First big downpayment! (And it hurts...)

So. This week, my tax reduction came in. And, as I promised myself, I would use this and a partion of my vacation fee, to make an extra downpayment next month. But, since I already have the money to do so, I made the transaction today. In the end, this will save me a little more interest and every bit helps! 

This was the first time I got a litte "extra cash" which I immediately transferred into the bottomless pithole called "debt" and I must say, it feels strange. Yes, I do feel the joy of reducing my debt by a total of 2K this month. But on the other hand, it also feels uncomfortable because normally this kind of extra cash would give me a little more breathing space in my savings account and could make me do some fun things.

Fun things. That's interesting because when I think of it, last years where years where I didn't go on a long summer holiday or bought a new car (or something like that). So what DID I do with my money back then?

Thruth, I did go on a personal queste and take a better look at who I am and why I am the person I am, which costed about 5K last two years. It brought me lots of joy and I think it changed the way I look at certain things forever. 5K is a lot of money, definitely if you're looking at the fact that I'm trying to beat my debt with a little under 6K extra downpayments annually.

The extra money that was left (and it was barely anything) was mostly spend on eating out and buying "stuff". And "stuff" varies between clothes (anywhere between 10 and 150 euro's including shoes) and an electronic drumset of roughly 1,5K. With me looking at my spending more carefully I am a bit tended to say that YES, those things influence my life (if I dress up nice, I feel more comfortable and if I can practice drums, I can make better music with my bands). But are they necessities? Is it absolutely impossible to be who I am without those things? Definitely NOT. For the clothing part, I learned I can easily combine something new with something I already had and make good combo's. Still learning since I'm no fashion kind of guy (but miss Struggler steps in here with superb advice). For the drumming part... ah come on. Sure I do get better if I practice. But the E-kit remains an E-kit and even though it helps developing what's called muscle memory, I can also get a training kit for 200 euro's to get me there (I think).

So. Reconsideration. Maybe sell the E-kit back to the shop I got it from and
a. Have a little more breathing room in my savings account (or kill my debt even sooner!)
b. Try out how a practice kit feels
c. Have another big obstacle removed out of my home :-)

I need a couple of nights of sleep on this, but who knows where it might get me...

Have a good weekend!