Yes, Birthdays Are Worth The Splurge
Flashback to August before either of our birthdays, my husband was flipping through channels on a TV for his work, and he stumbled upon a commercial. Celtic Thunder, his favorite band, was playing in Reno the Wednesday before his birthday. He asked me, jokingly, if we could go. Jokingly because he knows I hate Celtic music, and cover bands, and well, Celtic Thunder is basically both of those combined. Not my cup of tea. At all. Sorry, not sorry. (For those of you curious as to who these people are, here’s a link!)
Anyway, I told him, no… you have work Wednesday, plus money is tight. And we let the subject drop. Except that I didn’t actually. If they were playing in Reno, then they must have been playing somewhere closer to us as well. I found a different concert, one on Sunday when we were both free. So I went and booked good end tickets (meaning they were $65 a pop instead of $30 a pop, so not really good end, but thus is the frugal life).
Flash forward back to November, and his birthday. Since I’d secretly bought the tickets, he had no idea what we were doing in some random town in the central valley, except that we were meeting some friends to pick up a saddle for Athena. We pulled up to the restaurant that I’d oh so cleverly looked up as the “meeting point”, only to be met with shuttered windows. Whoops.
So I drove around the corner and drove to the theatre. “Uhm, honey… so we aren’t actually meeting our friends. We’re going there instead.” His reaction, priceless. No emotion. No excitement. Just a deadpan, “I hate you.” BEST. REACTION. EVER.
We walked inside, grabbed our tickets, and found our seats. The theatre was gorgeous and intimate. We sat towards the middle, but the sound quality and view was fantastic. I hadn’t been to a concert that wasn’t in some sort of amphitheatre (probably because I go to rock concerts…) and so it was a novel experience.
Since the band isn’t my cuppa tea, I’m not really sure if we got our money’s worth musically. But I will say this, anything that makes your significant other happy enough to tell you he hates you with a smile is worth it.
His bestemor (grandmother, for those of us who, like me, had no idea that was a word until I met a Norwegian) gave us $200 for our birthday (even though mine is in September. She was super cute, and was like it’s for the both of y’all since you didn’t come down on your birthday), which meant that we could buy concert memorabilia since I didn’t budget for it. Ya know, cos of frugality. It was a great surprise to the both of us. Now we have semi matching tee-shirts and the concert CD. All for the low low price of, I actually have no idea since it was birthday money. (Don’t worry, we’re using some of it on flannel sheets for the bed, because well, it’s winter and I’m cold. And the rest goes into our ROAD TRIP FUND!!!)
The whole thing was exciting. I enjoyed not having to count pennies, and having planned it way in advance so I didn’t have to fight with the budget during the holiday season. I’m super happy that we had extra money to grab concert tee-shirts (I have one from every concert I’ve been too, and when I’m too old to wear them, they’re being turned into a tee-shirt quilt) and that we could do that without any stress.
Doing something larger for birthdays fits my MO. I’ve been that way ever since I was little. And being able to do something big and fancy that my hubby enjoyed was well worth the money. He did the same for mine. It’s something that makes us happy, and while our birthdays aren’t the most frugal, we make sure that we cash roll them, and that we plan out the money we’ll be spending in advance. We used some of my tutoring money that isn’t in our strict budget (it either goes into the e-fund or road trip fund) to fund the events, and then, his birthday money to get the special trinkets from the concert.
Being smart about your priorities is just as important as maintaining a strong sense of money management. Our birthdays will always be a little more lavish, but that’s what we enjoy, and we plan for it.
outdoor coffee
relaxing
relaxing sleep music
ethereal jazz music
calming music
study music
harp music for meditation
seaside café jazz
soft music
smooth jazz instrumental
seaside cafe jazz music
coursework writers https://courseworkninja.com/
help with coursework https://brainycoursework.com/
2landmark
paper writing company https://studentpaperhelp.com/
need help with paper https://premiumpapershelp.com/
how to write my paper https://papercranewritingservices.com/
buy papers online cheap https://essaybuypaper.com/
help writing a college paper https://writemypaperquick.com/
professional college paper writers https://mypaperwritinghelp.com/
paper writer https://buyessaypaperz.com/
do my college paper for me https://writingpaperservice.net/
buy writing paper https://cheapcustompaper.org/
write my college paper for me https://researchpaperswriting.org/
write my biology paper https://top100custompapernapkins.com/
college papers for sale https://doyourpapersonline.com/
custom papers for college https://write-my-paper-for-me.org/
papers writing service https://writepapersformoney.com/
paper writers https://paperwritinghq.com/
help with a paper https://uktermpaperwriters.com/
help with paper writing https://sociologypapershelp.com/
write my paper for me fast https://term-paper-help.org/
… [Trackback]
[…] Information on that Topic: ourtable4two.com/2018/12/03/yes-birthdays-worth-splurge/ […]
… [Trackback]
[…] Information on that Topic: ourtable4two.com/2018/12/03/yes-birthdays-worth-splurge/ […]
… [Trackback]
[…] Here you can find 96293 additional Info to that Topic: ourtable4two.com/2018/12/03/yes-birthdays-worth-splurge/ […]
… [Trackback]
[…] There you will find 56774 additional Information to that Topic: ourtable4two.com/2018/12/03/yes-birthdays-worth-splurge/ […]
[…] again, that’s exactly what the adventure fund is for. It’s guilt-free money that we use to have a crap ton of fun. This month was a big spending month for adventure fund, but now it’s back to saving until […]
It can be hard living the frugal life to change mindset all of a sudden and splurge on a gift. But, that is exactly what I do. Christamas and Birthdays are when, my wife and I treat each other to things we would not buy for ourselves but dearly want. Its the one time all year I think about the YOLO life.
Yes! I think I was helped out because birthdays were a HUGE part of my family culture growing up. We had special birthday pancakes, we didn’t have to do chores, if we weren’t in jr. high or high school, she’d cancel school for the day. I don’t have as many squirms splurging on birthdays because I love them SO SO MUCH. And because my mom did a good job celebrating them
We love going all out for birthdays! We’re not big gift people, so we like knocking something off our bucket list on our birthdays instead 🙂
Yes!! I’m definitely experience driven. It lasts way longer than stuff.
I’ve gotten to surprise my husband once and it was so much fun!
I love them!
Sounds like you gave him the perfect gift! I’m all for thoughtful splurging. And because you are frugal, you have money that you can use for splurges. I’m pretty frugal, and as a result, I usually have a little extra reserve for something that I really want.
Exactly!! And this was so worth it. We had such a fun time. Him enjoying the concert and me enjoying his expressions. If we splurged all the time, there’s no way I could have afforded the tickets.
That’s so awesome you were able to surprise him! I’m terrible at keeping secrets, so I’m always going around, ‘Guess what I got you. Guess what I got you. You’ll never guess.” HAHA!
Oooh, see I hate I it when people do that so I got really good about being mums the word. So he had no idea. Plus, he’s super unassuming, which helps.
Very sweet! Spending on activities and events you can do with loved ones is way more meaningful than purchasing “stuff” in my opinion. You’ve created a wonderful memory to share. Priceless!
Way more meaningful. He was so surprised! Probably one of my top moments from 2018.
Aww I really enjoyed reading this post. I love celebrating birthdays and also going above and beyond for loved ones. Great post!
Thanks! Birthdays are my fav! Even more so than Christmas, I think.