Money Saving Mom®

The economy has been hard on many families. Some of you have struggled through months (or even years!) of unemployment or underemployment.

When you struggle for a long time and are barely eeking by, it can be easy to want to give up. To feel like you’re never going to get anywhere or get out of the hole you feel like you’re stuck in.

I know the feeling. I’ve felt very hopeless and helpless at times in my life.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you’ll never make any progress if you stop dreaming. You’ll never get anywhere if you feel like taking a step in the right direction is a pointless exercise.

We live in America and, compared with so much of the world, we have immense opportunities and possibilities at our disposal. Times are tough here for many of you, but you can still access so much free information online or at your local library.

You can start a blog (for free!) and grow it to the point that you earn a part-time — or even full-time — income from it. You can start a service job for almost nothing out of pocket and turn it into a thriving business.

You can join local groups to network with other businesses and professionals. You can take free or very inexpensive classes to learn new skills. There is a wealth of help, tools, and resources available — free of charge — for you to learn and grow as an individual and to help you develop a business or improve and sharpen your marketable skills.

I’m living proof that the American Dream is alive and well. I remember so vividly the hopelessness I felt when we found out we were expecting our first child and I was too sick to continue working.

I had no special skills, no special degrees or training or credentials, and no special marketable talents. But we needed money to eat and have a roof over our heads and Jesse’s part-time income while in law school was not enough to cover all of our basic bills.

I may not have had credentials, but I had time and determination. And so I spent countless hours researching ways to make money from home on the internet and then I jumped in and started trying things.

So much of those first feeble attempts were pathetic failures (I’m embarrassed to even admit some of the crazy things I tried or considered trying!), but with each failure, I learned a little bit more. And I kept trying and learning until things slowly started to work.

Over time, I’ve come to believe that there is a world of possibility out there and it’s available to anyone and everyone who is willing to work hard, put forth enormous effort, think outside the box, and not give up when the going gets tough.

So dream big dreams. Don’t give up hope. And don’t ever let anyone tell you that you’re stuck.

As long as you have breath in your body, there is opportunity out there for you!

Note: This post was inspired by reading Frank Sonnenberg’s post, Dream No Small Dreams. If you need some inspiration to dream big, I encourage you to head on over and read it.

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I really enjoyed and appreciated all of the comments on my Is Frugality Really Worth It? post last week (Click over and read it here, if you haven’t already.)

I’m pretty sure most all of us agree that having a purpose behind our frugality gives much more meaning and motivating for saving money. However, while I think it is a wonderful thing to live simply so that others can simply live, I don’t think this means we shouldn’t ever splurge, we should always buy the cheapest of everything, or that we should go without everything unnecessary lest we spend a penny more than we need to.

On the contrary, I think it’s important that we have balance and breathing room in our lives — and in our budgets. If we pack our schedules so full that we never have a moment to spare and can never just stop and smell the roses, we’ll likely end up rushing through life and missing out on some of the best moments of life altogether. We’ll also probably be frazzled, stressed, and exhausted much or all of the time.

In the same way, I believe it’s important that we give ourselves breathing room and find a healthy balance when it comes to our finances. It’s wonderful to be really focused and aggressive when it comes to paying off debt or saving to pay cash for something and it’s absolutely life-changing to be in a position where you can give generously, but I want to encourage you to not become so frugal that you forget to give yourself space in your budget to strategically splurge.

If we scrimp and save so much that we never have any wiggle room to enjoy and savor life, we’ll likely lead a miserable existence. That said, strategic splurging doesn’t have to mean you go and spend hundreds of dollars. It could be something as simple as ordering pizza once a month with a coupon or stopping by the bookstore every other week, ordering a coffee, and browsing books to add to your library list. Or having a fun family outing using a Groupon voucher every few months.

What matters most is not how much or little money you spend, but that you choose to strategically splurge on something that is important for your family, something that you love and enjoy, and something that will boost your morale and keep you going strong on your frugal journey.

Living frugally is not about living so miserly that you can’t ever enjoy life. In fact, going for years without breathing room in your budget will suffocate and frustrate you. So budget for strategic splurging — and then you’re able to enjoy it guiltlessly because it’s a line item in your budget!

*Note: For most of us, there will be seasons in life where there is little or no wiggle room in the budget. If you’re in one of those seasons, don’t lose heart. Constantly remind yourself that the frugal decisions you are making will pay off and be encouraged that you are doing so much better than you would be doing if you weren’t being so frugal. {Read my post here for more encouragement and ideas if you feel like you’re in a really desperate situation financially.}

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