This YouTuber Got a Wake-Up Call When She Couldn’t Afford Her Dog’s Surgery

glamour.com:

actual spending and budgeting every Sunday. “That really helped keep me accountable for my money,” she says. “Because for me, it’s very easy to be out of sight, out of mind.”  “When you’re paying off debt, it’s emotionally draining,” Dang says. “It actually sucks the life out of you.” To combat that, she would treat herself every time she paid off a debt or accomplished some kind of financial milestone. “These weren’t big Louis Vuitton bags or anything,” she says.

But rewarding herself with a massage, a nice dinner—more affordable luxuries—helped her stay excited and motivated. “You need to figure out a way to keep pushing yourself forward, or else you’ll just give up,” she says.At the beginning of her saving journey, Dang felt like she was making sacrifices to pay off her debt—so much so that she was losing steam.

Her mindset changed after she started budgeting in a way that worked with her lifestyle. “I would budget in things that traditional finance people might highly not recommend, like I kept in my monthly facials and lash extensions,” she says. (She offset the spending by picking up , like dog sitting and delivering for Postmates.)  “Things like that are so important to me and my self-care.

I added that into my budget to make sure every month I was able to treat myself while also still paying above my minimum and achieving my financial goals.” Just like in the long run, a too-rigid plan for getting out of debt probably isn’t sustainable. (Vowing to spend zero dollars treating yourself is like vowing to ingest zero grams of sugar: In both cases, you’ll likely crave the “forbidden” and crash spectacularly.) To foster long-term success, budget for small spending “splurges,” which will keep you from feeling deprived..