Answering a question

Hilary posted this comment in response to my last post, Some thoughts about money.

I agree that it is good to spend your hard earned money and I certainly don’t judge you. However, I have been reading your blog for years now in order to inspire myself to save more, spend less but with reading about your recent purchases, all it makes me want to do is buy new ski gear, concert tickets, go on trips, too, etc. and I am not as motivated to read your blog anymore as when you were a spendthrift that I want to be more like. Do you worry that you will lose your audience now that you are sharing how you spend more? What are your thoughts on this?

It has taken me years to figure out my finances. I went from spending everything I earned and more (which landed me in a big pile of debt) to counting every single penny as I tried to get myself out of debt. Now that I’ve been out of debt for nearly 2 years (!!!), I’ve really struggled to find a lifestyle balance. Sometimes I’ll want to save as much as I possibly can, and then other times I’ll want to let loose and have fun. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll notice that I’ve flip flopped from one extreme to the other quite a few times. But what has stayed constant is my ability to save money and not go into debt.

Instead of scrimping on every single category in my budget and feeling deprived (like I felt for so long when I was getting myself out of debt and then immediately switching to saving mass amounts of money every month), I’ve adjusted to scrimping on some categories and spending a little more in other areas that I value more.

And of course, over the years my priorities have changed. When I first started this blog, my #1 goal was to get out of debt and save as fast as I could for a down payment. Now that I’m with BF and we have plans together for the future, my focus is to save up for traveling, and to make sure I won’t land flat on my face when we return from my adventure. I still want to buy my own place desperately, but it’s not the right time in my life anymore.

As I look back on my previous budgets, I’m really not spending that much more money. I live in a more expensive city now – paying more rent, paying for my own cable/internet, paying for 100% of my own food, etc. When I started blogging, up until last January, I was living in my parents basement. I paid a minimal amount in rent, and I shared expenses for the most part with my now ex-BF.

Back then, I didn’t spend money on outdoorsy gear or traveling. I didn’t have the time to do those sorts of things, what with getting out of debt and working 2 fulltime jobs. But I did spend my share of money on concerts (and traveling to get to concerts since I lived on the island), field hockey equipment, tons of fishing gear (which isn’t cheap – all while I was still getting out of debt), buying my scooter (also, remember that $850 upgrade?), paying for gas, going to expensive salons to get my hair cut, etc. I just spent my money differently than I’m spending now. Perhaps a $850 scooter upgrade seems a lot more practical than spending $850 on ski equipment – but money spent is money spent, right?

I don’t pay for scooter maintenance or gas or insurance anymore, and that frees up money for me to spend on other things. I also don’t travel home as often, and I don’t play field hockey anymore, which saves me over $500/year when it’s all said and done.

I also think a lot of it is perception. I talk about spending money a lot more, whereas before, I used to talk more about what I’m saving and how I’m saving. I guess it’s because I’ve settled on how much I need to save and where I need to cut corners in order to achieve my financial goals, that it’s just on automation now. I save an average of $900-1,300/month. Which is almost exactly the same as what I was saving previous to moving to Vancouver (taking into account the extra cost of rent, that is). I’m spending a bit more, because it costs WAY more to live in Vancouver. But I’m still really proud of how I’m spending and what I’m saving.

What I’ve been focusing on over the past year is what I’m spending money on. What are my spending patterns, and how can I improve on them? It doesn’t come easily to me, so I’m really trying to figure it out.

As for losing my audience, I think personal finance and life in general is a journey (cheesy, I know … but it’s true). I’ve come so far from where I started, and I’m grateful and so happy for the people that have shared in my story along the way. My goal with this blog is to share what my experiences are, and if they take me somewhere that some readers don’t want to go, then I’m sorry to have lost them. But since I obviously can’t please everyone, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing.

Sorry for such a long post, I just had a lot to say I guess. :)

One Response to “Answering a question”

Author comments are in a darker gray color for you to easily identify the posts in the comments

1. Give Me Back My Five Bucks » Getting somewhere with personal finance says:

   Saturday, March 6, 2010 - 11:53am at 11:53 am

   [...] I blogged about this earlier in the year. If I talk more about spending than saving, then you will get the perception that I am spending a ton of money. Just as if I only talked about saving, you would get the perception that I’m barely spending anything. [...]

   Reply

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