HA! I had the SAME experience with my first (and only, because I still have it :) Osprey backpack. I had just started my Masters in 2012 so money was tight, but the backpack I had was not fitting my needs. I spent COUNTLESS hours thinking about my use, what extra features did I need in a backpack and finally pulled the trigger. It has since seen life as a diaper bag and now as a ski backpack.
One of the big things this purchase taught me was to REALLY consider what the use was going to be, and all the things I needed from a backpack. It was NOT an impulse purchase and I looked around for cheaper alternatives (there were none). When one has truly thought about use and shopped around, I find the purchasing of something, like an expensive backpack to be an almost zen-like experience.
Being a solo psychotherapist can be surprisingly lonely. My entire professional training was focused on therapy—as if that alone would be enough. But it isn’t. Not when you’re also expected to run a business, manage finances, and build something sustainable for your future.
At some point, I had to face a hard truth: I was approaching 50 and hadn’t built the financial foundation I wanted. And I had no real training in business or money.
I came across a business school for therapists that cost over $3,000 CAD. Saying yes felt painful. Saying no felt just as bad. It forced me to confront what it really meant to invest in myself—without any guarantee of immediate return, and knowing the results would depend on my own effort.
I chose to do it anyway.
Less than three years later, I’ve opened my own clinic, built my website, and started taking control of my finances with YNAB. What I feared might be a desperate purchase turned out to be one of the most solid decisions I’ve made.
What made the difference wasn’t just the content—it’s the ongoing nature of the training, the quality of the community, and the integrity of the people leading it. They’re deeply committed, present, and focused on helping us actually get results.
I love this story, Astrid. I talked to many solo entrepreneurs who feel similar. It's really hard to go it alone and it's not like we're born knowing how to run our own business. And also good for you for having the discernment to find a good training course. I know there are some shady online courses that can sometimes charge a lot but not truly help people, so it's great hearing about positive experiences like this!
The ice maker on our refrigerator broke for the 2nd time. I live in South Carolina and I need ice! I agonized over whether to buy a new refrigerator or try another $200 fix. I chose a third option. I purchased an Opal counter top ice machine that I really wanted but had not bought because it cost over $400. Totally worth it! I enjoy it everyday ❤️
In 2021 when we'd been dating just over a month, my future husband bought us a pair of low-end mountain bikes. These were impulse purchases for him, but he has a steady retirement pension and doesn't do much consumer spending. I was startled that he'd spend $1200 on bikes when we barely knew each other. Turns out we enjoyed each other and the mountain biking tremendously! A couple of years later, we went to Sedona and rented a pair of $4000 bikes. Turns out high-performance bikes can handle more terrain and are more comfortable. We had a blast in Sedona, and we got engaged that trip, too!
When we got married in 2024, we decided that we would get better bikes to celebrate my retirement. We started looking a mountain bikes at our local bike shop, seeing what was a good value. We could get bikes with the features we wanted, on sale, for $2150 each. We were willing to wait, but my mom and I flipped a house last year and made a profit. Some went to taxes, most got plowed into retirement savings, and the only splurge was getting those new bikes a year and a half early. Those bikes have been a great source of fun for us.
I've been saving like a fiend for retirement and using YNAB to refine my budgeting. YNAB nudges me to better define my priorities, weighing the tradeoffs. What are our expenses and what retirement "income" will we need to enjoy life fully? Because I can accurately predict what we'll need to live comfortably, my financial advisor says that I have enough to retire this year at age 64. We aren't getting any younger, and now is the time for these seniors to play!
Hey, that's wonderful! I love how the bikes are both the story of your financial situations and your relationship. And that your money could do multiple jobs: cover taxes, save for retirement, but also buy some super nice bikes.
Congrats on your soon-to-be retirement. (I always wanted to mountain bike in Sedona – it's on the list!)
In 2015 I got annoyed that the McDonald’s ice cream machine was broken, pulled out of the drive through, and bought a $1500 (Canadian!) MacBook to cheer myself up. It was the biggest impulse purchase I ever made, and even though I got my cost per use out of it (it’s still working quite well for being more than a decade old!) I’m sure there were trade-offs that year that I couldn’t see clearly because I wasn’t tracking my spending. It just went on my credit card and I figured it out afterwards.
Last weekend I bought myself a new MacBook, after saving for more than eight months, giving the purchase its own category, waiting until the one I wanted went on sale, and paying cash for it without disturbing my credit card balance (which has been consistently paid off since I started using YNAB in 2023). The mindset between the two purchases is completely different in ways that have nothing to do with me being older and wiser! It’s all down to YNAB - the app has genuinely changed everything about how I relate to spending, debt, future planning, and financial responsibility. I still struggle with guilt… I definitely could have used that money elsewhere, but at least I know I’m not taking food off my table to pay for it! I’m looking forward to my next savings project… travel, hopefully, since I should be good to go on the laptop front for at least another decade ;)
The Tale of Two Laptops, Carolyn! Such a great story. I can imagine someone thinking, well, the first purchase post-McDonald's worked out fine in the end (which it did, and that's good). But the second time you bought a laptop didn't have any of that worrying or credit card stress afterward. Thanks for sharing, and hope you take yourself out for an ice cream to celebrate!
