July 01, 2011

Spending Money When You Know You Shouldn't

I have been so tired over the last few days and haven't posted updates on the Tightwad Gazette III, something that I will be doing later on today.  I think all that walking, driving and being in a different time zone wrecked havoc on me.  I refuse to say that it is because I am getting older, I think I am just a little more "sensitive."  Okay, I am getting older and somehow I don't quite adjust from a long road trip like I used to. 

But that's not the point of this post. 

Do you ever struggle with spending a lot of money on something when you know deep down, you probably shouldn't spend it?  I struggled with that when we wanted to go to Washington, D.C. as part of our son's graduation present.  The decision to go on that trip came from my belief that sometimes you just have to take an opportunity to do something with your family that you may never be able to do again.  This was a trip that meant a great deal to our son and to me too.  So we spent the money.

BUT ....

we knew our roof was in bad shape and would need to be replaced this year.  And this morning we had an electrical problem in our kitchen, so now we will need an electrician to come out to fix it. 


I know that we will be living on a super tight budget over the next year to pay for the roof and I would rather do that than have forfeited the trip to Washington, D.C.  I still get a giggle when I think about how much fun we had and how much we enjoyed that trip.  It will be well worth scrimping now to pay for a roof than to have stayed home from that trip.

Sometimes you have to go against what financial experts say and do what in your heart you know is the right thing to do.  I know we made the right choice.

2 comments:

~Carla~ said...

I agree to an extent... I think your trip to see your son graduate was definitely the right choice. But when I read how some bloggers spend $500 on a new purse or something stupid like that instead of paying a bill on time, or putting it on your debt, it makes me shake my head...

Martha said...

I definitely agree with you. We pay our bills and we have some debt that will be paid off by the end of this year. If we couldn't pay our bills on time or were deeply struggling, it wouldn't have even entered our mind to take a vacation like going to D.C.