Monday, February 9, 2009

Because You Are Worth It

I am a fairly frugal person. I make good money, but I live well below my means. I drive a reliable but unremarkable car. I own a modest home. I am not in anyway extravagant. But I have finally decided that some things are just worth spending the money on, especially if they are going to make my life better. There is no point to my working so hard and earning a good salary if I am not going to spend some of it to make my life better. So here are some things I have started spending more money:

From Whole Foods:
  • A big family-sized delicious salad of dark greens, strawberries, mandarin oranges, blueberries, and walnuts to keep in the fridge at work and eat on all week for lunch instead of fast food.
  • A tray of pre-cut fruits for snacking - strawberries, kiwi, grapes, pineapple.
  • Some pre-cut carrot sticks and cucumber slices for easy snacking.
Yep, this all cost a more than if I had bought everything separately and prepped it myself. But I just don't have the time right now so it is worth it to me to spend the extra money if it helps me to eat more healthfully during the week. Besides, all this cost me not much more than a week's worth of trips to the drive-thru.

At home:
  • Set up bottled water delivery service for my home. It's really no more costly than buying water at the store and lugging it home. I never seem to bother with that so I had been drinking way too many diet sodes because our city water tastes yucky.
  • Am interviewing cleaning ladies. I used to have one and got rid of her because she was doing a half-assed job and therefore I thought it was a waste of money. I thought I could do it myself, but it turns out I can't. I just do not have the time. So I am in search of a really good cleaning service to help me keep my home clean and orderly so it can be the haven of peace and rest that a home should be.

What about you? Is there anything you can be doing for yourself that you are not? You are worth it too!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

oooh. Im in.

Im so worth spending money sometimes and hiring a sitter so I CAN WORKOUT.
and not trying to piece together a workout at home...taking a REAL CLASS!

Hanlie said...

Oh for sure! You are so worth it! Go for it!

Anonymous said...

Good for you, Deb! I'm so glad that you are "splurging" to make your life healthier and happier. Go for it, sistah! :)
Bethany

new*me said...

after date with hubby last weekend, we are talking about if it's in the budget to do it once a week. Do something special like dinner, or a movie, or even coffee while we stroll in the park without kids.

Our marriage has been suffering a bit because of having four kids so young....not a lot of quiet time.

This is got to be a priority on our list ..........I am going to make it happen!

Anonymous said...

I used to think I had to start supper as soon as I got home & then clean up before I got to my workout. Pretty soon it would be 9:00 pm & I would be too tired to exercise. Not anymore! I've decided that my health is more important than eating supper at 6:00. My family adjusted so well. I was the one with the hang-up not them. Good for you-those convenience foods are there just for that reason-convenience.

Natalia said...

Deb you are sooo worth all those things! We are on a money crunch right now, but when things come back around, I'm going to keep better snacking food in the house! :)

Ria said...

Good for you! The time/money tradeoff is very real, and spending some of the money earned at a high-stress job to make life easier and more convenient makes so much sense! In addition to making it easier to achieve your other goals, it'll almost certainly help avoid job burnout. For some reason, men seem to be able to do this more easily . . . as women we are just programmed to feel like we should be able to work outside the home as hard as our fathers AND work inside the home as hard as our mothers . . . and that is just not possible.

Whole Foods is great, and those sound like terrific choices. I bet you'll love the water delivery service! When I was spending a lot of time in Vegas we had a water service, and I just loved having hot and cold water available instantly.

Hotch Potchery said...

I am very lucky and also have a job where I make a good living. We do not drive new cars, but I do have my water delivered, I buy yummy organic food, and if I hadn't fired my last cleaning person I would have that too. SO WORTH it.

Now tomorrow I am going to have to clean my house my own self. BOO.

SL said...

These all sound like worthwhile investments in YOU. And I think I'm going to have to add Whole Foods to my weekly rounds. That salad sounds awesome.

Rebecca said...

Well done! Sometimes you have to look at spending money on certain things (like prepped veggies and a cleaning lady) that are an investment in YOU and your sanity! :-)

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, I was unemployed for 6 months, and it's hard to get used to having discretionary income. It would probably be worth it for me to spend a few bucks to buy clothes that sort of fit, as all mine are too big and make me look frumpy. Even if I'm still losing and they will be big soon, I can't live like this. Hooray for thrift stores, I'm not about to pay full price. Maybe a television and some sort of music playing system that's less than 10 years old, and wasn't crappy to start out?

Ro said...

I think all of those things you listed are WELL WORTH it. They can save you time (that you don't have) and force you to be more healthy. You work hard enough. Spend it on what you like!
Keep it up and I hope you reach your goal!