The psychological trick that helped me save up and become happier.
If you had asked me a year ago if I was overspending, I’d tell you no way! I was living life.
Of course, we’d book a road trip through Europe, which ended with a month-long stay in a picturesque French village near Paris. If we can afford it, why the hell not?
And of course, I’d do a little shopping before that. I don’t want to look shabby when we take pictures in Venice.
I need a new computer. I work on that.
So what if we went out to dinner four times this week? You want us to stay at home and watch TV instead?
This I like, and that I need, and it’s not my fault that we don’t have savings.
Ahh, what a life!
Then —
Then I burnt out.
Badly.
I didn’t want to be a writer anymore, and I had no idea what to be instead.
I quit copywriting; I quit my book; I left it all for a while.
But then we ran out of money.
As I reluctantly went back to (technically) writing copy for food, it dawned on me that maybe I would have a few more months of freedom if we didn’t travel through Europe.