Most of personal finance is about saving, investing, optimizing, and similar topics. All of which are incredibly important–and foundational to success with money. Today I’m going a little lighter though and writing about what I spend money on–and why I’m glad I do.
Why Write This Post?
Sometimes personal finance can get a little stale. A lot of the content is the same, just said in a slightly different way. It’s important content but sometimes things need to be changed up.
Very few experts write about what they spend on, or give reasons for it. In the real world, people spend money and it’s important to know you’re not crazy for wanting to spend on certain things.
Value-Based Spending
This brings us to value-based spending, which is spending only on the things you truly value. This type of spending is intentional and well thought out. That’s versus haphazard spending on things or experiences you don’t really care about.
Value-based spending ensures that you’re only spending on the important, and eliminating all the other stuff.
Things I’m Glad I Spend Money On
The following is a list of things I’m glad I spend money on. They’ve added either joy or convenience to my life. They are also things I will continue to spend on.
Number 1: TSA PreCheck
A couple of months ago I was in the Atlanta airport early in the morning, about 5:00 AM. Even though I was there about an hour before my flight, the airport was absolutely packed. The kind of packed where you couldn’t more more than a foot or two without running into the person next to you.
Looking at the security line, it looked like for the first time in my life, I might miss my flight.
While in line, I literally started the process to sign up for TSA PreCheck so I would avoid situations like this in the future. A few days after that I was approved for TSA PreCheck and used it for my next flight. I have to admit that as I used it for the first time, I wondered why I didn’t sign up for it years ago.
To finish the Atlanta story, I sprinted off the terminal train and then literally ran about half a mile to my gate. I ended up making my flight with about three minutes to spare, but I never want to cut it that close again.
Number 2: Vacation Fund
An area I will continue to spend liberally on is the vacation fund. Adding to it every month allows my family and I to have enough money to travel at least a few times a year.
It’s a guilt-free way to spend on something we value without having to wonder where the money is going to come from. We systematically contribute to it every month and the money will be there when we want to use it.
Number 3: Personal Development
No matter what happens with the economy, your job, or most other things, the one thing that can’t be taken away is your education and knowledge. I put this under the category of personal development, something I’m willing to continuously pay money for.
Areas that would fall under personal development:
- Learning about investing
- Finding ways to better your health
- Developing strategies to improve interpersonal relationships
- And many other things
Personal development has exponential payout and it stays with you for years to come, no matter what happens externally.
Number 4: Household Projects
If there’s one thing I’m terrible at, it’s DIY projects. Even hanging a picture frame doesn’t always go as planned…
I used to struggle and try to grind out household projects. I’d try and eyeball it, or watch YouTube videos. It would almost always end up a struggle.
Now I’ll gladly fork over the money for household projects. It’s nice to be able to go to work for the day, come home and have a project or repair completed. I go out and do something for the day I do well, while someone with a high level of skill completes what I don’t do well.
Number 5: Property Manager
As I’ve written about in other posts, I invest in real estate. I self-managed my properties for the first several years. I did it well, had great tenants, and met some really nice people along the way.
As I started to expand my portfolio, I decided I wanted to give up the property management. I’ve since found people who do it better than me and was able to take that off my plate. Even though it costs a percentage of the rent, it’s been worth it to free up more time for spending time with my kids and family.
At some point I may go back to self-managing a few properties. But for now I like where I’m at and have no plans to pick it back up.
Number 6: Housecleaner
My wife and I both work hard and have a lot of obligations. One thing that has eased the stress is hiring a housecleaner. They come once a month and have the house clean by the time we get home from work.
It saves us time and energy, so we’re happy to pay for the work. I think of it as a win-win. My wife and I win because we can put our time and efforts into other things and the housecleaners win because they provide a valuable service and get paid for their hard work.
Conclusion
Personal finance isn’t all saving and frugality. A large element of it is picking and choosing what you want to spend money on, and spending that money guilt-free. A core concept of value-based spending.
So pick what you want to spend on, and do it guilt-free. There are plenty of other things to save money on, and you can still save and invest while spending on the important things.
What do you like to spend money on?
