My boyfriend and I were having a conversation about our future plans recently that sparked an idea in my mind.
We were suggesting things we could do in the future like buy a plot of land and build a house out in the country (on a lake, because Minnesota). But, we realized there were some things holding us back. The decisions we made in the past affect what we can do today and further out into the future. Some choices open doors for the future, while other choices limit future options.
Think about it.
If you’ve been working out, you’re probably in better shape than you were before you started. Your future self will be grateful as you’ll have less health issues in the future. I’m not the best at making myself work out, but once I get in the groove watch out! Since I quit my job and moved to Minneapolis, I’ve lost over 5 lbs, lost a few inches around my waist, and gained some muscle definition from 13/9/5 mile bike rides around the nearby lakes. My future self will definitely thank me!
Finances are another huge area. If you signed for student loans when you were 18, you have to pay them back after graduation. If you buy things you can’t afford on credit, you’ll rack up lots of debt. If you get a car loan that’s expensive, you’ll have less money to spend each month. Your future self will likely be cursing you as they struggle to pay down the stuff racked up so easily in the past.
I don’t have to curse my former self. I thank my former self instead, because I was fortunate to be able to save $200k in 5 years. My retirement is now taken care of, which I’m sure my 60 year old self will appreciate.
Lifestyle choices are another area. If you get locked into a certain quality of living it can be incredibly difficult to change. Buying more house than you need and stuffing it full of furniture and pretty knickknacks will make it tough to adapt in the future if you got laid off or had to move for whatever reason.
Make it your goal to set your future self up for more options, not less!
Now, lest you think I perfect (because I am so not perfect), I’m going to share some ways that I’ve ensnared my future self with my past decisions. They aren’t bad decisions, but they certainly limit what I can do now.
I’m enslaved by my cat, and my stuff.

I mean, every cat owner is technically enslaved by their cat. After all, we live to serve them. What I’m talking about goes deeper than that, though.
Because I have a cat, I can’t travel as easily as I could without a pet. When I brought that cute lil floof into my life, I took on the responsibility of providing for him the rest of his life. Cats can live to be 20 years old! Now, I can only live in places I buy or places that allow pets, which certainly is a bit limiting.
If I wanted to go travel the world for an extended period of time, I would have to figure out some one to watch him. This was easy enough with my parents, until I came home after a trip and found out he was no longer welcome in their house. Curious kitty + antiques is not a good combo. Jeremy from Go Curry Cracker would absolutely love it if I could travel the world with them and nanny for their son.…. but I can’t, because I have my cat. Another friend wants me to dog sit for her for 2 weeks in November.…. in Guatemala.… but I can’t, because I have my cat. (Sidenote: If you like the idea of cheap beautiful living while watching a couple of cute Great Danes and can spend 2 weeks in Guatemala, let me know and I’ll pass your info on to her!)
The cat isn’t the only thing holding me back.
I have stuff. A lot of stuff. I like having stuff.
I’m proud of my DVD collection. Of my book collection. Of my video game collection.
I have things I’m saving for the future — like my Lego collection for future kiddos. I have hobbies that take up space like stained glass and quilting.
My stuff limits what I can do.
I can’t live in a cheap studio. I tried that when I bought The Dingle House and wasn’t very happy with all of my stuff in boxes with no space. So I need at least a one bedroom place, and probably a 2 bedroom place.
I started out in a 3 bedroom house by myself and filled most of it with stuff. Now I am paying the price as I try to downsize.
Although, I will say I certainly have less stuff than I did when I lived in that 3 bedroom house. I’ve sold most of my big bulky furniture and gotten rid of quite a few boxes of junk and papers. I have more to go, but progress is being made!
Fortunately, I made some choices in the past that have opened doors for my future self (just in case you were feeling down from all the chains I’ve wrapped around myself).
I made choices that left me consumer debt free. For instance, I kept my old car instead of buying a brand new car on credit. If I had car payments, I would be totally stressed out and worried about keeping the car. But, since I paid for the car in cash outright in college, I have no car payment and thus one less worry on my plate.
