I'm good with money. That is... I'm good at making it, saving it for a little while- but only with the purpose to spend it.Logically, I should be teaching myself how to save money. You never know what will happen or when you may need emergency funds. Along with that, I know the future is going to be very expensive. Things I will need money for: medical school for Christopher, a house, a baby- maybe 3 or 4 of them, a bigger car, insurance.... the list could continue infinitely.
But then I become puzzled. There will always be expenses and no matter how much money I have saved, there will always be money that has to be spent. So technically, the purpose of money IS to spend it.
Realistically, in my naive, young mind- money actually does make me happy. Not the material aspect of it...but what it can do. Along with this, I am happier when I spend money- not when I save it. See this is a controversy. The intelligent person saves money. But I get confused, because looking
back on my life, the money I spent to visit family, to travel to Guatemala, to buy an expensive camera, to run a marathon in San Francisco, to buy that cute purse that makes me smile every time I wear it, to go skydiving in Las Vegas.... all of those memories added up, are worth a million times more than if I would look in my bank account right now and see $10,000. I've never looked back on a trip and said, wow- I wish I didn't go. I wish I had money instead. Honestly, if the Ghost of Christmas Past came up to me and said- I will give you $10,000 if you give me all of your memories. I'd say H-E-double-hockey-sticks NO! I wouldn't even trade those memories for $20,000. So technically, I got a deal?Okay but really...money seems useless if it's not being spent on adventures and fun things. I don't think you can even put a price tag on memories. Sure, you can add up the cost of flights, hotels, food and expenses...
but that doesn't actually quantify into the value of the whole experience. The feelings, the relationships, the pictures, videos and stories...So maybe this is a bad train of thought to nurture, as we contemplate flying home to visit our families AND taking a Caribbean cruise. But I just feel like one day, when I do have 3 or 4 kids, a mortgage, educational debt and endless expenses, maybe I wont be able to justify taking a spontaneous trip to a tropical island. So it's that fear, of maybe this will be my last chance, that makes me want to say, why not go?
Why save the money, when I can spend it on an experience that I may not get to have ever again? Why get caught up in money accruing in a bank account, when you never know if today will be your last day to really live? Why let money be the barrier to accomplishing goals and dreams?Money is just paper, paper that will eventually disappear.
Memories and experiences, however, those last forever.
I feel you. Saving money is good and we do make sure we have at least our 3 months of expenses saved up and we invest. However, memories are priceless and being young and married with no kids is something that only happens for a few years then real life kicks in. We are doing the same thing. We make it a point to take fun tropical vacations and do things we won't be able to afford when babies come. Life's more fun that way, right?
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the movie Up? It makes some seriously heart wrenching arguments towards what you're saying. I watched it, cried, and decided I wasn't going to put off my dreams (it all came at a bad time though, seeing as I'm 5 months pregnant and have a baby to pay for, oh my goodness are babies expensive). But we're only young once, and I don't think you should wait to have your fun and adventures in life until you retire. Miles and I decided we're always going to live a modest life, have a house that is just big enough for our needs, and concentrate on giving our children life experiences, seeing other cultures, and viewing the world. I think that's why so many of us are so ignorant, because we haven't seen how other people live. We want to give that to our children. So we'll scrimp and save, and we'll buy a smaller house, and we'll make Christmas and birthdays less of a priority in our family, and instead we'll take our kids on at least 1 great vacation every year. I think it all really just comes down to personal preference, maybe some people want that huge dream house and Landrovers, but for us, we want our lives to be an adventure. If you haven't seen Up, watch it. It will reaffirm every thing you're feeling.
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