4 Surprising Things I Miss About Being Broke

I think we’ve all heard the old quote “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better.” While there’s some debate as to who said it first, it’s quite interesting to think about. Is it always better to have more money?

It can seem like a pretty common sentiment. So many of us think that everything in life would be better if we just had “more money.” But there is a flip side to that. Sometimes, I must say, there are things that I actually miss about the days when I was broke.

I know that sounds weird even to say. Why would anyone miss the days when they were broke?

Now, I am definitely NOT complaining. I am not saying I want to go back to those days. And I definitely am grateful for the wealth I’ve created from scratch. But then again, there are certain “benefits” to being broke that nobody really talks about. Now that I have more money, sometimes I do miss them.

What do I mean by this? Here I’ll share my perspective and experience.

Here’s what I “miss” about being broke, and, more importantly, what this has taught me.

1. I miss not paying taxes. For many years I was in the lowest tax bracket. That meant I paid little or no taxes. That was the good news. But the bad news was that once I started making money, I realized that I was going to owe taxes–and I hadn’t planned for it. That left me with a huge tax bill for which I was NOT prepared.

What I learned from this: I learned how to plan for taxes, and without sacrificing my income. I also learned how to pay the right amount of taxes each year rather than ONLY focusing on reducing my tax bill.

2. I miss not having to pay for health insurance. I was on state subsidized plans for a long time, so that meant I didn’t have a health insurance bill. Back then, I never really went to the doctor, and I didn’t practice much preventative self-care, either. That usually meant a trip to the emergency room for anything that came up.

Back then my own health care was another area of life that I never truly new anything about. Once I began making money, that all changed. I had to learn how get health insurance, and understand how it worked. I became the responsible party when it came to not only my health, but my health care bills.

What I learned from this: This opened up a new world of self-care for me. Lately I’ve been learning not only about taking responsibility for my health, but also how to be a medical advocate for myself. This has required a lot of energy on my part, but it has been a big step up for me.

3. I miss the creativity. When I was broke I did everything myself. I learned to change my own breaks and rotors, refinished kitchen cabinets, made my own jewelry. If I wanted something, I had to learn how to do or make it. This inspired not only a lot of creativity, but also a lot of self-reliance and confidence.

It might sound strange, but I feel that having more available cash now has allowed me to bypass a lot of that creative space.

What I learned from this: Being creative is now something that I actively pursue. These days I take the time to make things for myself (like handmade soaps) and I grow my own food in my garden. So I keep that creative energy flowing and continue to hone my self-reliance skills, and I love it!

4. I miss having more downtime. It feels like when I had less income I had a lot more time. This felt especially true at the beginning of my entrepreneurship journey, when I was starting to build my business but didn’t have a lot of activity yet. Sure, I was hustling to get clients, but I was doing my actual work a lot less. But as I got more clients and my income increased, my downtime went the other direction.

What I learned from this: that whole “work-life balance” thing can be a challenge to achieve. I must say I am still working on it, and haven’t quite gotten to that sweet spot I’m looking for. I am moving in the right direction, though, and I’m making this a priority going forward.

Now, I’m not telling you all of this as some sort of case for underachieving. Far from it! BUT, I don’t think that people talk enough about the leap you have to take to get to where you want to be.

There are mindset and energetic gaps that need to be bridged when you go from making very little money to significantly MORE money. And they can take you by surprise.

I learned this when my business first hit 6 figures, and I always remembered it after that.

So take each step one at a time, and look at where your gaps in knowledge, mindset, and energy might be. It’s a beautiful thing to create your own business from the ground up, and I encourage you all the way! Just know that there will be moments where taking the next big leap might feel a little bit scary. And that’s OK.

It’s about the journey, not the destination!

So what do you think? Have you experienced any of these “broke” and then “not broke” situations, and how did you move through them? I’d love to hear about your experiences!

Until Next Time,

Love, Light, and MONEY, Honey…

Kaylee