Work Now, Play Later

As a twenty-five year old single woman living in America, I’ll admit: the struggle, unfortunately, is very real sometimes.  Life gets us down and we have to get back up, but that’s how it is, isn’t it?  There are challenges, ups and downs, but we prevail in the end.  Something I have never understood, however, is when we make deliberate, pleasure-based decisions and purchases that keep us down when all we want to do is get out of whatever rut we got stuck in.

You know the situation clearly, just as I do.  You’ve worked a long work week and all you want to do is relax, buy yourself a giant cheese pizza, and put on the latest movie on HBO.  It sounds amazing.  Really.  Or maybe you want to go exercise some retail therapy and buy a new dress for work, when really you end up walking out with two new outfits that are definitely not work outfits but fun ones.  We’ve all been there.  But I just don’t understand it anymore.

Twenty-somethings, at least the ones that I know, are swimming in debt.  Credit card debt, student loan debt, car payments, and the like.  Heck, whenever we get our paycheck, the money is allocated where it has to go, leaving us with just enough and we still find a way to sneak outside our budget.  This, my friends, is no bueno.  And keeps you stuck in the circle of debt even longer.  If you want to hang out there, then you’re totally fine.  But if you’re like me, you want out of there as fast as someone can say “freedom, yes please!”.

In our society, we want to “work now, play later” but we end up “playing now, paying later”.  So which is it?  Do we want to suffer now, have fun later and enjoy it?  Or do we want to have fun now, regret it later, and pay more later?

I think the answer is clear.  And it’s the “work now, play later” mentality that got me free of credit card debt.  So if you need proof that this theory is tried, tested, and true, I got you.  It works.

If you really want to have fun and enjoy it, don’t seek the retail therapy sessions, the little nick knacks that you see at the mall, or the vacations (yes, even the weekend trips) that set you further back financially than they do emotionally.  We all say money isn’t that important, but here’s the truth: it’s better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it.  Money makes or breaks relationships of all kinds, so don’t let it break yours, okay?

So this is to all my twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, peeps who are swimming in debt: think twice before dropping some cash on that sale.  Think about the accumulated rewards later.  Hustle now, help yourself later.  You’ll be glad that you did.  Trust me.