I don't know who needs to hear this, but
It's ok to spend money on yourself.
I’m embarrassed to admit this, but in 2020 (pre-pandemic) I turned down an epic trip with family because I had set an arbitrary savings goal for that particular month that I was set on hitting.
I won’t lie, I instantly regretted it when I saw all of their pics from the trip posted on Facebook and realized that I’d never get to share in those invaluable memories and laughs that they had shared. The pang of longing I felt looking at those pictures made me do some serious soul searching, and I realized something…
I’d become so addicted to the process of budgeting, aggressively saving, and watching my net-worth grow, that I had forgotten why I’d started my journey towards financial freedom in the first place. I was literally turning down time to travel with my family and friends because I was so worried about breaking my budget and my net worth being stagnant for a month. Never mind the fact that I had more than enough money saved to not even have to worry about the expense. I had forgotten that my reason for starting my financial freedom journey was always to have more freedom and more time with the people I love. Something had to change.
Thus began my journey of overcoming my strict and obsessive budget mindset. Honestly, it was difficult at first, kind of like shifting out of a dieting mindset to being able to just eat until you feel full (also something I’ve struggled with for pretty much my entire life, and let me just say that the similarities between budget culture and diet culture are striking, but I digress).
My point is, it's really easy to get obsessed and go overboard on the journey to financial freedom. Give yourself permission to spend money on things you love. You won't regret it.
Thanks for being here,
Mariah
New Blog Post
7 Strategies to Overcoming Strict Budget Mentality
On the note of budget mentality, today's blog post focuses on strategies to overcome strict budget mentality.
In this blog I discuss:
→ the surprising cost of overly strict budgeting.
→ the mental cost of overly strict budgeting.
→7 strategies I've implemented to overcome strict budget mentality.
Check it out here
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TRAVEL HACK
Calculate a good Hyatt rewards redemption. Plus my best and worst Hyatt Hotel redemptions!
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📍EASY MONEY WIN: Your Weekly 10 step (or less) Money Win.
5 Easy Steps to find a great Hyatt Hotel Redemption
Picture it, Hawaii, 2024. You're drifting in the lazy river overlooking the ocean, drinking a pina colada, watching whales jump in the bay. Somewhere in the distance, you hear a well known ukulele rift, "somewhere over the rainbow" starts playing. You are one with the island.
Oh whoops, excuse my imagery going off the rails. Looks like that creative writing class I took freshman year of college is finally coming out to play.
This week's Quick Money Win: 5 Easy Steps to find a great Hyatt Hotel Redemption
I used this exact strategy to save $700 a night on my 2 nights at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa (normally $1000/night).
Read the full post here
I'm currently working on next week's Money Win: 5 easy steps to find a great Hyatt Hotel Redemption to maximize your savings.
It includes:
- Examples of how to calculate the value of a reward stay with Hyatt.
- Exact steps to calculate your cash savings on different luxury Hyatt stays.
- A list of my best and worst Hyatt Hotel Redemptions.
- How much money I saved on each night of the redemption.
- PLUS my top 10 Dream Hyatt Hotel Redemptions that I'll be working towards this year.
Keep an eye out for next week's newsletter!
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Bernie's Budget Tip
Understand different investment platforms
>Different investment platforms have different features: levels of control, app features, nd benefits.
Check out the full post comparing my 5 favorite investing platforms!
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Recent blogs:
- 6 Easy steps to score free nights at Hyatt Hotels
- Feelings of dread about work? The 8 steps I took to beat burnout as a physical therapist.
- My 6 Biggest Money Missteps and How You Can Avoid Them
