Live now, save never: Good or bad advice?

I think a blogger told me this in a comment recently, but I don’t know which post it was on. Live now, save never.

I love the last few days before payday. It wasn’t an easy transition from hate to love, but it was necessary. Hospitality pay means that I don’t have the biggest income fortnightly but enough to get by, so I have to be a bit more careful for the last few days before payday.

I still don’t know whether I’m being sarcastic or not in the first two sentences.

Regardless, this means I have to focus on other things that money can’t buy, productivity for example. Not that I am a big spender, but having hardly anything in my wallet means I can devote my time solely to working hard or working out, and temptation to meet friends for a coffee or a beer can be resisted as I have little option but to decline. This is time I can spend working on myself. I used to get paid monthly and hated it, it was far too long of a stretch and I have a much harder time trying to budget for the month. I would still end up pretty broke a few days before payday, but as this is now fortnightly with smaller paychecks twice a month I have these broke days more often. It is kind of a blessing.

moneyshot

I don’t understand how people build savings on my pay, I know I am terrible at saving, but I am not a big spender. I don’t have a PS4 as much as I would like one, nor do I own a car that I fill with petrol every week. But then again I am still paying off holidays that I had back in 2014 to Brazil and travelling down Australia’s east coast wasn’t cheap by any stretch of the imagination. I am constantly torn between wanting to save and wanting to enjoy today in case its the last.

Did you hear about the Indian bloggers recently that fell to their deaths from Yosemite? They plunged 800ft from cliff taking a photo for their blog. I tried to read some of their blog entries as I hadn’t heard of them however it is now sadly unavailable. They were a young married couple, only 29 and 30. It’s these stories that influence me to live now and save never. 

But I know this is not a good way to think. But it is how I think a lot of the time. When I think about sitting in and saving I think of those that didn’t get the chance to save and it does me no favours. But saving could potentially lead to a brighter future that I may not have with this current mentality. It’s an inner dilemma I face daily.

What’s your opinion, are you a good saver, and what are you saving for? Maybe you’re like me. I also think that if I don’t sit in and save I am out and about taking photos and making memories for my blog, and I won’t be in Australia forever. 11 more months in fact. I want to look back on my blog with great memories, not a slightly better bank balance. It gives my readers more to look at too and helps give me inspiration and ideas moving forward. In the past I had a reason to save, and that was to enjoy this current moment in a far away land. A working holiday visa isn’t the time to save.

Live now, save never. I still don’t know if I am for or against this and if my mentality will shift one day. There are certainly benefits to both.

 

Featured image taken in Manly, Sydney and taken from the post This is not a post about Harry and Meghan

 

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Happy blogging,

Sam

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Dealing with Disorder

A website dedicated to Tourette, OCD and co-occurring conditions. Daily updates celebrating neurodiversity.

61 thoughts on “Live now, save never: Good or bad advice?”

  1. That’s a dilemma I’ve lived with ever since starting working! Still don’t kwow how I should behave.
    I’m not a big spender and I was able to save enough to travel overseas twice in a year, but at the same time, it feels like the only thing I do is spending money. I’m still looking for some kind of balance I guess :/
    For now, I just try to enjoy my travels as much as I can while saving on other things. Let’s see how it works out 🙂

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    1. I have been hearing that word a lot since the post- balance. You are saving enough to live life and travel which is great. Saving for other things is great to and you can enjoy the best of both world whilst you can. I need to try and find that balance myself. Thanks for commenting 🙂

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  3. May you always have abundance in your life, Sam. Enjoy what you have, and have what you enjoy. Quantity doesn’t count, but quality does.
    As the saying goes, no one on their death bed says, “I should have worked harder”!

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    1. And so many people on their death bed will have said that they wished they worked less… so this is important to remember. I think I need to enjoy what I have in this life and living it, whilst remembering that saving is still a wise thing to do.

      Thank you for your thoughts here.

