Thursday, 15 June 2017

Emotional spending


We spend money daily; on food, gas/transport, our phone, etc. and most times these are expenses that we have thought about, planned for and are fully aware of why they are being made. What about the times when purchases are not planned? What about the times when we buy things because of an emotional experience (good or bad)? Sometimes we even have regrets after.

These are situations that we should try to avoid because the outcome is not always beneficial. Additionally, money should not be wasted because most of us work very hard for it in the first place. So, to help with those unexpected moments where we feel to spend based on an emotional experience, I have a few tips.

o   Identify what are things you want vs things you need. To do this properly, you must be honest with yourself about the necessities for you and your household. These necessary items should be given priority and the things we want should be examined to determine why it is so important that we must have it.

o    For every potential purchase, ask yourself which of the two categories above the item falls into and carefully consider whether or not the purchase would be made if you were not feeling a particular way.


o    Practice other ways to deal with emotions other than spending money. This will take time, but once we are intentional about it, there will be an improvement and our association with money will change.

6 comments:

  1. Mawning tb how do u save not only for rainy days but saving to forget that u have a savings account??? Ok I don't think I asked it properly but please try to understand what I mean

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    Replies
    1. I understand what you mean. Saving is a discipline that only gets better with practice. Will do a post on that for you later on.

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  2. This is quite accurate. Emotional spending is costly in more ways that one and is a cycle that feeds itself. Beyond that,there are people who spend the way some people eat ice-cream when they are depressed - it makes them feel good; like they are constantly rewarding themselves. Will these tips work for them too?

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is quite accurate. Emotional spending is costly in more ways that one and is a cycle that feeds itself. Beyond that,there are people who spend the way some people eat ice-cream when they are depressed - it makes them feel good; like they are constantly rewarding themselves. Will these tips work for them too?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comment :) Yes, these tips can work however a bit more assistance may be needed because such a pattern would be more of a challenge to adjust

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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