and on our terms looks like. The reduction of worry and stress over money. The ability to take care of my family to keep us healthy. It even means once in a while I can even get one of those super nice handbags I love and a wallet to go with it.
If you’re ready to use 2020 to reset your financial security in your family then start with my Lifestyle & Wellness Questionnaire. This will give you a perspective of what is really important to you. It’s free and helps you hone in on where to start and how to fit it into your family budget. Simply click here: dragonspitapothecary.com/lifestyle-and-wellness
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