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  4. I have never saved despite having well paid jobs throughout my working life, I just adjusted my lifestyle to suit my income! All of a sudden retirement age loomed and instead of driving a comfortable modern Motorhome I am driving a 32 year old pop top wizzbang, because that’s what I could afford. I have now lived in it for over 5 years with my only income the Australian aged pension and I’m saving more now than ever before. Why? Life is simpler. I guess I’m saying, if you don’t save now be prepared to adjust your lifestyle and expectations later on. It’s worked for me 😎🚐

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    1. It has been all about adjusting your life to suit your income, interesting 🙂 I need to think about the future which I haven’t been, but balancing that with enjoying the present. Thank you for commenting!

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  5. Saving is a good thing but so is being happy. Make the most of every opportunity and be happy so you can look back on your memories with a smile.
    I’m a saver. I struggled before I got married but always saved where I could and I was happy. Being happy…That made all the difference in the world.

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  6. I guess it really depends what you would like to accomplish and what is your expectation for the future. @Rosemaryhr says that they had to adjust to the lifestyle, this is an option, another option could be move somewhere else were the life is less expensive and affordable with few savings. It all depend from you and what your general idea is.

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    1. My expectations- or hopes rather- would be to fund travel and see the world more, although I know this is a popular dream and not easy to achieve. If I could achieve this I would be happy, but to do so whilst saving would be very difficult. But who knows what the future has in store, and although I am bad at saving, I would like to try and work to achieve this! At least then I would be investing something into my future, whether it be investing in a fulfilling career or savings.

      Thank you for your thoughts here 🙂

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  7. Spend 80% and save 20% can’t remember where I’ve heard that. We’ve paid off our house. My parents paid of theirs and now they are living on a pension yet they still able to travel every year.
    Dad would feed mum chicken wings every time he ran out of money. At $4 a kilo it’s cheap as.
    I feed my family pork mince. A kilo is $7 and it can last us 2-3 days. Plus rice is cheap. A pot lasts 2 days. Can eat cheaply if we wished though there’s only so much mince and chicken wings one can eat 😊

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    1. I used to cook a pan of chilli with mince that would last 2-3 days too, it was very tasty and it helped me save a lot. However in a hostel I hate cooking here, but once I move out and find my own place I will do much more. Maybe that’s all I need, to move out of the hostel! And I can never eat too many chicken wings 😉

      Thanks for commenting Dewy 🙂

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    1. I think I am going to try and save at least a little every month. Because I am backpacking I have very little in possessions, if anything it is food and drink that is stopping me from saving. But I can certainly cut down here! I think it would make me feel a lot better to cook more and save a little every month.

      Thanks Michelle for your comments 🙂

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    1. It is so true, and it is a thought I cannot shift. But I am going to try and save a little, without sacrificing enjoying the moment.

      Thank you again for commenting.

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  10. Becomes a balance I think. Needing to save for the future, but needing to live at the same time. This has become a major point of discussion in Canada, with almost half of Canadians living paycheque to paycheque. It can be very expansive to live in the major cities in Canada. In Toronto, the average price for a detached house sells for over one million dollars. Vancouver is worse. On top of that is a massive lack of rental accommodation and affordable housing. A news article from 2017 indicated over half of Canadians were $200 or less away from not being able to pay bills.

    Tough to save for the future here. Almost everyone I know needs to be two-income families in order to survive.

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      1. Yes those are expensive house prices for sure. Toronto and Vancouver are simply out of the price range for most ordinary people looking to buy. Areas two hours or more away have seen an explosion in house construction sue to the demand and lower prices. We sold 5 years ago, downsized to a 750 square foot home in a smaller town. Very happy

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      4. This is true, and from what I have seen the bigger the house, the more chance a whole room is used for storage and not used for its intended purpose! Spare bedrooms and garages for example.

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  11. I’ll be the first to hold my hands up and say I’m crap with money, I’m a little better than I was. When I did star saving I’d take it back out 2 wks later 🙈. At the mo I’m concentrating on clearing my debt down but have started saving £50 a month into an account with my sister having the paying in book so I can’t withdrawn plus I don’t lose the decent interest rate.

    I always say you can’t take it with you so why not spend and enjoy life 🥂💜🙌🏼

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    1. Haha your comments about taking the savings back out, I know this too well!! Not being able to withdraw is a good technique for saving, I hope you manage to save well. Also, your blog name is so fitting! Love it.

