Budgeting the Night Away

Posted on March 13, 2005 5 Comments

Admin:
Before starting today, I’d like to thank those of you who regularly post comments to this site. Readers, if you’re not following these, now is a great time to start. People much smarter than I share extremely helpful advice. One of my goals when I started “The Budgeting Babe” was for fiscally savvy people to share their experiences and offer insights to help newcomers (like myself) learn more about all things financial. I may not be able to respond personally to all of you smarty-pants, but thanks a million for your advice.

Readers, please be sure to visit the linked sites (to the right) as well; they contain a wealth of knowledge related to personal finance and most of the authors are more advanced than me in their savings.

Also, given the site’s recent publicity and subsequent influx of visitors, now is a good time to remind people of my background. I have no education or credentials in the area of finance – my degree (and career) is in communications and marketing. On this site, I simply write about my financial experiences as I attempt to save a few dollars. To read a “mission statement” of sorts, check out my first post:

http://budgetingbabe.blogspot.com/2004/11/welcome.html

For truly expert financial advice, you should talk to a licensed financial planner or advisor. Or simply start learning for yourself by reading some of the authors mentioned in my writing.

Budgeting the Night Away:
This week I blew through a lot of cash just “hanging out.” I worked myself into a small frenzy at the office (as you know from my zipper story) and needed to release some steam. After a few nights hanging out late with co-workers, I capped it all off on Saturday by meeting friends on the North side for a 14-hour pub crawl in honor of St. Patty’s Day. It’s an annual event and very fun. Pints of Guiness, cheeseburgers, all the dive bars you could ask for and lots of laughs.

As I stopped by the cash machine yesterday before hitting the first bar, I sighed and tensed up before taking out $80. It’s always something that gets to me – is it worth spending so much on one day? If I invested that money, how much would it be worth later?

These are questions that every Budgeting Babe must think about before splurging on frivolous items and when making lifestyle decisions. Budgeting, after all, is a matter of prioritizing. What’s more important – today’s $80 pub crawl or tomorrow’s retirement money?

In the end, it’s hard to say. But at some point, we all have to just live life a bit. I’m saving about $200 per month right now and am poised to increase it next month (just need to figure by how much). Once I’ve made that decision, I have to learn to be comfortable taking control of my disposable income. Budgeting wisely is key to my savings, but spending every minute obsessing over dollars and cents does nothing for my sanity.

This morning, I can look back at my night and smile about what a wonderful time we had. The older I get, the fewer those really great days with all my friends become. Spending a lot of money once every few months to enjoy life is a type of investment as well. Because when days become darker, busier and most stressful, memories like yesterday will lift my spirits, remind me to smile and lift me through. Days like yesterday give me something to look forward to, and ultimately, make me happy. Isn’t that what we’re all working and saving towards anyway?

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