Man I Want To Spend!
Sometimes I have a really hard time staying on track with our financial plan. This happens to my wife too. Recently I’ve wanted to just go out and buy stuff that I want.
Our computer monitor is scratched, I want a new one. Who cares if I only use that computer for about an hour a week?
I want a 50″ flat-panel TV. I watch one TV show a week and a few hours of football. Oh, and a movie or two. Does that amount of TV watching warrant a big TV? No…
I want a new A/V receiver and speakers. The ones we have work fine, but the covers are broken off the front speakers and we have to change inputs on the TV when we go from cable to Playstation to DVD. The universal remote changes the inputs so I don’t physically have to do anything other than push a button. The speakers sound fine, but they’re big and ugly.
I want a new entertainment center. The one we have is in good shape and totally functional. I’m just tired of it.
I want new baseboards and moldings in our bedroom. We recently painted and I want to change from the existing wood trim to white, and something more stylish. This requires putting on 3 new doors as well. It does nothing to change the functionality of the room.
I want to finish our closet. We recently got rid of our bedroom furniture (refinished it for our son) and everything that was in drawers is now on a closet shelf. Our closet is functional but not very organized.
I want new bedroom furniture, to replace what we got rid of. We’re making do without just fine though.
We always seem to work through these times, but it usually involves a higher than normal level of frustration in our house. Especially when we look around and see all the consumption that’s going on. This morning at work everyone was talking about all the stuff they bought over the long shopping weekend. I bought gas for my car. Only because I had to. So I just logged in to E*Trade’s website and looked at our savings account balances and felt better about not spending money. They’re growing quite well, even though I have to wait until paydays to put money in them. But at least I have money to put in them on paydays and I don’t need every penny to live on.
We’re doing the right thing here, I’m sure of it. I just have to keep myself from lapsing into old habits and setting us back.
I hear ya. I go through the same stuff all of the time. I’m pretty sure I was probably a shopaholic before (maybe I still am), but I seem to be able to resist most temptations these days by focusing on the debt I want to pay off.
It isn’t easy, but I find if I can resist each temptation that comes my way I forget about it and move on to wise spending habits at least for a little while.
Good luck!
November 26th, 2007 at 12:12 pmI only bought a $3.99 pack of bandages on Friday (don’t ask- I had an accident).
What do you want more- that secure feeling of knowing that you have all of that cash saved, or the anxiety that comes from being trapped in the cycle of always wanting more (and you know we ALWAYS want more, no matter how much we already have!) I think I already know the answer!
November 26th, 2007 at 12:53 pm