{"id":16011,"date":"2010-03-18T04:00:20","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T11:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/?p=16011"},"modified":"2023-10-04T15:44:10","modified_gmt":"2023-10-04T21:44:10","slug":"the-balance-between-splurger-and-miser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/the-balance-between-splurger-and-miser\/","title":{"rendered":"The balance between splurger and miser"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before I changed my habits, I spent money without much thought. In college, if I had a two-hour break between classes, I’d drive to the mall. Once I started working full time, my coworker and I would bring our lunches to work just so that we’d have the entire hour to shop. If I was bored, I’d wander into the cosmetics superstore Sephora for entertainment. Even at home I’d shop, buying online and tracking my packages until they arrived.<\/p>\n

I thought I needed a new dress for every event I attended, new clothes from REI for every backpacking trip, and practically a whole new wardrobe if I was going out of town. I thought these new things were a way to reinvent myself or to portray the right image, but all they did was fill up my closets and bathrooms with a ton of Stuff that I’m still sorting through today. (Brokamp’s article on turning clutter into cash<\/a> inspired me to devote this weekend to more de-cluttering.)<\/p>\n

These habits never put me deeply into debt, but they weren’t helping me to get out, either. I was often surprised at what my total at the checkout counter, but I’d throw down the credit card anyway, too self-conscious to put anything back. I’d make a lame promise to myself to cut back, but I never did.<\/p>\n

<\/span>A Stop to the Splurging<\/span><\/h2>\n

The temporary high of buying Stuff was making me miserable when the credit card bill arrived every month. When I finally had enough of paying down the debt just to drive the balance back up again, I went in the other direction. I quit buying clothes and cosmetics and made my lunch every, single day. It was a strange adjustment to have a packed lunch and a full hour in the middle of the day, without a shopping trip to fill the time. I cut my magazine subscriptions, reduced the minutes on my cell phone plan, carpooled to save gas money, and took clothing to the resale shop. I avoided every expense I possibly could, and the debt was paid off pretty quickly.<\/p>\n

The downside was that I found it hard to spend money on anything<\/i>, even after my husband and I were debt-free and had a healthy emergency fund.<\/p>\n

<\/span>A Stop to the Miserliness<\/span><\/h2>\n

I remember when it became clear that I needed to assess my relationship with money (yet again) because it was the day that the glass carafe from our French coffee press hit the floor. My stomach turned, and I immediately wondered how much it was going to cost to replace it. I went online and found that a replacement carafe would cost $12. I breathed a sigh of relief, but I also realized that my reaction wasn’t indicative of a healthy relationship with money.<\/p>\n

My compulsion to buy had turned into a compulsion to save.<\/b> Why was I buying all that Stuff? Why was I now so worried about saving every cent, especially since we were out of debt and saving money every month? I filled my need to buy with a need to save, and neither was working for me.<\/p>\n

<\/span>The Middle Ground<\/span><\/h2>\n

In an attempt to find a balance between debt and spending guilt, I began to think about the reasons why it would be a good thing<\/em> to spend extra money. I came up with the following situations:<\/p>\n