It's all about me.

Single life has its plusses. You can explore all those fetishes you never knew you had(I will be exploring these more in upcoming posts).  Seriously, life is finally all about me.  There is no mortgage to pay for. There is no annual vacation you have to save up for. Your family has reduced more then half and you no longer have to worry about buying gifts for everyone.  There is no yard or pond that has been a black hole in your finances for years. There is no car payments, school loans, etc.  I have no credit cards to pay off or loans that are being held over my head. (I never had either but it was a nice touch.)

I have always been afraid to spend money. It’s been a serious paranoia in my life.  It’s difficult for me to splurge.  I was taught well, maybe too well that you need to pinch every penny and save for a rainy day. I am probably one of the few college students that had an IRA.  And it didn’t stop there. My first job was for a finance company and it was hounded into me that I needed to save for my future. Invest and diversify was the motto.  So every extra cent I made went directly into savings.   My biggest and hardest purchase I ever made was a house.   That was a lot of money that I had been saving forever going into one place. It was tough to liquidate those accounts to pay for the down payment of the house. I guess the good thing is I was able to do it with out any assistance from parents. I am learning that it was pretty impressive.  After talking to many people I have learned that their parents were the ones that fronted the down payment.

Pinching every penny has its plusses. I haven’t had to worry about the “what if’s” in life. When the car needed work I always had the funds tucked away.  When we wanted to go on vacation because we cut costs everywhere else we were able to afford it.  On the other hand everyday living wasn’t so fun.  Shopping was kind of stressful.  It was had for me to buy anything because I had to really think about it, do we really need it?  Don’t get me wrong I never did with out.  The fridge was always overflowing and so was the cupboard.   I always had something to wear that was both stylish and appropriate for the occasion.  The part that bugged me was to save money I always bought my clothing at the thrift stores. (I always envied those people at the mall that walked around with arms laden with bags. On the other hand if they were society norm they probably didn't pay their credit cards off each month and lived in debt and I don't envy that.) Due to my mentality it just doesn’t make sense to pay $150 for a pair of jeans that I can get for under $20 at Eco Thrift. On the other hand I do have the dream one day to be able to go to a department store and be fitted from head to toe including accessories with out having a heart attack. I’m not sure if that will ever happen due to I’m not sure if I can change the mentality I was brought up with.  It seriously kills me to buy overpriced clothing. 

Last month I finally forced myself to let loose and buy something that I have been dying to have for years.  To you it may just be a frivolous purchase(and it was, I even know that), but to me it is a symbol of my freedom.  It symbolizes a good investment. I am finally investing in ME.  Every time I wear it and look at it I think to myself, I made the right choice. 

(P.S. And for those of you who know the whole story it symbolizes that I don't have to say "Opps! I did it again. Because that was close.)