I think I’m starting to settle in from the moving transition a little.

And the millennial in me is a happy camper because while my spending is still kind of high, this week it was largely on experiences and I realized, I didn’t bat an eye at it.

I was reminded of a conversation I had with one of my co-workers this fall when I mentioned I was leaning towards buying a house. We are the same age and he mentioned that he loves his place and he kind of regrets all the years in his twenties when he lived in squalor apartments and with a ton of roommates.

I totally understood. We’re from different countries, so I’m not 100% sure what the working in the arts struggle is in Australia, but I have noticed in my mid-thirties now that I spent most of my twenties hardcore penny pinching that not only am I fine, but I would’ve been ok and probably a little happier with more lifestyle inflation than I actually let creep in.

But how was I to know that then? I’m pretty sure I said something like that to my Australian friend and we both kind of laughed because we have both done ok in our arts careers but absolutely understood the “it could all fall apart at any moment” terror.

Yesterday, after a last minute $55 purchase to go see the NJ Symphony Orchestra play to Return of the Jedi, which is definitely more than $24.36 – especially compounded on top of going out to lunch, I thought of Australian friend’s comment again.

But I felt ok about it because lunch was with two of my best friends that I haven’t seen at the same time since we went to Montreal last August.

And the symphony was with a friend I only see a few times a year and a mutual friend of ours I hadn’t seen in nearly two years (and I convinced him to come talk to my class about how stage managers and music directors work together).

I am weirdly calm about this expenditure.

This probably has some basis is finding some balance and the fact that a few days last week, my only “expense” was a $4 coffee, so while I’m still not totally on balance, I’m on my way.

We’re also creeping into tech on the first show for the spring semester at the college, so I’m pretty sure working 14 hour days again will also help my budget, assuming I remember to bring food from home.

I also bought a plane ticket to Brazil to go see Rio and visit a good friend, which was a semi-planned expense from my last circus paycheck, and has wildly helped the missing my old life feeling that was drowning me a little bit.

This week also included purchasing a ticket to Wines Around the World in Atlantic City for a few weekends from now with another good friend I haven’t seen in ages, with full knowledge that we’ll probably go out to dinner and spend even more that weekend.

So, I’m happy to report, that apparently when I’m not going on endless trips to buy cables and salt and plants, I still feel some balance about spending money.

And my friendly co-worker’s advice that it will likely all work out financially, is actually kind of true. I do trust my skills and my employability and even my ability to hustle beyond my main paycheck.

I’m also living in a fairly expensive apartment until June, but with the idea of buying a place at the end of that – which will eff up my net worth with the down payment, but as for my monthly cash flow, it should improve quite a bit.

So…. Carpe diem? Ish.

And if you’re wondering why a personal finance blog is advocating spending money, it’s all just part of climbing the personal finance mountain. If you’re just starting out, check out some of these earlier articles on paying off debt and frugal living – and my biggest tool over the last six and a half years of blogging has been tracking my net worth (first one/most recent one). Honestly, I do it more for me than for sharing with all of you, but now that I’m well out of the broke part of life, I mostly focus on how to stay that way, keep growing my net worth, and enjoy life – on a slow path to the rich side. :0)

As weird as it sounds, when you spend a long time focusing on how to not be broke, it takes some time to reset your mind to allow for some spending inflation. Cause balance is the key to a happy financial life.

Anyway, that’s my two cents.