After taking a quick break during August for the sake of my sanity, I am back and ready to disrupt the internet equilibrium with this post. Well, maybe not the whole internet, maybe just my five readers. But hey, if you like this one, feel free to share it and subscribe to my blog to get email notifications when I post. I don’t always post on Facebook when I blog and I also don’t always post on Mondays. I do try though.

Moving on from my shameless plug. 

As you may be able to tell from the title, I love spending money. 

It’s not just the dopamine rush from buying new things, the fun of going to the mall and sifting through the items and carefully selecting what I want (after an arduous process of finding tags to check the material, trying them on, and finally bringing them all the way to the checkout counter). It’s not the post-shopping fashion show or item display put on for my family at home. It’s not even the excitement of bringing in all the shopping bags from the store and adding the new items to my closets and cupboards at home. 

There is just something about spending money that I genuinely enjoy. 

Now, I know this might be a controversial thing and people might think things like “Leora, you should be more responsible” or “Leora, you should really be saving money” or “Leora, won’t your husband be upset?” To which I would respond, “hey, that’s none of your business!” but because this is the internet and I am posting this publicly, I kind of made it your business. 

So here’s my response to that (but just know, if you thought any of these things, I am sticking my tongue out at you with a smile on my face because that’s just who I am). 

When I was younger and getting my very first salary back in college, I tried to force myself onto a strict budget. Specific amounts allotted each month for various things like Amazon Prime (an obvious necessity!), transportation home, some fun, and some savings. Obviously things like savings are super boring and I hated sticking to the budget. I still do, but I am a grown up now and have learned to do things that I don’t like doing. 

Every so often, I would spend my money on a little something extra. Maybe a stupidly expensive coffee at Starbucks. Or maybe buying a dozen $3 soaps from Bath and Body Works (look, if you get it, you get it, and if you don’t, you don’t). I had so many of their products, my room was like a Bath and Body Works consignment store. Whenever I had a difficult week or a tough exam or just needed to treat myself, I would frequent their website, always on the hunt for sales. The $3 soap sale was one of their best, in addition to their $11 three wick candle sale or their buy 3 get 3. As you can probably imagine, every so often I would get a large box delivered with at least 6 products in it, but usually more to qualify for free shipping. What can I say, aroma therapy is my jam. 

And if you’re judging my purchases here, no hard feelings. Because I did too. It was a semi-viscious cycle of buying things, enjoying said things, but then feeling guilty that I had spent money. So instead of being a responsible human and doing whatever the responsible thing is and maybe adjusting the budget or just trying to be better about my discretionary spending, I would just stop spending money altogether. It’s a weird situation. Kind of like punishing myself for spending my hard-earned money. After all, the state minimum wage was only $11 an hour. Don’t even try to do any math here, it will just make us all sad. 

As I’ve gotten older (and, let’s be honest, learned more about personal finance), my thoughts about spending money have changed. Clearly. I am writing a post all about how I love to spend money after all. 

But in all seriousness, I learned from my mistakes and from my past spending habits. I learned that purchasing an Apple computer is a quality of life upgrade that can last a decade, and that not every wireless phone charger actually works. There was a time when I would regret every last dollar I spent. Now? I make a note and move on. Sort of. Sometimes I get a new phone charger but that’s beside the point. 

I find spending money to be an art. Pay attention now, because this is where I drop some real truth-bombs and Leora tips for you, my five precious readers. 

I don’t spend money on a fancy coffee machine or imported beans or whatever. I buy instant coffee and just use hot water. Every. Single. Day. 

I spend money on clothes I feel good in and that I know will last hundreds of washes.

Now, don’t think I’m judging any of you coffee connoisseurs, I am simply saying that I have a less sophisticated coffee palate and that fancy coffee would be lost on me, but a 100% Supima Cotton shirt? Absolute heaven. 

I think that’s the beauty of money. No two artists have the same brushstrokes, and no two people spend money the exact same way. Spending on what you enjoy, and being a total cheapskate on what you don’t, is part of the fun. 

And sales? Well that’s just the best of both worlds. You mean I can spend HALF of what I would have spent on a dress I already planned on buying? Wow! Here in Israel, people are all about having moadons (like a membership for sales and things). Man these salespeople are so good at their jobs. They convince you to buy the moadon and then three for two socks and ten other things that you didn’t come in for. Here’s the thing, when I come into a store and they convince me to add two things to my cart, I will one hundred percent fall for it everytime IF (and you know it’s a big if since I capitalized it) it is something I need anyways. Two pillowcases for really cheap? You can never have too many linens. Spending 50 shekel on an annual moadon to save 18 shekel? Not worth it. 

Lifetime moadon with special birthday discounts and earning points towards future purchases? Absolutely! I want the Soltam moadon where I can buy 3000 shekel worth of good quality pots for 500 shekel! Give me the Nimrod moadon to save 50% on shoes I was buying and contribute another 50 shekel towards the first step shoes I know I’m going to buy next month. Seriously those things are expensive and here I paid 150 for them instead of the 250 I spent with my first kid. I don’t know about you, but I consider that upleveling my financial literacy. 

Finding sales and saving money on things you were already going to buy is a whole other blog post, but it is right up there with part of the enjoyment. 

I’m not claiming to be a finance guru or a super responsible person, I’m acknowledging that I love spending money, and that’s ok. And to my younger self, the girl who felt bad, like she had to do teshuva for spending money that wasn’t noted on the budget, this is the part that feels healing to me. To unapologetically swipe my credit card (it’s actually tapping it these days and it’s just on my phone, but whatever) and spend money on something I know will either be used and cherished, or a lesson well learned feels well earned. I don’t need to push this part of me down, I don’t need to just accept it, I can embrace it, love spending money, and still be financially responsible. Sort of.