I saved lots of money in tax advantaged accounts while working that let me quit my high paying IT job, move to a new state to be with my boyfriend, and take on lower paying but way fun jobs (like being a studio monkey for a local stained glass artist that I am having a ton of fun with!). I wouldn’t be able to function if I didn’t have that money in my back pocket that will percolate and become my phat retirement nest egg.
I’m also making good choices right now that will open more doors. The big one is.…
drumroll please
I’m selling my rental property! If you listen to the podcast, you got to hear the process happen in real-time which is awesome that we got to capture that moment while recording an episode. I’m tired of dealing with the house, the tenants, and the property management company. The trifecta, basically. I also have figured out the house needs almost $50k worth of work in the next 18 months or so. That list includes 2 new bathrooms, new exterior paint job, new gutters, and probably a ton of other smaller things that I can’t think of off the top of my head.
I promise I will write a longer, more in-depth post on the house selling process, but right now I don’t want to jinx it. I close August 16th, so wish me some luck!!! I need it!
Selling The Dingle House will let me be completely debt free again. I will no longer be obligated to pay $700 a month to the bank for the mortgage and up to $500 a month in utility bills. Not to mention the looming mountain of repairs needed will no longer be my problem thank the Lord for some small favors. I won’t have to expend mental energy on worrying on whether or not the neighbor is going to call the cops on my tenant for suspected drug dealing. I won’t have to coördinate the repair of shattered door frames from the raid, either, so that will be lovely too.
All in all, I see good things on the horizon and I shall strive to make choices that open doors for my future self (preferably without being kicked down by the metaphorical equivalent of the local police force haha). So the next time you’re making a big decision, think to yourself — will this be helpful or harmful to my future self?
Thanks for reading! What choices have you made that helped you? What choices have you made that harmed you?
Interesting conversation! We definitely have tried to lookout for our future. We have probably done better than most but time will tell. Probably the biggest enslavement will be our upcoming house purchase.
Overall, it helps to make plans. In the past year, I have created an investment plan, and this year, I executed the investment plan. It’s midway through 2018, and I already have a plan for 2019.
We started the journey at 22, right after school. Six years later, Ten more to go…hopefully!
I think it’s super cool you are making this pivot in your life. I’m not quite there yet.
I think we’re trained from an early age to look at the “cost” of something to literally mean the price you pay to acquire it. As we get older, we realize that money is just one factor. All the decisions we make have costs, some financial, some health, some time, etc. Too bad we don’t realize this until we’re older (but there’s still time!). Great reminder. 🙂
Great post Gwen 🙂 I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of actions are put into place as this story develops more 🙂
Woot! Congrats on ditching Dingle!
Let’s talk more about your and Erik’s ideas around country living. I tend to think it mostly would suck.
We are lucky enough to have a roommate to watch our pets while we’re out of town, but if it wasn’t for him, we would be a LOT more limited. It definitely makes us hesitate when we think about how many animals we’ll have in the future, but damn if I can let myself live without a dog or two.
Great personal account on how the stuff you own ends up owning you. The cat is too cute to part with. Did you realize you were signing up for a 20 year commitment? Worth it.
I think about these things too — like how I’d love to be a 1 car family again. I love my ’04 Civic hybrid baby , but we’ve agreed to sell it to make that goal happen. I’ll keep the memories and say goodbye to the steel & plastic. We offered it to my niece. If she doesn’t take it, we’ll find another buyer.
Congrats on selling the Dingle house! It was cool to hear that in real-time on the podcast yesterday.
If you ever want to chat about country vs city living, I’d be happy to. I grew up on a farm in western MN and I lived in so-cal and Minneapolis for years. There are pros and cons. I wouldn’t trade the country life experience, but the big city has its perks.
Woohoo for selling the rental house! Sorry that shaped up to be such a pain. Live and learn, right?
And SO true about kitties enslaving us. 😉 If I leave for longer than 24 hours, I have to make arrangements for cat-sitting, because Zap is such a needy little dude.
Congrats on selling the house! That was such a fun moment listening to it live in the podcast! Fingers crossed it all turns out well.
