Your Money or Your Life
Our society tells us that money is for spending. That we are "worth it". That having the things we want is worth whatever it takes. That "making do" is NOT good at all, you'll never be happy.
While in some cases this can be true, our society does not encourage us to think about how much money we are spending on disposable things.
I always figured that once you paid the bills, the rest of the money was for "fun:--life's little rewards for putting up with the daily grind.
What I had never stopped to think about was that you can REDUCE the daily grind by spending less money on "fun", and even on some things you thought were "necessary".
For example, although I never claimed to NEED a Blackberry, I had one, and paid the whopping monthly fee for it, and figured "hey, I like keeping in touch with my friends". That's still true. I do still love doing that. However, what I never stopped to think about was that, in spending almost $100 a month on it, I was trading "getting together with friends" for "chatting sporadically with friends". It was nice to be able to text on that nice QWERTY keyboard and have all those fun games and things. But I could go out with my friends at least 2-3 times a month for that same money--and I haven't had money to go out with friends in a long time!
I used to think that buying a new handbag was always "worth it" in terms of it making my life easier. A little less frustration in the morning = worth the $$. But I realized that I was trading certain kinds of frustration for others. Some days I want to carry just my wallet and phone, and on those days the big bag seems cumbersom. And other days I have just the wallet and phone and a handful of other stuff and wish I had my big bag. No bag is going to be both small and large and perfect all at the same time. So I decided I'd have several, and just live with that, and know that I would be switching them from time to time. By making this realization, I have saved myself a lot of $$ that I would have spent in purses by now. And it's only been a few months :-)
I was going to buy a new coat too. The one I have was a hand-me-down from a friend and I've had it for 4 years already. I used to get a new coat every year, or every other year, and so compared to that, it seemed perfectly reasonable to invest in a new one this year. But there really isn't anything WRONG with the one I have! It's in good shape, it fits, the lining is fine, the buttons are all still there....so I took it to the cleaners and spent just $2.50 getting it cleaned. When it comes home, I'm going to sew on some fancy new buttons and call it money in the bank.
I am working on making holiday presents from my stash--even with all the stashbusting I've done over the past few years I STILL have enough to make pressies--and I'm hoping to actually reduce the amount of stuff I have. I already have a number of pressies done already!
While in some cases this can be true, our society does not encourage us to think about how much money we are spending on disposable things.
I always figured that once you paid the bills, the rest of the money was for "fun:--life's little rewards for putting up with the daily grind.
What I had never stopped to think about was that you can REDUCE the daily grind by spending less money on "fun", and even on some things you thought were "necessary".
For example, although I never claimed to NEED a Blackberry, I had one, and paid the whopping monthly fee for it, and figured "hey, I like keeping in touch with my friends". That's still true. I do still love doing that. However, what I never stopped to think about was that, in spending almost $100 a month on it, I was trading "getting together with friends" for "chatting sporadically with friends". It was nice to be able to text on that nice QWERTY keyboard and have all those fun games and things. But I could go out with my friends at least 2-3 times a month for that same money--and I haven't had money to go out with friends in a long time!
I used to think that buying a new handbag was always "worth it" in terms of it making my life easier. A little less frustration in the morning = worth the $$. But I realized that I was trading certain kinds of frustration for others. Some days I want to carry just my wallet and phone, and on those days the big bag seems cumbersom. And other days I have just the wallet and phone and a handful of other stuff and wish I had my big bag. No bag is going to be both small and large and perfect all at the same time. So I decided I'd have several, and just live with that, and know that I would be switching them from time to time. By making this realization, I have saved myself a lot of $$ that I would have spent in purses by now. And it's only been a few months :-)
I was going to buy a new coat too. The one I have was a hand-me-down from a friend and I've had it for 4 years already. I used to get a new coat every year, or every other year, and so compared to that, it seemed perfectly reasonable to invest in a new one this year. But there really isn't anything WRONG with the one I have! It's in good shape, it fits, the lining is fine, the buttons are all still there....so I took it to the cleaners and spent just $2.50 getting it cleaned. When it comes home, I'm going to sew on some fancy new buttons and call it money in the bank.
I am working on making holiday presents from my stash--even with all the stashbusting I've done over the past few years I STILL have enough to make pressies--and I'm hoping to actually reduce the amount of stuff I have. I already have a number of pressies done already!
posted by knittykat @ 11:10 AM
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