This is a little mental trick reader Janice uses to fight unnecessary spending:
If you find yourself in one of those moods where you just “have to have it”, and end up in the store staring at it, talk to yourself about it. List all the reasons you want it (want, not need), and all the reasons you don’t want or need it…
Too pricey, have to dust it, won’t use it that often, no place to put it, don’t have the money, don’t want to use credit card, anything to talk yourself down and get out of there without whatever it was you thought you wanted.
I have done this many times, and it really works. I even sometimes talk myself out of things I thought I really needed, but didn’t, I had something at home that would work, or I just needed it ONE time, or something like that. Try it You’ll Like IT.
Nothing like a little dose of rationality to chase the spendthrifties away. What mind games do you find yourself playing to keep yourself from spending?
(Photo: Getty)
I used to shop recreationally (not outside my means, but definitely buying shit I didn’t need just to amuse myself). First I stopped hanging out with people who shop for fun (and I’m more conscious of trying to do alternative activities with those of my friends who are social shoppers). The other thing I do is when I feel the urge to shop for entertainment, I read through a whole catalog. For me, it’s like all the thrill of shopping but it’s way too much trouble to buy stuff. I’ll tear a page out if something’s really awesome, but 99% of the time I end up throwing it away when I clean the living room before trash day. (The other 1% of the time it’s usually that I actually did find a good Christmas present for someone.)
I know for some people catalogs makes them acquisitive, but for me it’s like all the fun parts of shopping without actually ending up with any crap at the end. And it turns out I’m fundamentally lazy and prefer not to have to actually leave the house!
1. Stay off of sites like fatwallet.com, slickdeals.net, and stylenotes.com
2. Wrap my credit Card in a paper sleeve and as I make a purchase, log the amount on the sleeve.
One thing that works for me is carrying my money in cash. There’s something about the debit and credit cards where it doesn’t feel like real money is being spent. With cash, I see objects being given away for other objects, and I physically see my money being spent and going away. This allows me to spend less because I want the money with me. It is something my grandmother told me that I learned the hard way, after (I was 17) I worked for 8 months and only saved $500.
I also use Meiran’s trick of thinking about how many hours it would take to earn the money. However, I add an extra twist. For years I worked low wage retail (about $7/hr) while putting myself through school and working internships. Even though I have a nice cushy salaried job now, I try to never forget how it felt to eat ramen every night. By reminding myself “Hey, it would have taken you about 13 hours after taxes to earn the money for this video game”, it puts things back in perspective.
I also translate the cost of the item into that of a commodity that we use regularly; kitty litter is a good one. That same game is 7 pails of litter? No thanks, I can wait.
For me it helps to think of things in terms of how many hours I’ll have to work to pay it off. “Is it worth 16 more hours of work?”. It’s a trick i learned from a friend, so i can’t claim total credit.
When I find this happening, I sometimes find myself too lazy to actually want to pay for it. Not that I’m wanting to now steal it, just that I don’t want to have to put that extra $20 into the cash eating machine to pay for it. (Yes, that’s right, I still do a majority of my week-to-week shopping with cash. It’s the only way I’ve found that I can budget and NOT come up red in my checking account.)
Usually if I find something I really, really, REALLY want…I force myself to do all the research. I go online and compare reviews, specs, brands, pricing, check out previous models and see how long it took for that particular company to drop the price (so I can tell if a price-drop for the model I want is in the near future!), check the calendar for any holidays coming up that might mean a sale, google for coupons…the whole 9 yards. But trust me, it works! If I don’t really need it, I’ll just give up and move on. If I do need it, I’ll pat myself on the back for finding something cheaper and better in the long-run.
No cash. No buy. Period.
Simply divide the cost of the item by your hourly earnings rate. Easy and makes you think of the real value of your time.
I already talked myself out of a few ‘nice to have’ purchases – and I’m glad too because the next day I had trouble with my car and luckily I had the money to fix it.