While attending college, many students have a money spending problem and that is nothing to be ashamed of. College is the perfect opportunity for the new young liberated person to spend all of their money on all of the pointless things that mom and dad would have killed you if you bought. Credit cards are easily obtainable and you can get yourself into all kinds of trouble before you even know it, ruining your life with crippling debt. But my issue is different, I am extremely frugal; frugal to the point of not wanting to spend money on things that I know I need.
Being extremely frugal has its plus side. I usually always have money to spend in case of an emergency and I should never have to worry about not having money just in case something happens. But I still do worry, I continuously worry about not having enough, but what I need to ask myself is what is enough for me? What will make me satisfied? Maybe I am so frugal with what I have because of my past experiences of watching my family, like many others, struggle through the recession. But from time to time, I need to remind myself that I should enjoy the finer things in life once in a while, and buying that value meal at a fast-food restaurant is not going to break the bank.
I am trying to get over this so called issue that many of my friends and family joke about. They say, "that is a problem that I wish that I had". Trust me this is not a problem that you wish you had. I sit and think "Well, I should not join that bowling league with my friends. It costs far too much." However, in reality, it only costs $4 a week. Many nights I have chosen to stay in and not have a good time with friends just because I knew that we would end up pooling together a few bucks each to get a pizza. Though this is money I could easily afford to throw in, I still worry. But I have since decided that it is time to confront my problem.
While it is a little too late to decide what my New Year's Resolution will be, this year my goal is to spend more money, especially on those that surround me and I am close to. This is the year that I will pay back my oh so amazing girlfriend Katie for all of the things that I have skimped out on to save a penny. This is the year that I will take all of my friends out to eat, well maybe just a few at a time (baby steps ya know). This is the year that I will splurge and buy that new video game that I think looks cool. This is the year that I know that I do not need to save every penny. While being a college student is rough and money is sometimes in short supply, I can still spend money and save enough to have a good reserve.
