I regularly read and keep up with a handful of personal finance blogs. Maybe I’ve just had a bad attitude, but it seems that a few of them have taken a turn towards the self-righteous as of late. Of course, I’m not speaking about all personal finance blogs, Anna from And Then We Saved is my girl.

I write about saving money and living in an Airstream because I still want to live life. And to do so, I make priorities. Living in a big McMansion isn’t my priority. Hell, living in a real home isn’t even my priority. I save my money so I can travel, see the world and yes, actually live life because one day, I might not be able to do so. I don’t want to look back on my life and have any regrets. I don’t want to regret not seeing the world while I am young. I don’t want to regret not being able to dance the tango (or a really bad version of it) with my husband in Buenos Aires or climb the Great Wall of China.

Sure, I’ll budget for things, like my upcoming road trip, but I don’t budget for every little thing. It’s not sustainable. I pick my battles. I might employ a few weird ways to save money, but I don’t employ all of them. I can’t make everything my priority. I have a 9-5 (well, actually a 12-9), family obligations, I’d like to see my friends at some point and I try to make a little extra dough on the side.

None of us are perfect. Even those who give advice on personal finance. We all have those days where a $1.25 trip to the vending machine for peanut M&Ms is literally the only thing that saves our sanity. But what’s more important are your priorities. If I’ve learned anything on my personal finance journey, it’s that to save money, you need to focus on big wins. Living life in an Airstream is rent-free. And that’s my biggest win. It’s not taking Navy showers or turning all the lights out after 9pm. (I don’t do either of those, btw.)

Focusing on those big wins makes our life easier. It’s the big wins that really matter.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

love,
melanie