Ask, “What If I Can Never Buy Anything?” to Recalibrate Your Expenses
Impulse buying can ruin your budget faster than you can say, “Are they putting on Christmas decorations already?” If you want to change your shopping mindset, ask yourself one simple question. What if you can never buy anything again?
One of the reasons we often have such overspending problems is because we assume we can. Why buy durable clothes when you can buy new ones later? New phone coming out? Best Update ! However, as the personal finance blog Money After Graduation explains, simply asking yourself what you would do if you could never buy anything again can help change the way you buy:
This is a powerful mind exercise. Think about it: if you could never buy anything again, how much would you value what you have now? How careful would you be with your property? Would you be happy or take the time to yearn for things you could never get your hands on? These questions got me out of my head. As far back as I can remember, I have been guilty of working to afford certain items and status symbols, playing this game “I won’t need anything as soon as I get XYZ” – a list that got longer as more and more I found out there was to want. But now I tell myself that I am already at my destination, that I have already acquired everything I ever wanted.
Obviously, literal-minded people will have to make some adjustments in their minds (if you stop buying food, you will die). But rethinking how you spend your disposable income can be the key to changing your habits. You may be less hungry for this new laptop if you think your current one is the last thing you need. The biggest challenge for your budget is the urge to buy more things.
No Shopping News: Day 60 | Post-release money via Rockstar Finance