Making Myself Poor

Today I did something either really smart, or really dumb. I decided I’d like to roll the dice with my finances and stretch myself a little thin. I realize I’m not going to be technically “poor,” but I’ll definitely be cash poor.

I had about $3,500 in cash savings and decided I wanted less of a cushion, so I invested another $2,000 into my Roth IRA. I did this for two reasons.

1. I like the challenge of forcing myself to live below my means and stretching my dollars.
2. I had a slight temptation (which was reinforced by a girl) to purchase a motorcycle. After spending last night reminding myself why not to get a motorcycle (via searching Google images for “motorcycle accidents” or “motorcycle deaths” with the safesearch off). It helped motivate me to avoid riding a motorcycle for probably another couple months.

I realize that my emergency fund is a bit skimpy at the moment – $1,500 doesn’t get you too far, but I do have another paycheck coming next Friday that will bump that up to about $2,500. Enough to last me two months here in Hawaii.

Money will be a little tight for a while, while I build up my cash savings again, but that’s the fun of it. Meanwhile I’ve got another $2,000 producing dividends for me in the background that I won’t even think about.

Maybe making myself poor is a bit rash or a bit like self torture, but I find stretching myself a challenge which helps me enjoy every dollar I spend just a little bit more.