You Don’t Deserve This

You work hard.

I know that. I work hard too.

You and I both deserve happiness, peace, freedom, and safety.

But guess what?

We don’t deserve a new car …

We don’t deserve a brand new wardrobe …

We don’t deserve a huge house with a swimming pool …

Like I said, I know that you work hard. And if you value new cars, lots of clothes, or huge houses, then you should buy them. After all, I named this website Life Before Budget for a reason. Purchasing expensive things is completely cool, as long as they line up with your values and goals.

But do we deserve a new car?

“I drive 20 miles to work each day and I work real hard when I get there. So therefore, I’m entitled to a new car.”

Again, if this lines up with your values, then you should definitely make the new car purchase. But what if we ask the question another way:

Do you deserve to be forced to spend $500 per month on financing that new car?

After all, you and I both work very hard for our money.

So do we deserve to have this money taken away from us each month?

Wouldn’t this take away some of the things that we truly “deserve?”

Paying a $500 car payment each month would probably take away a bit of our freedom. We would have to go to work every single day to pay for this car. It might also take away some of our peace because we might become worried about the huge car payment that we have. It may not even provide that much happiness, since the happiness associated with a purchase typically doesn’t last for too long.

Just because you and I work hard, it doesn’t mean that we deserve to go and buy a bunch of stuff that we can’t really afford at the end of each week. That would make us have to work harder next week … and every other week thereafter, just to keep buying new things.

We don’t deserve to be forced to work just to try and stay on the hedonic treadmill of purchases.

Instead, you and I both deserve the happiness that comes from enjoyable and meaningful work, close friends and family relationships, and the ability to chase our goals and values in a free society.

So what do you think that you deserve? Let us know in the comments below.

And thanks for reading!

~Nathan

Let’s keep living a great life … with the help of money. So what’s next?

• You can travel for free by using rewards credit cards.
• You can get motivated and get out of debt.
• You can check out the next post or the previous post and continue to learn.

But no matter what you decide to do, let’s leave the ordinary behind and take action today!