New year, new you, right? Resolutions are often framed with the purge mind-set: Get rid of bad habits and start fresh. It feels like a chore. Here's our case for skipping them entirely! It's easy to feel guilty about big-money items that eat up your paycheck, but the important questions to ask are, Does this bring me joy, and is that absolutely worth it to me? Therapy is a huge cost for me monthly, but I make it work because I consider it a nonnegotiable expense—and I manage it by eating out less and buying less crap that I don't need! I refuse to give it up because it's essential to my mental health and makes me happy.
"Create a budget you can actually stick to," says Alexa von Tobel, founder and CEO of LearnVest, a financial-planning company. "It’s important to have a framework for your day-to-day spending that doesn’t require a ton of mental math and doesn’t make you feel deprived." At LearnVest, von Tobel says, "we follow what I like to call the 'one number strategy': We take your take-home pay (income after taxes) and subtract your goal contributions (money you’re putting toward your vacation fund or retirement account, for example) to calculate the one number left over, which is yours to splurge each week on everything from date night to fitness classes."
So, in the spirit of making your money actually work for you, how about in 2017 we stop feeling guilty about things that are sources of joy? Sure, life would be easier if we ended that pricey gym membership or stopped buying our dog so many plush toys. But sometimes the benefits outweigh the price tag (yes, even when it comes to plush toys). Here's how these women make those $$$ hard-to-give-up items work.
"One of my biggest expenses is my car that I bought in January—it’s a customized jet black Subaru Impreza with the all-important seat warmers that every Northerner wants. It makes me feel safe, warm, classy, and composed. I'm willing to put a high price on that. I'd rather give up a few meals or drinks out or some new shoes in order to pay for what I use every day. It's been challenging to justify such a high car payment at times, like when I got a pay cut at work. I thought about trading in my car for a used one that I could afford more. But I strongly believe that you are actually saving money by spending more to have nice things instead of buying a lot of cheap items. At times spending more on something you truly love is a way to respect, honor, and value yourself." —Grace Norberg, 27, Chicago
"For the last few years, I’ve been taking private yoga classes at a yoga studio near my job that I go to right after work. It’s super convenient, and I miss rush hour traffic. After a stressful day, I’m able to stretch, meditate, breathe, relax, and work on my yoga practice. It helps me connect on a spiritual level and work out all the kinks I develop at my desk all day. I’m investing in my health—it’s benefited me in so many ways. And I make it work in my budget because I buy discounted class packs—the unit price goes down significantly when buying in bulk. I'd spend $6 more per class if I bought them individually, so I'm saving a lot. I also attend free or donation-based classes on days I feel like switching it up. I ask myself, Does what you are buying help you better yourself? If the answer is no, you may think twice about investing in it. Does it make you happy? Is it worth your hard-earned salary? I ask myself these questions about my yoga classes, and the answer is always yes! That is how it should be.” —Tiffany Milakovich, 26, Miami
"Putting money into my savings account each month has become something that I can't give up—I shoot for $600 a month. Budgeting has gone from a painful chore to a pleasurable check off the to-do list! I put away more up front to feel assured that I can do the things that make me happy, like shopping, a fancy trip to Whole Foods, ordering essential oils, or seeing a Broadway show guilt-free. My biggest expense pays off expenses I will have in the future, no matter how big. My rule of thumb is, Pay yourself first, and that has helped me move out of the Bronx to Brooklyn, pay off my credit card, and buy presents for friends and family guilt-free!"—Dani Berkowitz, 25, New York City
"There's a misconception that traveling is an out-of-reach luxury—but if you start small, you can see a lot in your own backyard. I spent the first half of my 20s working several jobs at once to pay exorbitant rent in New York City. Unless I went home for Christmas, I never used vacation days. But I started taking small, affordable trips upstate on the weekends. I'd come back to the city feeling renewed before another busy week. By the end of 2015, I made a personal choice to leave my full-time position in the city and work freelance. My new schedule and the money I'd managed to save up allowed me to relocate to Florida and travel elsewhere. I booked two trips to Honduras and spent the rest of 2016 traveling domestically, exploring cities in Alabama, mountain towns in North Carolina, and rural parts of Texas, among other places. In 2017 my money resolution is to continue putting more time and money aside for longer, international trips because they’re important to me. I like to research new locations, things to do there, and travel costs even when I'm not really planning a trip. Knowing I have something to work toward or look forward to someday is enough motivation for me to save.” —Renee Rodriguez, 26, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.