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I've been thinking -- why do we spend more money than we actually have?
Here are some ideas I've come up with for myself. Can you add any that might enlighten me further?
1. Keeping up with the "Joneses". All my friends and most of our family members are doing much better than we are. It's embarassing to say, "We can't." I had to say that quite a few times recently.
2. It's also depressing to say, "we can't." When we really want to. I hate being left out of the fun!
3. I like new things. Shopping is fun. I don't have much other excitement in my life. (Mind you, I don't buy fancy stuff. A new set of Sharpie markers makes my day!)
4. I want to "live for today!" My husband's dad died at 57. As soon as the kids My mom-in-law never got over that and was depressed for the last 20 years of her life. (No exageration.) She busted her butt raising 8 kids, and never got to have any fun. She died poor and depressed. I don't want that to happen to me. My family took a small vacation at the end of the summer last year that we couldn't afford (cost about $500). I literally said, "The hell with it! I want to enjoy my kids while they are kids and my husband while he's still here!"
5. Unexpected expenses. I gotta have a car, and when it breaks down, I have to fix it, whether the money is there, or not. 99% of the time, the money is NOT there. My kid needed braces. It wasn't a "cosmetic" thing, he was going to lose teeth on the bottom, front because they were being pushed soooo far out of alignment. We had to move forward with the braces to save his teeth. NO. I didn't have $1700 sitting in the bank...
6. My husband tends to live in money fantasy land. If we get an "extra" $300, he wants to spend $1000. Mind you, we never actually have "extra" money, since we live $1000 in the hole every month, right now. We have so many unmet needs, that we could easily spend an "extra" $300 over 20 times and still not have everything where it needs to be...
7. DH works very, very hard. Usually 60+ hours a week, plus busting his butt around our house. He has a hard time connecting with the fact that you can work as hard as he's worked for as many years as he's worked and still not have any money. Easier to ignor the facts and just live like we DO have the money. Once again, no huge purchases. Example: He goes NUTS if he can't exercise on a regular basis. I mean, he really stresses out!!! So he get's a membership to the Gym -- that we can't afford... But, should I let him get totally stressed out and depressed? I'm very serious about this. It's actually a chemical problem he's got. If he doesn't exercise on a regular basis, he goes into depression. But we can't afford a membership to a gym and a good treadmill costs a small fortune. Can't afford that either... what the heck do you do???
It goes on and on and on.
What are the reasons you've overspent, when you have???
Thanks for letting me share and thanks for sharing back!
Jean
Here are some ideas I've come up with for myself. Can you add any that might enlighten me further?
1. Keeping up with the "Joneses". All my friends and most of our family members are doing much better than we are. It's embarassing to say, "We can't." I had to say that quite a few times recently.
2. It's also depressing to say, "we can't." When we really want to. I hate being left out of the fun!
3. I like new things. Shopping is fun. I don't have much other excitement in my life. (Mind you, I don't buy fancy stuff. A new set of Sharpie markers makes my day!)
4. I want to "live for today!" My husband's dad died at 57. As soon as the kids My mom-in-law never got over that and was depressed for the last 20 years of her life. (No exageration.) She busted her butt raising 8 kids, and never got to have any fun. She died poor and depressed. I don't want that to happen to me. My family took a small vacation at the end of the summer last year that we couldn't afford (cost about $500). I literally said, "The hell with it! I want to enjoy my kids while they are kids and my husband while he's still here!"
5. Unexpected expenses. I gotta have a car, and when it breaks down, I have to fix it, whether the money is there, or not. 99% of the time, the money is NOT there. My kid needed braces. It wasn't a "cosmetic" thing, he was going to lose teeth on the bottom, front because they were being pushed soooo far out of alignment. We had to move forward with the braces to save his teeth. NO. I didn't have $1700 sitting in the bank...
6. My husband tends to live in money fantasy land. If we get an "extra" $300, he wants to spend $1000. Mind you, we never actually have "extra" money, since we live $1000 in the hole every month, right now. We have so many unmet needs, that we could easily spend an "extra" $300 over 20 times and still not have everything where it needs to be...
7. DH works very, very hard. Usually 60+ hours a week, plus busting his butt around our house. He has a hard time connecting with the fact that you can work as hard as he's worked for as many years as he's worked and still not have any money. Easier to ignor the facts and just live like we DO have the money. Once again, no huge purchases. Example: He goes NUTS if he can't exercise on a regular basis. I mean, he really stresses out!!! So he get's a membership to the Gym -- that we can't afford... But, should I let him get totally stressed out and depressed? I'm very serious about this. It's actually a chemical problem he's got. If he doesn't exercise on a regular basis, he goes into depression. But we can't afford a membership to a gym and a good treadmill costs a small fortune. Can't afford that either... what the heck do you do???
It goes on and on and on.
What are the reasons you've overspent, when you have???
Thanks for letting me share and thanks for sharing back!
Jean
A distraction from what's really bothering me. Someone I know seems to overspend out of a sort of "but I deserve this" mentailty - always looking to validate her self-worth through the items she owns.
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