I've been pretty frugal my whole life - growing up without a lot of money will do that to you.
However, since I graduated college debt-free a few years ago and landed a decent job and had disposable income for the first time in my life, I've been.....less frugal. I still rarely buy clothes and accessories and alcohol and other things people my age spend tons of money on, but my frugality hasn't really been maintained over the past couple of year.
I'm like a poster child for lifestyle creep. I started out with buying more expensive/fancier groceries. Then I started buying really nice gifts for people. Then I started using high-end makeup instead of drugstore brands.
Then I moved and my rent went down a few hundred dollars per month - awesome, even more money to save each month! JK - I spent it instead. I started buying coffee whenever I was out running errands. Then I started getting subscriptions like Hulu, Spotify, Ipsy, Bean Box, etc. Then I got a cat, which I DO NOT regret at all, but I couldn't stop buying her cute new toys and things. Then I got rid of my junker car and started leasing a new Honda (my payment is really low, but I definitely didn't NEED to do this).
All of the sudden, I realized a couple months ago that by the time I pay my bills, I don't really have any cash left, so I resort to using credit cards for everything. My CC debt is low (< $2,000 across 3 cards) and I am strategic with points, and I have a nice emergency fund that I don't touch, but still - things could be so much better.
I started using YNAB a couple of weeks ago to crack down on my silly spending habits. It's been immensely eye-opening and I am really relieved that I've started budgeting and really working on saving my money as opposed to spending frivolously.
For the past 3-4 days however, I've been really frustrated with YNAB - there were no transactions importing at all! I was annoyed since I want to make sure my budget is up to date. Finally I decided to just manually add all of my recent transactions.
Well, turns out that YNAB wasn't having technical difficulties - I just hadn't spent anything in a few days! It was definitely a wake-up call for me to realize that this was a milestone for me in my budgeting/saving journey.
I just wanted to share this small victory with you guys. Even if you think of yourself as frugal, don't forget to assess your spending habits and budget appropriately. And, it's never too late to adjust your habits and start being more responsible with your money!
Has this ever happened to any of you? What was your wake up call that you needed to start budgeting, and how did it feel when you achieved small (or large) victories?
April 25, 2018 at 12:36PM
