Somewhere along the line, probably about the time I started hiding from life, I started accumulating things instead of experiences. It probably didn’t help that I worked in retail and had ready access to purchase things at a discount. And I was unhappy, so tried to fill the empty holes in my life with stuff.

Let’s be honest, this massive accumulation of stuff has done nothing for me. The funny thing is I’ve given away all of my stuff twice for cross country moves, and still have way more than I need. Just before deciding to get back out there and start living again, I found myself starting to slip in the “buy more stuff” mentality again. Thankfully I held back before getting too far in.

As I look at my budget now, the question I’m considering is whether or not I need to keep my subscription boxes full of cat themed items, bookmarks, enamel pins, etc. Because wouldn’t it be so much better to put that money towards some amazing experiences? I mean the cat items are cute, and I collect bookmarks, but even I will never need as many bookmarks as I currently own. I mean, I could make that my travel souvenir couldn’t I?

And do I really need to spend $250 on new clothes every month? Initially, yes I did need to redo my wardrobe, but now I have more than enough.

It’s time to translate all of those expenses into my life… classes and trips and paying down debt that I’ve been carrying around since my early 20’s. Because when it comes right down to it, the experiences are worth so much more than all of the things.