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Spend all you want and grow rich!
By Daphne | October 2, 2007
Spend all you want and still grow rich.
No, that’s not a new financial planning acumen it’s just a different way of looking at the fallacy of the diet ads that are on television. Diets don’t work in the long run, but lifestyle changes do. I was looking at the booklet for an exercise machine that claimed you only needed to exercise 8 minutes a day and along with following the plan included with the machine you would achieve results in a week. Of course. When you read the directions in the book on the days when you weren’t using the machine, it was suggested that you do 60 minutes of cardio. Sixty minutes of cardio would make most people lose weight even if they made no changes to their present diet.
If you “added” sixty dollars of savings to your monthly budget and stuck to it, you would also save more.
I’m not a financial planner but I know that if you spend more than you have (or take in), you will eventually have a deficit. If you can’t afford it, unless you really urgently need it, do not go into debt for something.
When you spend all you want, you grow poorer. The lifestyle change that works well for dieters is moderation along with exercise. Another plan that works is volumetrics where you eat for satiation but decrease calories through slight changes or substitutions. With volumetrics you can actually eat more, in theory. This is not an endorsement for volumetrics but the concept makes sense. Just make a few slight changes or substitutions in your spending habits will ensure that you have enough for those splurges and some savings.
The idea of the “latte factor” or whatever your vice or habit is that costs you a lot does add up. You can still have your latte and have money too. Ask people for gift cards to your favorite places. Toss all of your spare change into a jar and then take it to a coin counting machine that allows you to get gift cards fee free. Sign up online for a rewards program that allows you to earn gift cards or other things.
Be real when you are approaching money. A “money diet” that makes you cut out all nonessential spending will be hard to stick to in the long run. But, if you cut back where you can and spend wisely then a more frugal lifestyle will not be painful.
Saving a little here and there does add up, but just like calories if you overestimate your “savings” you can still overspend. The bottom line is, if you are spending more than you take in, you will never get ahead.
Topics: October 2007 |