Episode #29: 3 Ways To Spend Money Guilt-Free

I’m flipping the script of most finance lessons out there, and instead of telling you that you should be saving money, we’re going to talk about how to can continue to enjoy spending money, guilt free. Yes, it is possible, yes it is healthy, and yes this is something we should all learn how to do to be happier and more responsable citizens of the world with our money.

I have always loved saving money.  I want to bring you back to 5 or 6 year old me, at a flea market with my mom.  I had a few dollars to spend, and I saw a table filled with red rose tea figurines.  I don’t know if you remember those, they were antiques at that point, but they’re basically like little ceramic figures of adorable woodland creatures, and my young animal loving heart adored them.  I hovered around the table staring at them all, looking at the bunnies and frogs and little hedgehog families living in a boot.  And, I was standing there staring at these little figurines that I was suddenly enamored with, and my mom asked if I wanted to spend some of my money and buy one.  And I responded with, ‘not yet, I’m trying to figure out if I would actually use it, or if it would just get dusty on my shelf.’. 

Now, in retrospect that’s pretty funny, because these little figures are literally designed to gather dust on shelves, but at the time for me, it was really important to make sure that I spent my money on something that I would love, not just something shiny that caught my eye, and that, in essence, is today’s lesson on learning to spend your money guilt free.  At the end of the day I think I decided to use my dollars to buy some popcorn, which I’m sure I thoroughly enjoyed down to those salty crunchy little kernels, and that is also the essence of enjoying spending your money. 

There’s always a balance, this line we’re walking between spending and saving money.  And a lot of us have little internal issues around money, fears of not having enough, which either come out as overconsumptive habits trying to surround ourselves with things to achieve comfort, or hoarding our money and being afraid to spend it.  Saving money is great, yes 100%, I love saving, BUT there’s a happy medium between saving, and allowing ourselves to spend the money that we work for so we can enjoy our lives, contribute to the economy, support people and stores that are in line with our values, and join the healthy cycle of money coming and going in our lives.

So, over the years, I personally have often had periods of time where I hated spending money, as you can see from the story I just told you, and this was definitely something I had to confront when I started my first business and had to learn that I did in fact have to spend money to make money, which was a really healthy thing that freed up a lot of my time and energy and worry.

And, over the years as I’ve gone through different phases of spending and saving and tracking my budget, I realized that there were purchases I regretted, and purchases that I would make 10x over with no regrets.  This over time evolved into a system called ‘the guilt free three’, and this is what I’m going to teach you about today.

What is The Guilt Free Three Saving System?

The guilt free three is a system of deciding, ahead of time, three areas of your life that you spend money on, that you’re going to allow yourself to spend money on without all the buyers remorse that may be haunting you right now.  When it comes to spending money on other things, you’re going to think long and hard about where your dollars go, but when it comes to your guilt free three, you can allow yourself to happily spend some money on these areas and you won’t feel guilty about it afterwards, because you know you’re also not tossing money out at any number of other areas that could also be depleting your bank account.

The fun part of this system is that your guilt free three are entirely up to YOU, and they’re meant to be fun money categories.  They can absolutely change and evolve with your wants and needs over time, but the key is to make sure you don’t end up allowing yourself to overlap more than three at a time, because then you’ll end up back in the cycle of wondering where your money all went, and regretting everything you purchased in the last month.

When you’re choosing your guilt free three, think about things that really bring you happiness, that truly make your day better on a regular basis.  And choose to allow yourself to spend money on these areas, and not carry over any other feelings of guilt along with those purchases.  

Your three will have to reflect your budget in some way, and that’s not a bad thing.  That’s just making a responsible choice, and you’ll feel even better for it.  If Rolexes are what bring you true happiness, but you’re in a place of trying to decide if you can afford a latte once a week, maybe make the latte purchase one of your three for the time being, and put the Rolexes on the back burner for the time being. 

If you love cooking amazing meals at home, and getting creative and trying new recipes, maybe make your food budget one of your guilt free three.  That’s one of mine.  I love good food, I love cooking and working creatively with food, and as long as my income to spending ratio is in the green zone I will never allow myself to feel guilty about my food budget.  There are other areas of my life that I really don’t care to spend money on, like buying alcohol, I will almost never buy a drink when I’m out with friends, so I have no guilt about the size of my food budget to be able to afford good, quality, fresh ingredients.

As another example, maybe being well dressed every day is something that brings you a lot of happiness.  Instead of churning through fast fashion purchases that you almost never wear and feel guilty about later, make the decision to make it one of your guilt free three to allow yourself the occasional high quality clothing purchase.  Save your money in areas that don’t bring you happiness, so that over time you have the freedom to invest in high quality, timeless, and lasting pieces that will bring you joy over and over again.

Maybe taking group fitness classes is what keeps you going every day.  If you make that one of your three, then allow yourself to spend money trying different classes, picking up random classes with a friend, trying a new gym or sport, and not feel guilty about spending money in this area.

Why Does The Guilt Free Three System Work?

The key here is that by choosing these three areas where you will be allowing yourself to spend money, you’re also going to consciously be making the choice to cut back your other spending on areas that don’t necessarily bring as much to your life.  If your closet is exploding with purchases and you hardly wear any of them, maybe that’s an area of your budget to cut back in favor of something you enjoy more.  If you buy a second rate lunch at the office every day, but have been trying to save for some travel forever and just can’t get there, then maybe cutting back on your subway sandwich budget in favor of bringing a homemade sandwich will allow you to divert those dollars to the getaway that will actually make you happy, instead of wasting $20 at a time on a sad, and probably unhealthy desk lunch.  

So, I want you to sit down and really spend some time thinking about what your guilt free three are going to be.  What are you going to allow yourself to joyfully spend money on, that nobody not you nor anybody else will be allowed to make you feel guilty about.  And, if you are feeling a bit stretched within your budget right now, what other areas of spending in your life are you going to cut back on, to allow yourself more financial freedom to spend on things you really love?

What are my guilt free three categories?

This is always super fascinating to me what people choose, so please if you’re feeling open go ahead and share what your guilt free three are going to be down in the comments section.  Mine are buying good quality ingredients to cook great meals with, taking a few weekly fitness classes that I LOVE and bring so much goodness to my life, and my dog, of course.  

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