While I have never spent more than I earned, I have done my share of unnecessary spending that could have been prevented without affecting the quality of my life at all. Now that I am trying to lead a more fiscally responsible life, I had to come up with a bag of tricks to prevent my old self from spending unnecessarily at the mall.
The first thing I did in January 2009 was to reduce the number of times I go to the mall. Like many of you, I visited the mall every weekend, and sometimes in the evening after work – just to window shop if I didn’t need anything. But, I always ended up spending at least $15 in food, even if I didn’t buy anything else. And of course, there were the days when I bought things because they were on sale, or because they looked like something I wanted. Reducing going to the mall reduced my exposure to mall food and to “buyable” things, saving me upwards of $150 this month compared to last.
When I did go shopping and found something I wanted, I first imagined where I would keep it at my home. Most often, this conjured up an image of a very cluttered home (somewhat like the houses of hoarders that Oprah once showed on her show), and was enough to make me rethink my need for that object.
I also thought about whether I already have something else that fulfills the same purpose as the object of my desire. If yes, I only permitted myself to buy it if I was willing to get rid of the old one I already had. In most cases, the answer was no, and I ended up not buying.
Mind you, I am not talking about giving up shopping completely. I am just talking about not buying things that are unnecessary and will remain unused. For example, I didn’t buy that new laptop because mine is still in good condition, but I am going to buy a smart phone next month because my current phone can’t get email and web.
Where you draw the line of what is necessary and unnecessary will vary according to your financial situation and your values. What is important is to know where that line is so that you can make the right choices for a bright fiscal future.