I totally know what you mean by enslaving your future self. I’ve been hanging onto my car loan since it’s such a low interest rate, but I’m definitely limiting my future self on way I can do as I’ll need to pay that money no matter what. Debating just paying it off now to free up my future self even if the numbers don’t make sense!
Thank you for sharing! It’s really cool to hear about different people’s choices and the intended (or unintended) consequences of them. And congratulations on selling your rental property! “Dividends Don’t Sell Drugs” . Good luck with the closing! Also I’d love to dogsit in Guatemala, but the idea of (TMI?) picking up Grant Dane sized poops is holding me back…
On another note, it struck me how different you and I are . My partner and I have a saying “No Responsibilities” and have followed that through so far. We have nothing stopping us from doing things at the drop of a hat: no kids, no house, no pets, no car and not a lot of stuff (I’m actually planning to sell what little we have when I retire and live out of a backpack à la Millennial Revolution). All those things make me stressed just to think about them – which isn’t too surprising given how anxious (and also lazy) I am . Looking forward to hearing more about the end of the rental saga!
Awwwww, but you have such a cute fluffy master that you’re beholden to 😉 I feel you so much on the stuff. My family doesn’t do “owning a reasonable amount of stuff instead of a bunch of crap” very well, so I’m already working to both downsize the amount of stuff I own and to keep an eye on it so the amount stays level instead of growing.
And yay that’s exciting to hear about the August date for the closing! Fingers crossed everything goes well!
I have this fear of financial commitments for basically this exact reason I guess, whether it’s for an internet package or cell phone plan… freaks me out committing to a contract.
The choices I made in the past to live mean, even on a low income enabled me to pack up and travel for 6 months, and then a few years later fulfil my desire to settle down, buy a house and get dogs and chickens. I’m still frugal but these are things I value and spend money on (housing here is not cheap… though tbh if I was renting right now I would also be paying a fair bit because I’m too old to live in cold damp shitholes anymore). I do hear you on pets restricting your ability to get up and go — we haven’t done any significant travel since adopting our dogs and going away will involve extra expense to account for their care!
Congrats on he sale and GL for your closing next month!
Congrats on getting the offer and setting the date! Wishing you lots of lick there 🙂
I’m glad to have set myself up from an early age (started that Roth IRA as an 18 year old Freshman in College! ) and tried to tell my friends to do the same. Some people laughed when I said I’d buy a house in 10 years, but the ones that supported me designed their own financial futures. Now I have a few close friends who are all on the path to financial fabulousness because we made good choices early on!
I hope more younger people find blogs like ours and are inspired to look at the overall cost (like Jim said) much earlier than people usually do.
#nomoredinglehouse Yay! I think that we have done well at setting future ourselves up. Growing up with dogs and cats, I’ve always wanted one, but having a husband who is allergic, means no animals for me. However, my insane level of wanderlust thanks me for not having a pet at home that I have to be responsible for so I can travel whenever and for as long as I want. Also, not buying a house has been a huge factor for us. Despite living in a HCOL area where houses sell for ungodly amounts, it also allows us flexibility to pick up and go when the time is right. My today self definitely thanks my old self, and hopefully my future self will feel the same way.
Oh my gosh I am so down to watch 2 Great Danes in Guatemala! Seriously, that sounds like a dream.
seriously, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with her!
Congratulations on your house sale – should close today if all is well!
All is not well. We’ve extended the deal as they didn’t get their financing in order in time. Grrr.
Congrats on selling the house! That was such a fun moment listening to it live in the podcast! Fingers crossed it all turns out
I totally know what you mean by enslaving your future self. I’ve been hanging onto my car loan since it’s such a low interest rate, but I’m definitely limiting my future self on way I can do as I’ll need to pay that money no matter what. Debating just paying it off now to free up my future self even if the numbers don’t make sense!
Sometimes what’s best for you doesn’t make sense on paper. Thanks for the comment!
Heartiest congratulations on selling the house!
Sometimes we make crazy decisions thinking nothing is going to happen but after a couple of years they come back and haunt us.