Why I am Glad We've Had Some Financial Struggles

Why I am Glad We’ve Had Some Financial Struggles

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The other day, I went shopping with a neighbor. We’ve lived next door to this family for a long time, and they basically are The Joneses. They have 3 cars for 2 people (a huge SUV, an Audi and a Porsche). They have a boat (in an area of the country where you can use a boat for maybe 3 months out of the year, if you are lucky). They are always remodeling something, and if you ever want to borrow the latest power tool you can bet they have it.

When I went shopping with her, we went to a store that was having a sale. Without blinking an eye, she dropped $300 on makeup and moisturizer, and was commenting to me what a great deal it was because the store was giving a free gift.

Now, I’m not criticizing her. Its fine if she wants to spend money this way. This isn’t even one of those posts where I emphasize that she’s spending all this money and building debt, because she isn’t. Her husband makes a really good living and they inherited family money and I don’t think they have any debt at all.

Instead, paradoxically, watching her spend all this money on stuff actually made me glad that I am having some financial struggles. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing romantic or fun about being poor or living paycheck to paycheck or not being able to put food on the table. I’m not in that position, and I am thankful every day for that. But, for the first time I was sort of glad that we were in the position that we are in- able to survive and meet basic necessity’s but with enough debt that we have to budget very carefully, consider where we are spending money, and prioritize our expenses to focus on necessity’s.

Why, you might ask, did watching her spend money make me glad? There were a few reasons.

Having to struggle financially has forced me to develop perspective on money.

If you have never had to worry and can just buy whatever you want (or close to it) then things seem to lose their value. I understand how much something is worth, and I can evaluate how happy a purchase will make me and compare that to how much I have to spend for that purchase. In other words, the difference in price between buying drug store makeup and expensive department store makeup is not worth the incremental increase in happiness. The fact that I have to budget my money has forced me to look at, and consider whether a purchase is worth it and this has helped me to develop a healthy perspective on the actual value of items I buy.

Purchases mean more when you have struggled financially

When I buy a treat for myself, it is just that- a treat. If I went shopping every day, eventually it would lose its excitement. For me, half the fun of making a purchase is the anticipation and planning and if you just run out and buy everything, you never get that. Plus, I imagine it is something like developing a drug addiction- if buying a Starbucks latte is old hat to you and doesn’t feel like an indulgence, then you’ll have to spend more money on something even more outlandish to get that same thrill of rewarding or pampering yourself- like a Spa Day. Then, from there, maybe a Week long Spa Retreat. And so it goes, until you have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the same thrill, or just completely squander money (like rich celebrities and politicians buying thousand-dollar-an-hour prostitutes or drugs or other illicit expenses)

I am more grateful for what I do have

Since I’ve had to make choices to get the things I do have, I know that they are things that I really want or place value on. I also know that I saved for them, that I worked for them, that I cut corners to make them happen. And that creates a different feeling then just having a never-ending bank account to draw from (or so I would imagine, having never had a never ending bank account!

August 25th, 2008 in Spending |