So, first things first. I typed up a nice long post this afternoon recapping my parents visit and saying how much we spend when guests from out of town visit and then… The post got deleted when I clicked “Save draft.” That’s never happened before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.
So, onto another topic on how to stop stressing about money. I don’t know about you, but I am ALWAYS stressed when it comes to finances. No matter how much we save each month, how much we cut back or how much we make, I’m stressed. It’s seriously like a sickness and it’s GOT to stop.
My parents’ visiting was sort of a wake-up call to this. We showed them a (new) rental home that we liked (I know, we’re obsessed). My dad, who is very frugal, great with money and an inspiration to me, thought that we should get it. He loved the house, thought we would enjoy more space and said the dogs would love having a backyard. He’s totally right – which is exactly why we’re looking at homes…but the reason we haven’t bit the bullet and gone for it is because we would have to break our lease here at our apartment (something I’ve mentioned before a few times).
I mentioned that to my dad and told him all the details about how much it would cost to do this. He did say he’d have to think about it, but most likely he would do it. He said Dave Ramsey calls this the “stupid tax” haha. We all pay it at some point in our lives – sometimes a few times. We have the money, we’re still saving and we’re not going into debt in order to get the house.
John and I decided we’re going to take one more look at it and most likely we will be getting it. It’s in an awesome family-friendly neighborhood, it’s big (but not too big), it has beautiful moldings, a large kitchen, an awesome master bathroom and a deck. It’s a place we can be happy in for a long time until we’re ready to buy a home. And the best part? The rent is in our budget!
I guess hearing that my dad would most likely make the same choice gave me some confidence in moving forward with this. Sometimes it almost seems like it would be easier if I had a “spenders” mentality instead of a “savers” mentality because then I could just spend until our next check came in and not be upset because we didn’t save as much as I hoped!
So, moving forward I’m going to try not to stress out so much about money. If John wants to eat meat sandwiches for lunch instead of pb sandwiches like I insist on us having, that’s OK (see…it’s a sickness!!!). We’re allowed to decorate our house nice, it’s OK to buy our girls new toys more often than we do and we’re not going to die if we spend a little too much on food or gas. I’m not quite sure how I’m not going to stress out, but I’m going to try not to think about money so much. Money really doesn’t matter in life and having my parent’s visit confirmed that. Family and health are what matter the most, and I want that to be my focus. Of course, I still want to save, invest and work hard, but it’s not everything. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, it’s really nothing.
What do you think? Are you just as crazy as me when it comes to stressing about money? I’m pretty certain I could have a million in the bank right now and I would be just as stressed and just as cheap!!
Mrs. Maroon says
atI do my fair share of stressing and over-analyzing every purchase. A couple weeks ago I saw a Groupon for the nice, thick Christmas cards. They were offering 75 for a price of $35. Any one who loves stationary like I do, knows that is a stellar less than $0.50 each. I also found a way to make the cards double as a birth announcement for Mini Maroon #2 who arrived in September. Yet even knowing all of that I hesitated. I wondered if it was okay. In the end I did it because I knew I would have felt deprived if I didn’t buy them. And deprived is not a good feeling. Mr. Maroon assured me that it was definitely a worthwhile purchase. Now to avoid the doubt and questioning from the beginning and just relax a little bit…
Steve@ChattingFinance says
atI think the best way I deal with stress and money is by simplifying. I use to have around 6-8 credit cards, 3 checking accounts, 2 saving accounts, etc. I’ve been slowly closing accounts throughout the past year. The less accounts the less stress for me.
Also having a smaller house has helped reduced some stress about money.
Chonce says
atHi Sarah! Have you tried typing your posts up in Google Docs? I use it to write and make notes all the time because I like that it saves everything instantly. Nevertheless you hit the nail on the head with this post reminding me that I need to stop stressing about money every chance I get haha. I feel the same way about money and it’s no fun being stressed about it periodically. I think the issue with me is that I’m a little too goal oriented (if that’s a thing) and even if I happen to over spend or under save from time to time, I just need to take a step back and realize that money isn’t everything and I AM making progress. It sounds like you are on the right track though, and the home sounds very nice 🙂
Christine @ The Wallet Diet says
atI started writing all my blog drafts on Evernote after I had a similar incident. When you’re in the zone you really don’t remember to save as often as you should 🙂 Evernote is great because it automatically saves and I can access my notes from any computer or from my iPhone app. Then when I’m ready to post I just copy and paste it over to WordPress, make my formatting edits, and publish!
Emily @ Simple Cheap Mom says
atI’ve been stressing about things lately because my husband’s career plan was a little up in the air. That’s all settled now, so I’m not as worried anymore.
We’re actually adding more entertainment room in our budget for next year. It turns out that’s something we actually value.
As long as it’s planned and in the budget, I shouldn’t be worrying about it anyway.
Chela says
atI, too, always write my posts in Evernote first 🙂
So, I definitely think consciously deciding to be less stressed about money is a great first step. We forget to be forgiving of ourselves. You’re doing great.
Liz says
atYes. Yes. And yes! I am so stressed about money because I have a lot of student loan debt and we have one car loan. For the most part, that’s the only debt we have and I freak out on a weekly basis. It kills my boyfriend. He says I stress him out about it when really, we just need to keep trekking along and making the payments. Eventually, we’ll get where we want to be.
It’s a poison.