Treat Yourself First

Money makes me very angry sometimes usually because it seems like there is not enough to go around. When my husband and I first got married we had loads of debt, anything from student loans to a bunch of crap we put on credit cards. It seemed like our entire paychecks went to pay bills and we had little to nothing left over. I would cry as I opened what seemed like bill after bill. I cried mainly because I realized how many foolish decisions I had made financially while in college. I really wish someone had sat me down and said, look you need to chill the eff out, because you are going to regret this for...oh a decade or so. Yup folks, a decade.

In the years since those times things of course have gotten better, it had to or we wouldn't have survived. All the credit cards from college are paid off and we now only have three, one for each of us and one joint one for when the world ends and the only they accept is MasterCard. I am now 15 months away from paying off my student loans which is just amazing to me. I learned a lot about myself, my family and financial stability along this train wreck of a financial journey. A concept I want to talk about today is called pay yourself first. Now there are a lot of ideas about what this means and we take two theory's into consideration in my house. The first being, make sure to take some money right off the top of your paycheck and put it in an emergency savings account. The second, allow yourself to enjoy the fruits of your labor, or as I call it "treat yourself first." I realized I got really angry at my husband and life in general because I felt like I was working for nothing. Sure we were paying off bills like gangbusters but I never felt like I got to enjoy my earnings, at all.

We decided to allow ourselves to start doing something really small with each of our paychecks, honestly just to make ourselves feel better. So I started to take $10 from each paycheck (I get paid twice a month) and I get a little something for myself. It has become a challenge to see what all I can get for $10 and as it turns out with a little planning and sometimes coupons  it is quite a lot. It has become a game of sorts and as a recovering shopaholic this helps me keep the beast at bay. Here are some of the things I do with my $10:

• Hair trim (such a small thing but makes me feel loads better)
• Coupon @Ulta. When you have the $3.50 off $10 you can actually get about $13 worth of products and still be in budget.
• Coupon at Drugstores for new makeup-Drugstores like Walgreens and CVS always have sales going on so I buy stuff for a little "me time."
• Matinee movie with a friend, no concessions: we each pay for ourselves and bring our big purses.
• Lunch with a girlfriend
• Book purchase: now this one might mean I have to save for 2-3 paychecks depending on the book. I do have a Nook though and can usually find cheap classic books that I have never read. I also visit my local library (FREE) depending on the book.

In a world where it seems like there is a cost for everything and it is just never ending I hope that my little idea might give you some insight on how to make you even just a little more happy in your life.