HA! I had the SAME experience with my first (and only, because I still have it :) Osprey backpack. I had just started my Masters in 2012 so money was tight, but the backpack I had was not fitting my needs. I spent COUNTLESS hours thinking about my use, what extra features did I need in a backpack and finally pulled the trigger. It has since seen life as a diaper bag and now as a ski backpack.
One of the big things this purchase taught me was to REALLY consider what the use was going to be, and all the things I needed from a backpack. It was NOT an impulse purchase and I looked around for cheaper alternatives (there were none). When one has truly thought about use and shopped around, I find the purchasing of something, like an expensive backpack to be an almost zen-like experience.
Being a solo psychotherapist can be surprisingly lonely. My entire professional training was focused on therapy—as if that alone would be enough. But it isn’t. Not when you’re also expected to run a business, manage finances, and build something sustainable for your future.
At some point, I had to face a hard truth: I was approaching 50 and hadn’t built the financial foundation I wanted. And I had no real training in business or money.
I came across a business school for therapists that cost over $3,000 CAD. Saying yes felt painful. Saying no felt just as bad. It forced me to confront what it really meant to invest in myself—without any guarantee of immediate return, and knowing the results would depend on my own effort.
I chose to do it anyway.
Less than three years later, I’ve opened my own clinic, built my website, and started taking control of my finances with YNAB. What I feared might be a desperate purchase turned out to be one of the most solid decisions I’ve made.
What made the difference wasn’t just the content—it’s the ongoing nature of the training, the quality of the community, and the integrity of the people leading it. They’re deeply committed, present, and focused on helping us actually get results.
This wasn’t a quick fix. It was a turning point.
I love this story, Astrid. I talked to many solo entrepreneurs who feel similar. It's really hard to go it alone and it's not like we're born knowing how to run our own business. And also good for you for having the discernment to find a good training course. I know there are some shady online courses that can sometimes charge a lot but not truly help people, so it's great hearing about positive experiences like this!
The ice maker on our refrigerator broke for the 2nd time. I live in South Carolina and I need ice! I agonized over whether to buy a new refrigerator or try another $200 fix. I chose a third option. I purchased an Opal counter top ice machine that I really wanted but had not bought because it cost over $400. Totally worth it! I enjoy it everyday ❤️
In 2021 when we'd been dating just over a month, my future husband bought us a pair of low-end mountain bikes. These were impulse purchases for him, but he has a steady retirement pension and doesn't do much consumer spending. I was startled that he'd spend $1200 on bikes when we barely knew each other. Turns out we enjoyed each other and the mountain biking tremendously! A couple of years later, we went to Sedona and rented a pair of $4000 bikes. Turns out high-performance bikes can handle more terrain and are more comfortable. We had a blast in Sedona, and we got engaged that trip, too!
When we got married in 2024, we decided that we would get better bikes to celebrate my retirement. We started looking a mountain bikes at our local bike shop, seeing what was a good value. We could get bikes with the features we wanted, on sale, for $2150 each. We were willing to wait, but my mom and I flipped a house last year and made a profit. Some went to taxes, most got plowed into retirement savings, and the only splurge was getting those new bikes a year and a half early. Those bikes have been a great source of fun for us.
I've been saving like a fiend for retirement and using YNAB to refine my budgeting. YNAB nudges me to better define my priorities, weighing the tradeoffs. What are our expenses and what retirement "income" will we need to enjoy life fully? Because I can accurately predict what we'll need to live comfortably, my financial advisor says that I have enough to retire this year at age 64. We aren't getting any younger, and now is the time for these seniors to play!
Hey, that's wonderful! I love how the bikes are both the story of your financial situations and your relationship. And that your money could do multiple jobs: cover taxes, save for retirement, but also buy some super nice bikes.
Congrats on your soon-to-be retirement. (I always wanted to mountain bike in Sedona – it's on the list!)
In 2015 I got annoyed that the McDonald’s ice cream machine was broken, pulled out of the drive through, and bought a $1500 (Canadian!) MacBook to cheer myself up. It was the biggest impulse purchase I ever made, and even though I got my cost per use out of it (it’s still working quite well for being more than a decade old!) I’m sure there were trade-offs that year that I couldn’t see clearly because I wasn’t tracking my spending. It just went on my credit card and I figured it out afterwards.
Last weekend I bought myself a new MacBook, after saving for more than eight months, giving the purchase its own category, waiting until the one I wanted went on sale, and paying cash for it without disturbing my credit card balance (which has been consistently paid off since I started using YNAB in 2023). The mindset between the two purchases is completely different in ways that have nothing to do with me being older and wiser! It’s all down to YNAB - the app has genuinely changed everything about how I relate to spending, debt, future planning, and financial responsibility. I still struggle with guilt… I definitely could have used that money elsewhere, but at least I know I’m not taking food off my table to pay for it! I’m looking forward to my next savings project… travel, hopefully, since I should be good to go on the laptop front for at least another decade ;)
The Tale of Two Laptops, Carolyn! Such a great story. I can imagine someone thinking, well, the first purchase post-McDonald's worked out fine in the end (which it did, and that's good). But the second time you bought a laptop didn't have any of that worrying or credit card stress afterward. Thanks for sharing, and hope you take yourself out for an ice cream to celebrate!