Champagne Taste on a Beer Budget

I worked as a bellman at an airport hotel while going to college. It was mostly business travelers, so I tended to not make as much I had a convention/tourist-based hotel.

One day the head bellman told me that “You have champagne tastes and a beer budget.”

That was probably true…but here’s what he missed: I had a drive and willingness to work to get to my champagne budget.

I was not content to live on a beer budget, so I worked full-time and went to school full-time while raising a daughter as a single parent.

I won't deny, I am lucky (even privileged to a point.) While my parents didn’t push me to go to college or have connections, we were solidly middle-class. My parents could read, I saw the work required to maintain a lifestyle, and I knew what it was like to be with, as well as at times to be without.

Most importantly, I had a vision of a lifestyle that I wanted to achieve. I understood what that would take and to do the work to achieve it.

Are your lifestyle expectations and willingness to do what that takes aligned?