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Occasional Treats
By Daphne | June 26, 2008
Anyone who has been to a restaurant in the past few months has noticed that there is less of a wait at your favorite places. There may be even more seats at the coffee house you like to frequent as well.
Giving up everything cold turkey will not make you happy. It may actually make you bitter. If you are content with spending less and occasionally treating yourself to something, occasionally does not mean every day, nor does it mean every other day. Cutting down would be every other day, an occasional treat would be once a week.
Your relationship with money makes a difference in how you spend. When you can easily cut or eliminate some things to improve your overall financial well being then you will not resent your present financial situation. Spending less that you have to or need to will help you create wealth. But if you spend so much less and depriving yourself of even an occasional treat or cut back drastically, this can have a negative effect on how you react with money.
Profiles of people who have cut out everything or have cut everything out except the bare minimum are not very encouraging. Many of those profiled seem as though they are somewhat bitter.
Consider the effect of cutting back to one cappuccino a week, as a treat versus buying one five days a week. Instead of spending $20, you only spend $4. The savings is $16. That $16 could be used toward something else that you really need such as internet access. Even by cutting back to regular coffee you would spend half the money and use the extra ten dollars a week for groceries or lunch with co-workers.
Bringing your own lunch is a cost saving measure but once in a while you would like to go out. Once a week or once every other week is still something that can be done if you reduce your spending in other areas without completely depriving yourself.
Would you rather use the money you save for a longer term goal? By saving $10 or $15 a week in a year you could have $520 or $780. A few dollars here and there may not seem like much, but that could be your cell phone bill for several months or a year. Or by putting aside $10-$20 a week could pay for a vacation in a year’s time. A short term goal could be to use the money saved for a couple of gallons of gas or several rides on public transportation.
Living within your means is a realistic and possible goal.
Topics: June 2008 |
June 27th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Ms. Daphne,
I enjoyed the article.
I am a Certified Public Accountant in LA, CA and author of the Escape from Debtors Prison series “Let My People Go! and Got Money?.” Soon we will be releasing an e-book on Debt Proofing Your Holidays. My wife and I have taught financial workshops throughout the country and our audiences are often filled with people who have had to live through the shock of being suddenly unemployed or other financial traumas. While we can not be certain of “job security,” there are things we can do to set ourselves up for financial security. One of our mottoes at Potts International is, “Failing to plan means planning to fail.” We encourage workshop attendees to set aside money on a monthly basis (5% of take home pay if possible) to build up a 6 month reserve/cushion for emergencies.
Should you ever need a resource to address related topics, feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Tyrone Potts, CPA
http://www.pottsinternational.com
(818) 501-1358