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Episode 265 - Can You Really Have Fun and Still Get Out of Debt?

Financial freedom and having fun don't need to be mutually exclusive. Many people avoid confronting their finances, fearing that it would mean they can't enjoy the pleasures of life. Instead, they might adopt an "ignorance is bliss" mindset, hoping that not thinking about debt will relieve the stress. However, the fun they indulge in often results in sleepless nights, indigestion, and arguments over bills. Here's how to balance enjoyment and financial responsibility. 

 

Introduction 

Welcome to this guide inspired by the Debt Free Dad podcast. The journey to debt freedom doesn’t mean cutting out all the fun. Let’s explore practical ideas on how to enjoy life while making progress on paying off debt. 

A Journey of Debt Freedom 

Having embarked on a debt-free journey over six years ago, Kati Hatfield shares from personal experience. She has paid off over $171,961 in student loans, car loans, medical bills, and credit card debt—all on a single income. Throughout this journey, Kati made adjustments to her lifestyle and spending habits, emphasizing that these sacrifices are often short-term fixes for long-term goals. Here’s how you can do it too. 

Adjusting Your Lifestyle Without Cutting Out All the Fun 

The key to success lies in budgeting and making compromises without entirely cutting out enjoyment. Performing an assessment of why you feel compelled to spend on certain activities can be eye-opening. For example, Kati realized she didn’t need regular salon appointments for hair and nails, which were costing her hundreds of dollars monthly. This realization was part of a broader understanding that much of her spending was influenced by external pressures to maintain a particular appearance. 

Breaking Free from Societal Pressures 

The pressure to look a certain way at social gatherings, work events, and church can lead to unnecessary spending. Reflect on why you're making these purchases and consider if they are truly adding value to your life or simply attempts to impress others. Chasing the latest trends and comparing yourself to others often robs you of peace and contentment. Making conscious, well-thought-out choices can significantly reduce financial stress. 

Practical Tips for Budget-Friendly Living 

  1. Hair Care: Experiment with spacing out your salon visits or embrace your natural look. Kati saved thousands by doing this, realizing that few people noticed the change. 
  2. Manicures and Pedicures: Consider doing your own nails or involving a family member in a DIY mani-pedi session. It's a fun, bonding activity that saves money. 
  3. Travel: Save for trips in advance rather than charging them to a credit card. Booking flights, car rentals, and accommodations ahead of time can yield significant savings. For example, Kati saved on her last trip by booking a hotel and rental car with no deposit and using airline points for tickets. 

Enjoying Life in a Financially Responsible Way 

Following these tips allows you to enjoy life while making financial progress. Planning and budgeting for your desires might take spontaneity out of the equation, but it results in less stress and more joy in the long run. 

Conclusion 

Balancing fun and financial freedom is possible with thoughtful adjustments and budgeting. You don’t need to deprive yourself of the joys in life while working towards debt freedom. With careful planning, conscious spending, and assessing the true value of your purchases, you can live a life filled with both fun and financial peace.  

Resources Mentioned
Get better results with your finances in 30-60 days - GUARANTEED. Watch this video to learn how! - https://www.debtfreedad.com/payoff-debt-in-60-to-90-days 

Free Tools and Downloads at www.debtfreedad.com

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Episode Transcript: 

Kati:  

A lot of people avoid looking at their finances and totaling up their debts because they're afraid that it means they can't have fun and get out of debt. So instead they might take the mindset ignorance is bliss, but is all that fun causing you stress, sleepless nights, indigestion and arguments? When the bill comes, stay tuned for ideas on how to balance having fun while making progress. Thank you for listening to the Debt-Free Dad podcast, where we help you take control of your finances so you can live a happier, less stressful life. I'm Katie Hatfield and I am your host for today's episode.

Kati:  

I have been on my journey to debt freedom for just over six years now, and in that time I have so far paid off over $171,961 in student loans, car loans, medical bills and credit card debt, all on a single income. So in the process of getting out of debt, you might need to make some adjustments to your lifestyle and spending habits. Often, these are just short-term sacrifices to reach a long-term goal. This does not mean you have to cut out all the fun things. You just need to budget for it. You might also need to make some compromises. Again, it's not forever and you might want to do an assessment of why you feel strongly about cutting things out.

Kati:  

For example, I used to feel like I needed to cut and color my hair and get a manicure and pedicure regularly. It took me a while to figure out why. It seemed like something I had to do, especially when I was spending hundreds of dollars on it, and often I would smudge or scratch the nails within a few days, sometimes only hours after leaving the salon, and the hair color fades and grows out. So you need constant touch-ups. So I didn't get looks from colleagues and friends. A lot of the pressure probably started in a previous long-term relationship where value was placed on appearances at church, at social gatherings, at work events. We had to look the part, and when I look back at pictures in those fancier clothes with my hair and makeup and nails just right I can also see that on the surface we maybe look like a happy couple. To the surface we maybe look like a happy couple to people who were just acquaintances, but there was no amount of makeup to cover up the stress that dimmed the sparkle in my eyes and paint over a strained smile. It was all really just a facade. So if you're trying to paint a portrait of a happy, successful family, when the reality is you are exhausted and stretched thin by trying to keep up appearances.

