Many people say money does not buy you happiness.  To some extent, I agree with them, but I must confess unashamedly, that I do enjoy the finer things in life and money allows me to have those things.  Eleven months ago, I quit a good job making over six figures a year.  When I was making that kind of money independently, I did not worry much about $500 a weekend on shopping sprees.  My husband and I have always had separate banking accounts, so as long as my portion of the bills were paid, the rest was for me to use at my discretion.  I knew that quitting my job would change all of that, as we would be living mostly off his income combined with whatever I made through my new ventures.  In my adult life, I have never asked for money from anyone until this last year.  It was hard for me to ask my husband for money at first.  I even cried the first couple of times he gave me ‘spending money.’  I know he was proud to be able to give me money and my tears did not make sense to him.  They did not make sense to me either.

At the beginning, I would save the money he gave me and only spend what was absolutely necessary.  Then one day, just recently, I realized that it was time to take care of some things I had let go – like a new haircut and color and all new makeup, which were not cheap, and I bought a few new things like shoes, purses, tops, and accessories.  It is amazing how good it feels to take some time out to do some things for myself.  As I said before, I do like high-end things and I always will.  I quit my job, but I did not quit my taste for luxury.  I hear people say all the time that there is no difference between a designer label and a knock-off.  On some things that may be correct.  In general, though, my experience has been that the person who uses that saying has never experienced the high-end things.  For instance, once you own a great pair of high-end designer jeans, I promise you will never go back to the cheapies again except for the ones you would wear for yard work or other thrasher activities.  I would much rather have a couple of great fitting designer jeans than a closet full of inexpensive jeans that just don’t fit right, that don’t hold their shape and that fade.  I will not compromise no matter what on just some things.

I knew that quitting my job would require me to make some lifestyle changes, but I also knew the changes would only be temporary.  Our financial situation is ever improving and things are getting back to where they were before I quit my job.  By no means am I making six figures doing what I am doing (yet), but my husband’s business is booming.  I am happy I get to see the growth of his company as I used to travel extensively with my old job and would miss many of the fun things he had going on.  Now I get to be at all events and consult with my husband on all major business decisions.  Could that be another reason the business has skyrocketed this year?  I would like to think so.

It is true that money does not buy happiness, but it sure makes things easier.  Are designer labels important?  Maybe not, but I do enjoy the quality of some of the nicer things.  I did not quit my job to downgrade my lifestyle forever.  I quit my job so that I could make money building my own business doing what I enjoy and in time experience an even more luxurious lifestyle.  I find that sometimes the best therapy is retail therapy and it is conveniently located at the mall.