My husband, Jacob, and I became debt-free a year and a half ago. But even though we’re debt-free, we still are conscious of our budget and reaching our next financial goals. We are saving for a down payment on a house after all! So there are certain things we still don’t spend money on, but I honestly wish we did.
All of these things are actually things that we can “afford.” But we believe that putting more to our savings is a higher priority to us than spending on these items.
I believe that if you are middle class, you really can “afford” anything. But you might decide to spend your money on something else. Like when you’re at Chipotle and they ask if you want to add guac…? You say “I can’t afford the extra guac.” Well, really, you can! You just choose not to so that you can spend money on other things.
All that to say, the things that I don’t spend money on but wish I did are actually things that I could afford! We just choose not to spend money on these things in order to accomplish other financial goals.
1. Madewell Clothing
OK. Within the time I made a YouTube video about this and wrote this post, I actually did purchase a pair of Madewell jeans, and I have to say they are the best pair of jeans I’ve ever tried on. haha. Unfortunately, I ripped a pair of jeans recently and only had one pair so… More about that purchase laster!
Madewell clothing is so cute, so fashionable, and great quality. But it definitely comes at a price… It can be spendy! I have some friends who shop mostly Madewell, and that just isn’t me. I do prefer to invest in clothing that is high quality and will last a while. But their price tag is just a bit too high. So rather than buying a bunch of clothes at this store – which I’d really love to do! I instead shop at more at places like LOFT (sales), Target and Old Navy.
Okay. Yes, I did buy myself a pair of jeans from Madwell this week. ha! They were originally $135… But the good news is that there was a 15% off sale for anyone on their email list! And also, if you bring in a pair of old jeans (doesn’t need to be Madewell brand), then you get a $20 store credit! So I ended up paying $95 instead. Yes, it’s still a good chunk of change… But I anticipate these jeans lasting for years.
2. Eating Out More
As a millennial, I love eating out. Also, I’m not that great of a cook. But I know how important it is for our budget to eat food at home. Yes, we are debt-free. But we still only spend about $50 a month on eating out. This usually equates to one date night out or two happy hour visits.
And honestly, I’d love to be able to do this more often. Starting our debt-free journey when we were just married and 20 and 23, we never ate out much anyway. So this was never something we gave up to become debt-free. But now almost 4 years later, we have gotten in the habit of not eating out much.
This is something that we’d love to increase in our budget to do maybe once a week, but we also know that eating out costs can add up quick! So for now we’ll still to packing our lunches and dinners at home
3. Giving More
Jacob and I are Christians and we believe in tithing to our church and other organizations. During our debt-free journey, we always gave 10% of our income away. We believe that it’s an important habit to get into. And I’m thankful we started giving with still having $80,000 in debt and making only $65,000 annually.
Now that our incomes are higher and we are debt-free, we still give 10%. It’s been an easy thing for us to spend our budget on each month. And it’s actually really fun. We even save $50 into an “extra giving” fund so we can give freely and have the money set aside when a giving opportunity comes up.
I would love for us to be in a place where we can give above 10%. But we also are trying to save aggressively for a down payment on a house. I’m grateful that we have the ability to give 10% right now in our lives. And I look forward to when we can give even more down the road!
4. More Vacations
Do I even need to justify why I wish I could spend more money on vacations??
I love a good beach. I mean, don’t we all? During our debt-free journey, we didn’t go on any vacation besides a local weekend away. But since we’ve been debt-free, we’ve been able to go on a Caribbean cruise, Kauai, Disneyland at Christmas, and we’re planning another Hawaii trip this summer! I’m so thankful for our opportunity to be able to travel more in this season of life.
But I would love to be able to travel more. I’ve never been to Europe and would love to visit some day. But boy. Travel can be expensive! So instead of spending money on traveling at this point in our lives, we instead are putting more toward our financial goals like investing and saving for a down payment on a house. I know that we’ll have the ability to travel more in our lives. And right now we still get to go on a few trips a year! So as much as I would love to be able to travel more, I know that in this season, our focus is on our savings goals.
5. New car
I’m still rocking that ’98 Camry life. I’ve been driving my car since high school and I’m now almost 25. haha. While my car is now 21 years old, I have to say, it’s been reliable.
I would love to have a newer car. Something with automatic locks or even a CD player! But I’m also not willing to take out a loan for tens of thousands of dollars to get one sooner. So instead we’re patiently waiting to replace my Camry until we have the money saved and set aside.
So as much as I’d really love to be driving a new car, I know that driving a new car isn’t as important to us right now as buying a house and saving for retirement.
Afford Anything
All in all, we really could afford each of these expenses, but we choose not to because we have other serious financial goals that matter more. So for now we’ll keep working on our savings goals, knowing that we’ll get to do these things later down the road.
What is something you don’t spend money on but wish you did?