      Thank you for the comments and the inspirational words 🙂

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      1. No thank you for the blog post! Well I have £60ish in there at the min as my sister updated me lol. I try and transfer any odd small amounts that I have in my account thru out the month as well.

        I was looking at changing the name as I think it’s too long?

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      2. I think it seems like a long name as it is all one word, but if you look at some of the other comments here you will see bloggers with pretty big names too. I believe that the name isn’t as important as the blog itself, and people won’t mind the name as long as the content is good quality. But it is up to you, I changed mine three times as they just didn’t feel right. It just depends if you think it fits in with your blogging theme.

        Have you heard of KSI, the British YouTube star? He found success whilst his username was ‘KSIOlajideBT’. If there is a name that shouldn’t work, it is that one!!

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    1. I totally agree. For me, finding a way to gain a higher income is much more liberating than saving. It helps to increase our potential instead of limiting what we do to grow our savings with what income we already have. I totally agree 🙂

      Thank you Raoul for your input here!

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  13. I think you’ll get more enjoyment if you plan/invest for the future – life will be tougher as you get older and have nothing to fall back on – nothing to help ease the pressure and give you more option/life balance later down the line – unless you are very blessed and will not need to (e.g. you have inherited a healthy fortune and property). Balance is key!

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    1. Balance is key, I agree with you that I should probably plan and invest more. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I want my future self to be proud of the things I am implementing today to help and not regret doing nothing! Thank you for providing your thoughts here.

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      1. No worries – hindsight is always a wonderful thing (I think we all look back on life and see things we could have/should have done differently – I wish I’d saved more when I was younger). If you’re thinking ahead and not just for the hear and now then that’s always a good sign – I think! 😊

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      2. I think so too. It is hard to think of the future whilst living now, but there are things that I am pleased I did in the past that lead me to where I am. So for that reason, I should plan my future more!

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  14. I used to be able to save quite abit as my work sent me overseas pretty often which means they pay for my accommodation and my food expenses. I’ve since moved to France for 3 years, tax is heavy compared to Singapore and i’m still paying for insurance policies in Sg( i can’t quit them) plus i traveled quite abit last year. So it’s difficult to save anything now. Since i’m raised up in Sg, i have to say we have very different mindset when it comes to saving. We were taught from young to save for rainy days and trust me, family, society and even adverts on TV will tell you that rainy days are always ‘around the corner’. Insurance agents scare the shit out of you and since we do not really have government medical support, we grew up believing if we do not save, we will end up like whichever unfortunate relatives who did the same. We have a saying, it’s better to end up dead if you are sick than being sick as being sick means you would end up bankrupt and even worse. For me i really hate this double lifestyle that i’m feeding now (Sg and France). Like you, i do not think i spend alot, yet i end up waiting for my salary every month. I want to enjoy my life of course but i think i have also enjoyed it to the max these few years so i am willing to take a backseat for traveling for next 2 years maybe. I just don’t like the feeling of being so restricted by money. So for me, we should only spend if we can afford to, and still have some savings left for…rainy days =)

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    1. Wow, thank you for the insight regarding living in Singapore. I did not know that and this kind of teaching would certainly make me want to save and not end up being screwed over when sick! I feel we are very lucky in the UK with the NHS, and I shouldn’t take it for granted.

      Your job sounds fantastic, travel and having food and accommodation expenses too, providing the novelty of travel didn’t wear off.

      I appreciate the time taken to share your thoughts and story here! Thank you so much.

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  15. I’m a strict saver. That said I realize you’re living quite a different lifestyle than me, but I would still encourage you to build up an emergency savings because you just never know what could happen. My husband and I are set to pay off our house by the end of the year; instead of taking 30 years to pay off a mortgage we only needed 3.5. Now our house isn’t big/fancy by any means so our mortgage is probably less than the average person, but this is still a major accomplishment given we don’t have high paying jobs. We’re still able to take 1 or 2 vacations a year and treat ourselves to eating out and movies from time to time. We like knowing we’ll be free from debt and can save more for the future and take more trips once the house is paid off.

