Last week I was interviewed by Erin Darling over at The Pop Fix, and I answered 12 questions based on the premise that their readers consist of mainly Gen-Y who are into the pop culture scene. Erin asked me some questions that were so good I had to refrain from posting full blog posts for each. I do, however, want to focus on a recurring theme in her questions: The ability to be financially responsible and still be social/have fun.

Over a year ago I wrote a post asking the question: “Is it possible to be young and frugal and still have a vibrant social life?” To which I came to the answer of “it’s hard.” But in the 18 months since I wrote that post, I have learned a great deal about money and my own psyche and therefore would like to change my answer.

At the time of the previous post Mary and I had set our priorities on purchasing a nice new house, and accordingly were saving every penny in anticipation of the closing. As a result, we weren’t doing anything besides working and working out, which was starting to get old. In a nutshell, I was letting money control me and it was kind of depressing. 

Since then a great deal has changed, and I have learned that really knowing who you are as a person and as a couple is the most important aspect of setting priorities. Going without certain aspects in our lives to which we had become accustomed made us realize where our priorities were individually and as a couple.  Sure we accumulated a good amount of money for our house, but it wasn’t any fun because we were saving too much. With this in mind we reworked our budget after the close to allow for more social activities, entertainment, and wants.

Now we no longer feel bad about wanting to go to Starbucks or going out to lunch with co-workers because we know that having that social aspect in our lives is important to who we are. Instead of shunning social spending we accept it as something that is needed for us to stay sane…and believe me, sanity is a priority.

Making priorities is part of being frugal and living a balanced lifestyle, so if you ask me now if it’s possible to be young and frugal and still have a vibrant social life, the answer is absolutely yes… if you choose to make it a priority.

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