The Art of Spending Just Enough
Ever struggled with deciding how much money to funnel into your business versus your personal life?
Man, I sure did when I first started my entrepreneurial journey.
What helped me a lot, was a simple but powerful mindset shift: changing my view on the purpose of money.
Here's the thing – rich people see money's main purpose as for it to make more money.
Poor people tend to view money as simply a way to pay bills.
Once you shift this perspective, everything changes.
Think of your money as something that should become "pregnant" and create "baby money."
A good rule of thumb? Never spend the "momma money."
This doesn't mean you can't use that capital – it just means remembering that its primary purpose is to multiply.
Let me give you an example from my life.
For months, I've been wanting to modify my car.
But something kept holding me back. Then it hit me – I'd already adopted the rich mindset without fully realizing it!
I wasn't willing to spend my "momma money" on fun but unnecessary things until I'd used it to create more wealth first.
So instead, I invested that cash into my business. Once the business generates profit, I can use some of those returns to modify my car and enjoy other (unnecessary) fun things.
Values-Based Decisions: What Really Matters to You
When you're just starting out in business, this balancing act can be challenging.
You want to reinvest as much as possible for maximum growth, but you also don't want your personal life to suffer.
Like most things in life, it comes down to what you value.
For me, taking the best care of my little family of three is non-negotiable.
I spend good money on quality food, a comfortable home, and a reliable family car – because that's what I value.
For you, it might be traveling, collecting vintage guitars, or whatever else brings meaning to your life.
What's my point here? The art of spending just enough is all about what you value in life.
I was reading Sahil Bloom's "The Five Types of Wealth" this week, and it really crystallized something for me: focusing solely on how much money your business generates isn't enough, as this only increases your financial wealth.
The true art of spending just enough is about distributing what you have today across all five types of wealth:
Time
Social
Mental
Physical
Financial
Seasons of Life: Avoiding Future Regrets
Your resource allocation will shift depending on your life stage:
Early Stage Entrepreneurship: You might spend more time in your business than you'd like to generate the revenue needed to support your family.
Established Business Phase: You've built a strong business that provides enough cashflow for you to work less while still maintaining your desired lifestyle.
What's helped me is realizing that for each season of life, you need to carefully decide where to spend your current resources.
When you live life in this way, you won't be looking back when you're 60 years old with regrets like:
Not spending enough time with your kids when they were growing up, so now they don't want to be around you
Neglecting your health and now struggling with the consequences
Failing to nurture your marriage with regular dates, leaving it strained
All because you mistakenly believed success required 80-hour workweeks.
The key here is understanding that your time, money, energy, and attention are all limited resources.
Spending "just enough" in each area matters because over-investing in one area inevitably means under -investing in another.
Think of it like watering plants in your garden. If you pour all your water on just one plant, the others will wither.
Spending "just enough" ensures every plant gets what it needs to thrive.
This doesn't mean equal distribution – some plants need more water than others – but it does mean conscious, intentional allocation based on true priorities.
For example, as a young dad this might mean you choose to invest only 40 hours a week into your business rather than the 60+ hours you could work.
That decision allows you to spend those precious evening hours with your little ones as they grow up – moments you can never get back.
Your business might grow slightly slower, but your family life thrives, and you avoid that future regret.
This way, no essential area of your life gets completely neglected while you obsessively focus on just financial gain or business growth.
That's the art of spending just enough.
You get what I'm putting down here?
This is becoming a way too long story for today, haha! I'm gonna round this up, as I don't wanna take up too much of your time.
The main thought I wanted to share is this:
“The art of spending just enough: Spend just enough of what you have today in all five areas of your life, so that you don't look back in 30 years with regret.”
Sidenote: we all have the resources that we have today – that's reality. But it's not a reason to think that you can't have more or different things tomorrow.
It's motivation to invest wisely what you have now into what you want for your future.
So if you're lacking in any area:
Need more time? Figure out where to spend your current resources to buy back your time tomorrow.
Need more money? Determine where to invest a bit more time (or a little bit of money) today to harvest profits tomorrow.
Need better health? Dedicate a little more energy now – take more walks, buy better quality food – so you'll feel healthier tomorrow.
Here's to the art of spending just enough!