Contentment – Ending the Comparisons, the Key to Loving Your Life

Throughout the journey of becoming debt free, it is really important to learn the value of contentment. So often in our society, we get ourselves into trouble financially by comparing one another. We overspend, overextend our debt, keeping up with the Joneses. Nowadays, the Joneses are plastering their picture-perfect families with their new cars, beautifully decorated homes, fit bodies and balanced plated meals all over social media. How does one remain jealous free with all of that? How do you stay content living in a smaller home, driving used cars, and taking frugal vacations, while watching others take extravagant ones? These are all difficult questions to wrestle with while you are paying off debt. Living the debt-free lifestyle is very different than extravagantly living outside your means. Here are 5 tips to living with contentment.

1. Focus on your goal 

When you are living the debt free journey, it is easier to focus on what others have and to become resentful or jealous of the “stuff”. When you’re driving a used sedan, and your neighbor is driving a brand new sports car… Or you see a boat in the driveway across the street and a toy hauler in another. Rather than becoming resentful or jealous, remember to focus on your goal. Your lifestyle is not the same as theirs – you are maintaining a lifestyle without financing, without debt, and creating a legacy for your family. Remember they WHY behind your transition to a finance-free life – what is your purpose for it. Focusing on that goal is an easy way to keep you content. And remembering that others are typically not living the same way, but rather purchasing those things outside of their means, helps too.

2. everything happens in seasons.

I know that it’s a cliche, but remember that “this too shall pass” – meaning that your season of frugality will pass. You will eventually be out of debt and in financial freedom. Just as you got yourself into this mess, you need to get yourself out, and it will take time. Focusing on the future, that each stage in life is just a season, will help you stay focused on it being just a stage.

3. Wants vs. needs 

So often, our discontentment comes from a desire in our lives, rather than a need. Remembering to balance our wants and needs during the time of paying off debt is hugely important to your success. Succumbing to our desires and comparisons of others is what caused most of our problems with debt in the first place. We need to keep in mind that things we want are not necessarily things we need. That is a big step in staying content with what we have.  It’s a difficult mindset shift at first, but over time you will find yourself saying, “I don’t need this” instead of impulsively buying it.

4. Know your limits

When it comes to paying off debt, we are so quick to become weighed down with the intensity of it all. It can be overwhelming at times, leading to discontentedness. “If only I hadn’t spent…” “If only we hadn’t bought this new car…” “I wish we had stayed in the smaller house…” The list goes on. Rather than getting bogged down with the things that are not in your control, focus on what is in your control, and the things you can do know. Staying content means focusing on one day at a time, one step at a time. Today, you made the right choice with not adding to your credit card debt, and you stuck to your budget by eating your packed lunch instead of eating out with your coworkers. That’s a step towards paying off debt that is in your control. Focusing on items that you can change, and letting go of the worrying that you cannot, leads to contentment.

5. find joy in the minute 

Your budget is YOUR budget. It’s not set in stone, or written in “super-indelible-never-come-off-until-you’re-dead-and-maybe-even-later” markers. The biggest key to contentment is to leave room in the budget for the things that bring you joy. If you like to shop, build a reasonable budget for clothing. Allot yourself personal money to spend on something for yourself every month. Include an entertainment budget for dinners out, movies, etc. The point is, your budget is flexible, and you HAVE to include things that are important for you in order for it to work.

I guarantee if you choose just one of these tips and start implementing it today, you will see an improvement in your overall contentment. Give it a try, let us know how it changes your perspective!