No TV and No Beer Make Homer Something Something…

One of the more important activities in effectively managing your finances is creating financial goals.  From here, you need to create budgets to meet your goals, but sometimes this can be challenging, especially with all of the other stresses in your life.  How can you follow your budget and meet your goals if you are burned out, unhappy, or just plain feeling the blahs?

The answer is you can’t!  Now I know some of you might say to suck it up, and deprive yourself for the short term in order to reap long term payoffs.  The problem is that humans can’t do this forever, and even a short-term deprivation can be challenging – you need to enjoy life and be happy in order to find the energy to make it through the rough patches.  The saying  all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy definitely comes to mind here.

So what are you to do if you find yourself in this situation?  Well, I was recently in this exact situation and had to make a tough decision.  I was feeling pretty burned out and unhappy, and it was negatively affecting my relationships at work and at home.  I quickly realized that I needed to take a break.  The problem was that I was having problems rationalizing spending money on a vacation when I should be spending money on my debt.  Luckily I spoke to a friend who made a simple point – in the grand scheme of things, how much time will a few hundred dollars set you back?  The answer of course is very little!

Over the course of your life, will $200 make a difference?  Will $500 make a difference?  Chances are that it won’t, but sometimes in the heat of the moment it will feel like it will.  I thought if I didn’t go on vacation and put that $500 towards my debt, I would be better off than if I went on vacation.  Luckily I listened to my friend and realized that $500 will not significantly affect my life – at worst, it would delay my debt repayment by two weeks.

So I booked a trip to San Francisco and came back feeling re-energized!  It was the best investment I could have made with that $500.  My message to you is, regardless of what your situation is, never forget that an occasional small investment in yourself will provide long lasting returns that your budget can’t anticipate or plan for.

And just to brighten your day, this clip from the Simpsons should help you remember this very point.

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