Once I paid off all my debt back in 2019 I gave a lot of thought to how I wanted to approach spending going forward.

I was inspired by Mr. Money Mustache. He talks about happily spending money on things that bring him a true sense of fulfillment, and cutting out spending on things that don’t.

Granted, you still have things that aren’t fulfilling that need to be paid for like housing, transportation, and food, but that leaves a lot of room to choose beyond that.

Back in 2019 I wrote this post after taking time to discern where my happiness at that time came from. It was nice to revisit this list now that my life is very different! (More on that in an upcoming post.)

Here’s my current list that I’m refining:

• Communing with nature (hiking, running, sitting on a stump…)
• Books. Reading them, browsing bookstores or libraries.
• Passion projects that are half creativity, half strategy, and are 100% mine to do it how I want. (This may sound oddly specific! It’s something I’ve gotten clear on in the last handful of years that will be talked about in a future post as well.)
• Drawing/painting/creating. In the summer of 2022 I committed to making art a part of my regular routine again after decades of putting it on the back burner. I LOVE it.
• New experiences with Spencer. This can be as simple as going to a new (to us) vegan restaurant in Eugene, or driving down a forest road we’ve never been on to see what we discover.
• Outdoor adventures with my dog. He’s the absolute best boy and has become a wonderful off leash trail buddy.
• Creating cozy, private feeling spaces at home. The current focus is the spare bedroom which is why a bed frame and mattress made my approved spending list for 2025.
• Seeing all the amazing birds and animals that hang out in our yard! There are many visitors like hummingbirds and birds, raccoons, a chonky opossum, deer, squirrels, skunks, and even a black bear a few times this past fall! I’m sure other critters make their way through, so I’m amending my approved spending list to include a wildlife camera! I can already imagine myself popping out of bed each morning to look at the footage and see what visited the night before.
• Travel, ideally to new places.
• Supporting fully vegan cafes and restaurants.
• Treating food as medicine. I absolutely love grocery shopping, meal planning with plant variety in mind, thinking about colors incorporated into meals, and going organic as often as possible.
• Animal hangout time. I’ve spent a lot of time at Harmony Farm Sanctuary over the last 4+ years and treat it like my home away from home. The bonds I’ve developed there with the animal residents is deeply fulfilling.
• Physical fitness – playing the long game with health and vitality.

It’s been insightful to re-create this list so I can use it as a guidepost for 2025. Of the 13 items on it, only three consistently involve spending money (travel, vegan cafes and restaurants, and treating food as medicine in my meal planning). Others can involve spending but don’t need to. For example, my art hobby could cost a lot of I was always buying new supplies, which I admittedly went through a long phase of in 2024. I’ve got a great stock of supplies now and know that I am capable of happily using what I have for a long time.

If this inspires you to take stock of where you find the most fulfillment in your life, I’d love to hear about it!