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    1. It truly is a major accomplishment! That is great to read that you will pay off your mortgage so quickly. It shows what saving can do and in the long term, this will be very liberating. Maybe I need your mentality and saving will be a lot easier and in time, rewarding for me.

      Thanks Tracy.

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  16. I couldn’t disagree more with the idea of not saving. It’s not a matter of giving up fun, it’s a matter of adjusting your view or what that is. The comfort of knowing I can count on my savings if something goes wrong is the greatest feeling. And as a few previous commenters said, you need to save for retirement.
    The money I saved in my 20s and 30s was wisely invested and grew into something much bigger. If I had waited, I would not be where I am today.
    Read The Ant and the Grasshopper.

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    1. I agree that just because you are saving/setting savings goals does not mean giving up fun. My husband and I still go on vacation, go to the movies, out to eat, etc. It’s a matter of balance – we had an unexpected vet bill recently (the cat had a urinary tract infection) so instead of spending money this weekend we used free movie tickets he had gotten from work for his birthday to still go have some fun. Some weekends we just stay in and watch Netflix or movies or play video games if we need a “cheap” weekend. Saving money and getting out of debt gives a great peace of mind!

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      2. This all sounds very fun to me 🙂 I guess it isn’t about sacrificing fun, but changing and adapting that fun and routine on the circumstances.

        Also as Laura said, I hope your cat is healed too!

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    2. Thank you Laura for this. I don’t believe that saving means giving up fun as I know plenty of people that can save and live very happily too, Tracy Nicole below for example! I do struggle though to find the willpower to cut back on things and invest, and stray away from the routines I find myself in. But it would be very sensible to consider my future and I don’t want to regret this in that future.

      Thank you for the wake up and your opinions on this 🙂

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      1. I think for a majority of people the struggle comes from defining a “need” vs a “want”. For example I rarely buy clothing unless I truly need them. I think a lot of people think they “need” things that they really don’t. For example my sister just got a new TV stand for her living room. It’s beautiful but there was nothing wrong with her old one. She didn’t need it, she just wanted it. I’m not saying people can’t splurge now and again on things, but if you’re trying to save then figuring out need vs want is pretty important.

        I also find having a savings account that I just don’t touch helps. Like it’s truly off limits money unless there would be an emergency like an appliance breaks and needs replaced.

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      2. Differentiating between the ‘need’ and the ‘want’ is important. And if I had a savings account that was a lot harder to get into (i.e not being able to simply go into my app an transfer the money back over) would help a lot!

        Buying nice things we ‘want’ is nice every now and then, but much more enjoyable if it isn’t done on a regular basis. Everything in moderation, including moderation 🙂

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  17. When I lived in The States I lived paycheck to paycheck. When I first moved to Japan I did a little better but I don’t have the skills to save money and therefore I’m super bad at it. Still 6 years later and I don’t have a substantial savings. I should but I don’t.

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    1. It’s strange because I feel I should advise you too, but I am struggling myself! A lot of the comments above have motivated me to try and be better at saving and think of the future as well as the present. It is very hard, but even a little saving every month will help us both I am sure!

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    1. Haha, maybe your mom see’s where you are going wrong regarding saving. Maybe budget at the beginning of the week and write everything down and see if you can stick to it, and see where extra money is going from there? I am sure there are things you may be able to cut down on, it might just not seem obvious until it is down on paper in front of you.

      I hope you are able to start saving soon!

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  19. It’s all about priorities i guess. It’s expensive, but it’s important to me. Could I afford it? I always ask myself. I have a little money in my savings. No regrets having to spend all my hard earned money on travels and adventures because fuck, tomorrow is not yet promised. And we only love once, right? After all, we can always earn the money. Not the moments. Salute, Sam!

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    1. ‘After all, we can always earn the money. Not the moments’. Exactly 🙂 You seem to have a very similar outlook to me, and I am pleased you enjoyed the post. I am going to try and save a little, especially with family and friends coming to visit me soon, so I want to for them. But I also have no regrets for spending money on great memories, my Australia trip for example.

      Thanks for your comments! 🙂

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