WHEN WILL YOU HAVE ENOUGH MONEY?

WILL YOU EVER HAVE ENOUGH MONEY?

When we were still in the process of paying off debt I did some door dashing on the side. I work a full-time job, so I didn’t have too much time to door dash. But it was something that I could do whenever I had a little bit of spare time. I didn’t have to really commit to an employer. I really loved it at the time to make a little bit of extra money.

When I got an order I would get in my car, put on a favorite podcast, and go on my little mission. I made it kind of fun and exciting. I knew that each dollar I earned was going straight to debt. Once we finished paying off our debt I stopped door dashing. This side job was only specifically for a little extra cash to help us get our debt paid off. But occasionally I think I should go back to doing it for the extra money. It wasn’t a lot but I will start thinking about little things I could do with that money.

DO YOU REALLY NEED MORE?

The thoughts about going back to doing that little side job got me thinking about, when will I feel like I have enough money. I have a good job, we don’t have any consumer debt, and we have emergency savings and retirement savings. There really is no need for the amount of money that I would be able to earn from door dashing on occasion here and there. What it would do though is take away the free time that I currently have.

I often have to remind myself that when we were paying off debt there was a specific goal we were trying to achieve as quickly as possible. While we do have goals that we are working on, they are not as urgent. My time is worth more to me than what I would be able to earn doing this side job. It’s important to consider what you are giving up in order to make more money.

DON’T FORGET TO ENJOY YOUR LIFE

If you think about it, the reason that we are so concerned about having enough money is so that we can feel secure and enjoy our life. It’s important to not spend so much time working at earning and saving more money that you don’t enjoy your everyday life. We don’t want to wait until we feel like we have enough money to start enjoying our life. The majority of most of our lives are spent working.

It’s important to enjoy those working years and not always just be focused on saving an excessive amount of money to have a great retirement. There is too much time to be enjoyed right now. I am not saying you should not be saving for retirement and I’m definitely not saying you should be reckless with your money just to enjoy your life. But, if the priority is heavily focused on more money, you could be giving up time that could be focused on the other things you value in your life.

THERE IS A TIME FOR PUTTING MOST OF THE FOCUS ON MONEY

Of course, there is a time when putting the focus on money is important. There are periods of time in your life when you need to make money goals your biggest priority. This might be during a time of getting out of debt or building up your emergency funds. Accomplishing these types of goals takes a lot of effort and focus to get them accomplished. But, once those milestones have been reached, the level of focus on money goals can be lessened. Of course, there will still be time devoted to working on financial goals. However, if we devote too much energy to those goals and always try to get to the next level we can miss out on living our lives and enjoying what we have today.

PRACTICING FRUGALITY

When you practice frugality, it helps you stay focused on what you value most. Often there are so many things that we can enjoy that do not cost too much money. Even if we have interests that are expensive we can often find ways to do them a little less. Or we can cut back in other areas to allow us to have the money needed for the things in our lives that cost more.

By practicing frugality we can lessen the amount of money that we need to live a happy life. Of course, we need a certain amount of money to live the lifestyle that we want. By living a frugal life it can give you a better perspective on what that number really needs to be. It can take away some of the pressure of feeling like you always need to be reaching for a higher level.

MONEY GOALS ARE IMPORTANT

I am not trying to indicate that we should not have money goals. It’s important to have goals for a certain amount of income and savings. But, once we are on a good path to hitting those goals, it can be nice to just enjoy it. Sometimes as we reach goals we feel the need to reach higher. Reaching higher money goals is fine as long as you don’t feel like you are putting extra pressure on yourself when it is not really needed.

If you are in a comfortable place financially and you are making progress on your goals, it is not necessary to keep pushing for more if it is taking away time and energy you could be put to something else you really value. So, just take the time to think about it before you keep pushing yourself for more money.

Thanks so much for checking in! If you would like to hear the podcast version of this topic to check out Lola’s Frugal Life Podcast! Also, be sure to check out my other blog posts on this site!

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