I have a confession: I’m dropping $2,500 on a completely elective purchase in October. And on two weekend trips that were planned pretty last-minute. And I have no regrets. Having my finances together gives me the flexibility to address what’s important in my life. Financial flexibility isn’t necessarily frugal, but it does mean my money is going to things I value.
Not Putting My Life on Hold
This weekend, I’m surprising my mom for her birthday. It’s been several years since I’ve been able to be with her on the day (since I left home for college). We never did anything big when I was home, but it was fun to celebrate together. This year, her birthday falls on a weekend. A couple months ago, I decided to look at tickets. I was able to find a great one for 18,000 Delta miles, which I had! So I’m flying in for free. My sister will pick me up, and the main expense for the weekend will be a nice dinner at my mom’s favorite steak restaurant.
Cheap Travel with Friends
Over Columbus Day, my college roommates and I are going on a weekend trip. We rented a house on Airbnb, and it’ll be a great reunion weekend. Thankfully, we chose a location that is within driving distance of DC, so I can drive the group for the weekend and also bring StarDog! That way, I don’t have to buy a plane or train ticket, and I don’t have to pay for a dog sitter. Plus, StarDog loves vacations and getting to sleep with me (he can’t at home).
Prioritizing Things that Make Me Happy
Speaking of StarDog, I got him three and a half years ago. At the time, the adoption place told me he got along with cats…and that he was a mellow dog. Both of those turned out to be bald-faced lies. By the time I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to make him get along with the cats, I had also fallen in love with his furry face. So for the past three and a half years, my household has been divided. And that’s a big deal because I live in a one-bedroom apartment.
StarDog stays in the living room and is crated while I’m gone. SunCat and StarCat have to stay in the bedroom. No one is happy. StarDog loves to sleep with me, and SunCat is unhappy that she can’t sit on my lap in the evening. I’m unhappy because this setup is stressful and inconvenient.
Over the years, I’ve done training with StarDog to try to fix this. We’ve done group training sessions, private training, and plenty of self-driven efforts. I fully acknowledge that I’m part of this problem. Part of the reason I haven’t been making progress is that this is a stressful and fraught situation for me.
Spending Money on Training
My pets are important to me, and SunCat is getting up there in years. I’m terrified of StarDog hurting her during our training attempts. And when I’m stressed, he can tell, and then he’s keyed up. Overall, it’s not a constructive training situation.
As I started thinking about finding a new job and moving to a new location, the thought of having to find a new place where I could once again keep my pets segregated was really stressing me out. I decided to make one more attempt to fix this issue. One route we haven’t tried in the past is a board-and-train program. I haven’t done this in the past mainly because it’s really expensive. Like $2500 for two weeks. It is however, probably the most promising option I have at this point.
All this means that StarDog is going to doggy bootcamp. It’s two weeks long, and I am hopeful that this will make my living situation more harmonious. If it doesn’t, at least I’ll know that I’ve tried everything. This is a small price to pay for a chance at all my pets getting along.
Finances are Not Everything
$2,500 is a lot of money. It could go toward my student loans, or my emergency fund, or my down payment savings. All of these would be great ways to use that money. But that doesn’t mean that my spending decision is a bad way to spend it. I’m spending that money to make my life better. To improve the well-being of my pets, and to make my life less stressful.
Have you ever spent money on something that isn’t “frugal” but is still worth it? I’d love to hear about it! I’ll report back on how the training goes.