No-Kill Finance

One of the keys to my recent success at saving money is that I’ve had absolutely no time to do otherwise.  It’s helped me at times in the past, too…even when I was being less consciously responsible with my money, I found myself saving unintentionally by simple virtue of the fact that I didn’t have any free time to, say, go out to a movie.

Now more than ever I’m short on free time.  I’m in class four days a week and I work six (in order to keep full-time hours, therefore keeping myself medically insured).  My only day off is Sunday, and Katie and I usually make a point of devoting our Sundays to the inherently low-cost activity of lounging around the house and enjoying what little free time we share.

Of course, along with the glory of saving-money-whether-I-mean-to-or-not comes the stress of having little to no free time.  This is where the positive aspects of my busy schedule is often overshadowed by the negatives.  I hardly see my friends any more…not that I make as much effort as I could, but then again, I do legitimately prefer to spend my free time relaxing rather than going out and putting all that effort into being social (yes, I’m that big a hermit–it takes a lot of effort for me).

So, is saving money that I’d otherwise spend on maintaining my friendships really worth the 1.4% interest I get by putting those savings away in an account when the cost is a dwindling social life?  Unfortunately, until my final exam (four weeks and counting!!!), I don’t really have much of a choice.