Karen and her boyfriend want to be financially free as soon as possible. But currently the balance between frugal living and spend little lost. How can she stop overspending?
The idea of being financially free and only working when you feel like it makes my mouth water. And when I think of giving my children a financially carefree life, my heart skips a beat. This means that we currently have to work hard and live frugally. This usually works well for us. Just not at the moment.
She is flying
Money seems to be flying out of our wallets at the moment. Is it hypertrophy? Is it a lack of motivation? Is he hungry for things? I’m afraid it’s mainly a reaction to recent years, in which we’ve tightened our belts significantly.
In recent years we have lived rather frugally. We were so excited to be financially free, and having a new baby in the house also meant we couldn’t let go of much. We rarely went out to dinner with or without kids (with kid: too much hassle, without kid: no energy because of broken nights). We also went to a garden bungalow once for a week in the year of her birth, because on vacation with a child, your life with a child continues in a different place. Nice for once, but otherwise a hassle and waste of money.
We didn’t have time to look in the mirror, so we also saved a lot on external care. We also worked full time from home, so no one noticed we’d been walking around in the same cheap sweatpants for five days or that we hadn’t showered in a few days. (Sorry, not sorry). We hardly spent any money on ourselves.
Children grow
The youngest is now almost two years old. Corona lockdowns are over, we’re sleeping again, and the child now has a say about getting out of the house; She thinks this is cool. This means we’re going out again! Just eh…now too much.
In the summer we love going out on the terrace (good for kids) and in the winter the terrace quickly becomes one exaggerated An indoor playground or a kid-friendly café where we spend our days off. Before you know it you are worth dozens of euros.
Looks beautiful again
I now also work more often in the office and increasingly feel the need to look a little warm. And so I buy earrings. Lots of earrings, because they are cute and cheap. Oh, and how easy this permanent makeup is! I got out of bed and just did my eyebrows and eyeliner. Let’s not talk about the price of the treatments, because that includes hundreds of euros. And everyone has beautiful gel polish nails these days. I wanted too and seeing those happy toes makes me so happy. But if I did this every month, I would go bankrupt. Yet I also want everything I see around me. Oh and also buying new panties.
sheep over the dam…
In short, it looks like if I had a taste for money spendI want more and more. Then I find it hard to follow. Either I go all in for frugal living or I let go of all the reins. There is little in between.
I’m not even talking about groceries which are now much more expensive, energy prices skyrocketing and childcare which is much more expensive. It’s time to make choices and tighten the belt again.
I really need new clothes, but all these beauty treatments are an unnecessary luxury. And these kids are enjoying themselves at a friend’s house as well as at an indoor playground… Focus again and go!