This week I spent $200 on dinners and bought a $250 coat. Here’s why it’s OK…

Big Spending This Week

This week were my last few days in Italy after a month-long stay in an absolutely beautiful country with awesome food. During my 6-month backpacking trip during my mini-retirement from full time work, I’ve visited many different countries, but Italy was definitely my favorite so far. It was something about the time of year that we visited, the food we ate and the experiences we had (volunteering at a farm hotel in a small village) that really made Italy special. It was also just completely different from anywhere I had visited in Asia, so there was an element of novelty to it.

 

Horse tatare, a famous dish in Northern Italy

 

Anyways, during my last few days in Italy, I really wanted to enjoy the food to a whole new level. So during the last few nights in Verona, we went out to two dinners that in total cost almost $200, and when lunch and gelato were included, I definitely went over the $200 mark (haha whoops!). We enjoyed unbelievable pasta, gnocchi and a risotto made from Amarone wine which is famous in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. I also had horse tartare twice, which is also a famous dish local to Verona and other Northern Italian cities, and there was also enough gelato eaten that I could go a long time before eating it again….

 

Looking guilty for eating too much gelato…

 

Anyways, I spent about $200 on going out to eat in 2 days…..

Then to make myself feel even better about my gluttonous spending in Italy, once we took a bus from Verona to Munich, Mother Nature decided that summer was definitely over and that autumn and winter were ready to go. Now since I’ve been traveling through Asia and European summer the last 3 months, I don’t exactly have a lot of warm clothes.

Basically nothing more than a pair of jeans and one sweatshirt….

So during my first few hours in Munich, I walked the beautiful downtown streets looking for somewhere to buy a coat that will keep me warm over the next few months of wandering European cities and hiking the mountains in Germany and Poland. My only requirements were that it is warm, lightweight, and easy to pack in my backpack if needed.

To sum up the story briefly, I ended up buying a $260 lightweight, down coat from Lululemon (I typically don’t like high-end clothes but their stuff is completely worth it)….

Yes, it’s expensive, but also, completely perfect for what I need….

 

Rocking my new Lululemon coat and looking very happy to be having my picture taken haha

 

Here’s Why It’s Ok

You’re probably thinking that I’m the worst person to ever give personal finance advice because I spent $450 in a few days on items that seem quite frivolous, but I can guarantee you that it’s completely reasonable. It has to do with an important principle of mine in personal finance that allows us to spend on luxuries and still save plenty of money.

Now I don’t really have any income right now since I’m taking a mini-retirement from work, however, I have a very strict spending limit each month. While traveling, in Asia that limit was $1,500 per month, and then in Europe it’s $3,000 per month.

Now with only a 5 days left in the month, I had over $600 left before I reached my spending limit of $3,000. Since I had spent 10 days volunteering with a small agriturismo in Italy, I had saved almost $1,000 on accommodation and food expenses and had a plenty of money to spare for the month.

Because I had this $600 in my budget, I decided to spend it in way to would bring the most joy and comfort to my life. So what I did what made sense to me and spent a very large chunk of it on awesome food and wine, and also on a very nice new coat that will be a lifesaver while traveling through cold parts of European while taking up little space in my bag.

 

Saving Money While Spending on Luxuries

Learning to save money and live within our means doesn’t need to be an arduous process that strips us of all of the enjoyment from our lives and forces us to live in way that is devote to minimalism. We just need to strike a balance between spending money on what we need and makes us happy, and letting go of the excess that is preventing us from saving money and achieving our dreams.

This comes down to just needing to figure out our monthly spending limit, spending less than we bring in, and then saving and investing the different responsibly. If you are spending less than you make and want to buy the new iPhone, then as long as you are below your spending limit for the month then by all means go for it!

Live below your means, save money each month, spend the rest as you please. That’s the way to do it.

If you haven’t yet, I recommend signing up for my Free 5-Day Money Course, which helps anyone learn the basics of how to structure their finances and use their money to promote maximum happiness. You can sign up here.

 

Question: Do you occasionally splurge on luxuries while still sticking to your personal finance goals? Leave a comment or send me a message!

 

NYPFGuy