Yo-yo ing

[ariapluscat]

Have any of you had the experience that you have a really good period of time saving (say a month of no spending) followed by a total spurge bc [choose one] you earned it, you now have a buffer, you're already ahead, you deserve a rest, you ran out of x product, there's a sale, ~or your own completely silly reason.

If so, how do you deal with it?

[takemewest]

I can't offer much advice except to say I've been there, and I do that.  For us, it's usually in the form of eating out. My husband doesn't cook at all right now (he's switching careers and back in school at night plus student teaching on top of that, so he's never home). That's left most of the cooking, cleaning, yard, garden, etc. to me.

I can go a couple weeks of really buckling down, packing all the lunches, cooking dinners, etc, before I lose it and refuse to cook for a weekend, ha! And just to be clear, I'm not resentful, just tired—I very much respect what my husband is doing and support him 100%. He needs his focus elsewhere right now, but it's just hard being the "it" person for a long duration.

The only thing that sometimes snaps me back to reality is remembering that we're both now in lower income potential jobs (education), so we have less wiggle room in all our choices. SOMETIMES, that works. I wish it worked more.

I look forward to hearing what other folks have to say!

[arebelspy]

Thread title tricked me.  Quite disappointed.

Now that I'm here... Yes, definitely.  We don't track our spending, but look back on it, generally months or a year+ later.  And I can see trends in it.  But in the aggregate, you're looking for positive progress, basically.

Some months you spend more due to traveling and having to eat out more while traveling.  Some you spend less because you eat in a lot.  Some you spend more because charity, or gifts, or a car repair.  Etc.

Just work on having your mindset be towards efficiency, value, and spending on things you truly care about, and the rest will take care of itself; high or low months will average out, and you'll hit FIRE soon enough.  :)

[patchyfacialhair]

I feel discouraged when I see how little we save some months. Those inefficient choices like eating out or taking a trip with minimal planning really shine during those months.

However, don't forget to include any debt repayments you've made during that time. Once I add those back in I realize our savings rate is pretty damn good despite some unmustachian life choices.

Above all that, see reb's comment. He sums it up pretty well. As long as you're making positive progress in general, you're good.

[Laserjet3051]

As folks always say here (relative to spending vs saving) we each need to find OUR OWN balance. No better way to find out that sweet spot (balance) than yo-yo-ing. Yo yo-ing allows us to see what spending more, as well as what spending less, feels like. Then we know at what level of savings/spending we can live with. Yo yoing for a while is ok, but at som point, one should settle in on a certain range of savings, with of course permission to depart out of that range as needed.

[ariapluscat]

Thread title tricked me.  Quite disappointed.

foam: how does one achieve FI as a freelance yo-yoer?

Now that I'm here... Yes, definitely.  We don't track our spending, but look back on it, generally months or a year+ later.  And I can see trends in it.  But in the aggregate, you're looking for positive progress, basically.

Some months you spend more due to traveling and having to eat out more while traveling.  Some you spend less because you eat in a lot.  Some you spend more because charity, or gifts, or a car repair.  Etc.

Just work on having your mindset be towards efficiency, value, and spending on things you truly care about, and the rest will take care of itself; high or low months will average out, and you'll hit FIRE soon enough.  :)

did you look back at your spending at smaller intervals when you were younger/starting MMM changes?
How did you track positive progress? Was it overall decreases in debt/increases in savings? Or something else?

I do see a year-scale increase in my savings and decrease in my debt. But I haven't been able to see month-to-month decreases in spending at the scale I want. And most of that failure is do to consumer type spending or emotionally based hoarding of cleaning supplies, not necessity.

MMM call out: shouldn't that be bike repair ;)

[arebelspy]

did you look back at your spending at smaller intervals when you were younger/starting MMM changes?

I used to look back more when starting out, but after getting set on the right path, I stopped paying attention.  There was no point--I wasn't trying to cut spending, so it was just a curiosity.

How did you track positive progress? Was it overall decreases in debt/increases in savings? Or something else?

Net worth.  Tracked monthly, even if reluctantly sometimes.  That's something I committed to updating once/mo, even if the spending tracking slips for a half dozen months at a time or so. :)

MMM call out: shouldn't that be bike repair ;)

Bike repair is DIY or very cheap--it shouldn't shift the monthly spending much at all.  :)