Spending

Sometimes, spending money can make you feel guilty — especially if you’ve been carefully stashing away every penny in your bank account. Maybe you tell yourself that “it’s not okay” to spend money on something you want because you have other expenses, or because you’re doing so well with your savings goals and don’t want to “ruin” it now. Regardless of what you tell yourself, you don’t need to feel guilty for spending *your* hard-earned money as long as it’s not hurting your budget. You need to understand the difference between Frugal and Stingy.

Here are some tips which will help to overcome those feelings:

1. Save up specifically for the item you want.

When you save money with no particular goal in mind, you might second guess whether or not the item you’re about to spend some of your money on is even worth it. The solution is instead you can try saving with a particular purchase in mind. This way, you’re priming yourself to actually spend that money eventually.

2. Create a list of things you’d love to buy and pick one thing at a time to treat yourself.

It can be easy to go a little overboard when it comes to treating yourself, and sometimes we make a ton of purchases we think we’ll like, only to actually end up happy with just half of them. Being more thoughtful about your purchases can help you avoid wasting money on something you won’t actually care about.

3. Budget for “fun money” that you can use each month specifically for treating yourself.

Similar to saving up for purchases, leaving room in your budget specifically for things you want can help you feel more at ease. It’s like this feeling of knowing that you planned for that shopping spree, or you planned for that new gadget. When you get it all written down on paper you can actually see exactly how much you can afford to spend on monthly treats instead of just guessing.

4. Avoid paying for things with your credit card or your emergency fund.

It’s totally fine to buy yourself something nice once in a while, but ignoring other financial obligations could make you go from feeling excited to sour about your latest splurge. Don’t take away from your other financial goals just to buy something you want now. Take a step back and plan to save up over time to afford that item.

5. Wait at least 24 hours to make sure you’re buying something you *really* want.

Sometimes, we see something that we instantly fall in love and without thinking we add it in our buying list. Often we regret it later as either the price we paid for that product is higher or we don’t require the product at all. These buying classify as impulsive buying and to avoid it simply plan your buying and adopt 24 hour rule: you can add the item to your cart, but wait until the next day to actually buy it. After you’ve had a day to think about the purchase, you can buy it guilt-free if you still really want it.

6. Buy when items are on sale.

Buying when an item is on sale means you spend less which also means you have a little more money to save or put towards another expense! Be cautious not to overspend during sale as people over buy things thinking its available cheap now and may cost more afterwards.

7. Spend on Experiences

Every time spending need not result in a physical outcome or a product sometime it might just be an experience. Spend on a vacation which not only rejuvenate you but also allows you to meet new people and learn something new from them. These experiences are imbibed with you forever.

8. Don’t leave fortune for your kids

Allocate a portion of wealth for yourself and enjoy the comforts of life which means necessarily use your wealth for your needs and desires. Don’t be obsessed with saving money all the time for your kids or leaving a legacy to them. Save for their education but your wealth’s primary holder is “YOU” and all others are residual claimant.

9. Do some charity or spend on them who are less fortunate

Spending money on oneself gives joy but spending towards development of society at large or on people who are less fortunate than us gives bliss. With small amount of wealth allocation can make a huge difference to others life. Even sponsoring a child for his/her education can make a vast difference.

You have far more than you need which can be used for betterment of underprivileged. The sole purpose of accumulation of wealth is to use/ spend on the good things in life, if you can’t do that wisely then all the pain you took to create wealth go waste. Spending is an art, more quickly you learn much easier for you to accumulate wealth without guilt.