“Stop talking to me about money,” my husband said. “I don’t care if that costs $45 or if you saved 30 bucks. Just spend the money on things that matter and don’t feel guilty about doing it.”
But how could I stop? I’ve thought about money for as long as I could remember. “How could I spend it so easily?,” I wondered, and then I did.
Two days ago a large box arrived at my doorstep. It contained ten sets of brightly colored new towels. Our old ones were mismatched and threadbare. Most of them were over fifteen years old.
I didn’t just buy new towels. I bought luxuriously soft, name brand, new towels. I had a hard time clicking the purchase button and even hesitated before cutting off the tags, but wouldn’t you know I feel pure joy now.
Those beautiful, fluffy towels feel so soft against my skin. I wrap my boys in them after baths and my hair after a long hot shower. When I step into the bathroom all the towels are the same color and they all match the bathroom decor. I feel a sense of peace in there now that I didn’t before.
The bathroom isn’t the only place I spent money. I also bought a new set of dishes for our kitchen. A few of the old ones broke, (at some point or another), and I constantly found myself running out of the salad plates we use primarily for snacks and dishing out meals to my oldest son.
If I didn’t run the dishwasher every evening I found myself a few plates short by the end of the second day. I didn’t want to use a big plate when a small one would serve the purpose equally well.
I hemmed and hawed at the idea of replacing our old dishes, but I’m so happy to have a full set waiting for me in the cabinet now.
As I remove clutter from our house and downsize our possessions I find a strong desire to make our house feel more homey. Why should I look at ragged, mismatched towels or feel frustrated by a lack of dishes? If our finances were not in order these purchases might be a big deal, but we no longer live in a place and time where I have to worry about money.
It’s hard to stop weighing every financial decision, but I am a long way from where I started in 2005 (when this blog was created). Perhaps I no longer need to be One Frugal Girl? How much money does one need to have in the bank to stop worrying about having enough of it?