| 12 THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PERSONAL FINANCE | ||
Being Honest About Your Spending Habits
Do you have all of the money you want? Probably not. Most of us don't, regardless of our actual income. People have a tendency to grow their expenditures along with their incomes, leaving most of us with a perpetual feeling of living paycheck to paycheck. We tell ourselves that if only we could make another 10% a year, things would be better and we could start investing for our retirement. Another 20% and maybe we could afford to send the kids to college, or at least community college. And if our bosses paid us what we thought we were actually worth, we'd never have to worry about money again. Right?
The reality, though, is that all of those "if only's" are mostly excuses. I know there are some people who truly are cutting expenses to the bone, but most of us know deep down inside that we could be doing a better job about controlling our expenses. We know that $4 for a cup of overly sweetened coffee is absurd, we're pretty sure that the media blitzed movie probably isn't going to be worth the price of a theater ticket, and we're probably all aware that $10 for a gargantuan plate full of various fried foods accompanied by an array of dipping sauces isn't the best use of our money or our digestive system.
Unfortunately for most of us, companies spend billions of dollars trying to figure out the best way to manipulate our emotions and rationalizations and wow - they are very, very good at it. They play on our notions of self-esteem, entitlement, happiness, love, security, convenience, fear, pain, deprivation, and outright greed in order to get us to buy their products. They have convinced us that we can have it our way and that we deserve a break today. We want the ultimate driving machine and the breakfast of champions. We know who brings good things to life, and we know who's going to leave the light on for us. It's really quite amazing how well the ad agencies get into our heads - sometimes for decades. Don't believe me? Quick - fill in the blank: "Got ____?" "Have a ____ and a smile." "Two all beef patties, _______________________ ..." You get the picture.
Ultimately, though, it's us against them. They want our money, but we have to want it more. We have to want it enough to be honest with ourselves and understand that we're spending too much money on products and services that do not bring true value into our lives. We need to accept that the best way to increase our take home pay may not be to work more but to spend less. Not only do we need to accept it, we need to condition ourselves to get the same kind of emotional satisfaction from saving as we do from spending - getting out of debt and investing for future security and peace of mind feels really, really nice.