Kati:  

Is the race to keep up with the Joneses costing you your peace of mind? Do you need the biggest house on the block, with a new car parked in the driveway? Do you have to have the latest phone? And if so, have you sat down and just really truly dug into the why behind why you feel like you have to live this way? It can be really hard to take that deep look below the surface and now I'm not trying to tell you you have to like sell your house and car and live in a box under a bridge. But it can really help you make some big strides if you realize that a lot of decisions you're making are kind of based on attempting to impress others. If you're constantly comparing what you don't have to what others do have, you are robbing yourself of joy, peace and contentment. So let's talk about some ways you can just take a little step back when you find that you're trying to take back control of your financial decisions and kind of curb your spending.

Kati:  

About two years ago I thought I'm just going to stop Dyeing my hair. Cold turkey, let the grays sparkle. Who cares about the roots? I work from home. It's not a big deal and I'd go months even between like trims and guess what, no one really noticed. It also saved me thousands of dollars. Literally. I was no longer charging those monthly appointments to my credit card, so that alone is huge. Not getting further into debt and fast forward to this past weekend, I just kind of decided I needed something freshen up my look, a cut and a little color and I'd scheduled my appointment out a little ways so that I could budget for what I knew was going to be the charges. And I decided I'm going to leave my natural color. I still have a few grays, but I wanted to kind of like chop off the outgrown colored hair and maybe just add a few highlights, not the whole full head of them like I used to always do. And if you're watching on YouTube you can see that it's just a pretty simple bob with a few bolder highlights around my face and it was in my budget and I smiled that I hadn't been paying that bill plus interest every month for the last two years because I mean it's still a hefty price tag.

Kati:  

So, guys, let's talk about you. Did you go to the barber recently. Do you go regularly every few weeks to get a haircut? Would you be open to investing in a set of clippers to do your own hair at home or have someone in your house do it, or for doing your kid's hair, instead of spending 20 bucks a pop when you have to take them in? My dad used to cut my hair until about second grade, I remember.

Kati:  

And let's look at manicures and pedicures. If you don't have the time or the budget to go in like every other week or so, I just use a clear nail strengthener to grow my nails out while leaving kind of the shine of having polish, and I just trim them myself. You can do that. You have two hands. It might not look the best, but it's something. I usually only splurge for pedicures right before I go on my cruises, because there's no point in doing it all winter long. Or when I went to Canada because my feet are in socks and shoes. Nobody's going to see it. If you have a teenager or someone in your house, do a mani-pedi at home together and do each other's nails. That's just like a fun core memory that you can create too. And there's all kinds of stickers and nail wraps to kind of give that artistic salon style look without breaking the bank.

Kati:  

Okay, let's take a look at travel. As a former travel agent, this is one of my favorite things to do. So I used to pay all of my trips by swiping a credit card and then I would be paying off those trips for months, if not years, after the sun tan had faded and the compound interest really starts working against me. I used to stress throughout the trip as those bills racked up Meals, tours, souvenirs, air and hotel upgrades, add-ons. Over the last few years I have switched my habits, so I plan ahead and save up the money that's needed for a trip I want to take. There's several benefits to this. So, one, you can take advantage of lower prices for airfare, car rentals, cruises and most hotels by booking up to a year in advance. If, number two, a lower price becomes available between the time you book and your travel dates, you can typically get credit, so you don't lose out on the savings just by reaching out to that vendor or wholesaler, the hotel, the airline. You can pay for the trip a little bit at a time. So let's take, for example, right now.

Kati:  

I am currently planning a trip for next spring and I've already reserved a hotel that had no deposit down and the ability to cancel up to three days prior to my travel dates. I have a full-size rental car, reserved without a deposit and locked in for $120 for the whole week, all expenses paid or included. It's cheaper than taking three or four Ubers around town while we're there, which adds up really fast. And I used my airline points to purchase the one-way ticket from my home airport to my destination, paying a little less than $25 for the taxes and fees that weren't covered by my points. But even if I hadn't used those, the price was only $150 one way. I took almost the exact same flight earlier this year, booked last minute for $400. So it's a huge savings.

Kati:  

I've been saving up the money for the return one-way flight, which actually I can't even book it. It's not available through the airline for a couple more weeks. So I've been saving up, knowing approximately what the return trip will be and we'll have the money when it is available to book. I have about seven months to save up for the cost of the hotel and the car rental, because I know what those bills, those totals, are going to be when they actually charge me at checkout and before I go I like to research restaurants and the tours that I want to do. I kind of have an idea of what to save for those and have a little bit of an extra cushion because things always come up. A great tour booking website that I use is Viator. Many tours can be booked without payment up front and canceled without penalty within one or two days of your reservations.

Kati:  

Of course, always read the fine print. That's not the case for every single tour, but it's a great way to again save up and you already know what the total cost is going to be. And last but not least, number four, you can relax and truly enjoy your vacation without worrying about the credit card bill stress that comes after you return home. It's like a paid in cash trip and that is the best kind. So hopefully these tips give you some ideas on how you can still enjoy the fun things that you currently do. You're just adjusting the way you spend and save and plan your purchases and vacations and those fun splurges. It might not be spontaneous, but it feels so good to come through it all and not be stressed after the fact. Until next time. Thanks for listening to the Debt-Free Dad podcast.

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