Finding Financial Freedom

It’s incredibly stifling living attached to someone else’s purse strings. Everything you want to buy has to be filtered through their perceptions. It’s irritating to be judged when you want to buy a cool thing to make yourself happy (within reason, of course).

Obviously, the first step toward financial independence is having a job. Once you have your own source of income, you don’t need to ask permission to buy things. Now, of course, everyone has their own circumstances. Maybe you have a large debt you’re working on or something to pay off. In that case, you might just need to suck it up and let someone else support you. Ideally, whoever’s doing this for you is doing it out of concern for your well-being rather than having something to hold over you. It still stinks, but it doesn’t have to stink a lot.

Whenever you feel doubtful about a purchase of something you like, consider this: do you have money to support yourself? Will you still have money to support yourself after this purchase? Is more money coming? Do you have any outstanding debts that need your attention? If the answers to those are, in this order, yes, yes, yes, and no, then just do it. A little fun dip now and then won’t kill you. Saving money is good, but not to the point where you don’t have a life.