With a few of our shopping faults discovered, we started making headway. I made a shopping list, but we often veered off the path and without a doubt, after we would check out, I would get angry with myself that we had not saved as much as I had hoped. We were still in the baby steps phase as I look back on it now, but there was something else at play that I figured out after one shop.
Rationalization. There it was. The word came out of my husband’s mouth as we were pushing the cart to the car. I was complaining that the bill was higher than I had anticipated and would have liked, and I wondered out loud that if I hadn’t gotten the magazine, the bill wouldn’t have been as high. At that point, my husband stopped dead in his tracks and said, “You always rationalize things. If we hadn’t gotten toilet paper, the bill would have been lower, too!” Sarcasm noted, but he got me thinking deeper into spending. To a degree, I think most people, at one time or another, have rationalized spending:
I got a promotion! Let’s go celebrate!
I quit the job I hated, and I am free! I bought myself a new handbag because I deserve it after putting up with that office.
I have a hot date so I need a hot new pair of shoes.
My girlfriend dumped me so I bought a new Wii to occupy my spare time.
All rationalizations for spending. If money is no issue, then it needs no further thought. We all at one time have used spending to feel better about the bad stuff, or to celebrate the good stuff. And that is fine. But at some point, when you want to get a lasso around your budget, you have to seriously account for things – needs vs. wants.
I started to ask myself before each purchase outside the grocery store: is this a need or a want? If it wasn’t a need, then I would wait a week and see if I still wanted it. This was tough, because as I mentioned above, or rather as my husband pointed out, I could rationalize with the best of ‘em! But it really wasa big step, because it kept me thinking about staying on track with our spending.
Like every woman, I have my vise; for some it is shoes, for some handbags, some like jewelry, but for me it is cosmetics. And iPad apps, but that is a whole different post. I love makeup, I have since my late teens. Anyone who can go without makeup is as lucky as they get, but I am not one of them. I went to a pizza place to pick up some pizza without my usual makeup, and the guys treated me like a second-class citizen. The next time I went in with my makeup on and it was, “Señora! What can I get for you today?” “You come over here so I can help you!” Yes, makeup is my friend. But in the realm of budgets, it can also be my foe.
Unfortunately, I have extremely sensitive skin. I have tried the makeup from the drugstore, and it causes me dermatitis. A friend’s wife sells a popular brand of makeup, and my husband asked me to buy some from her as a friendly gesture. I explained that it wasn’t a good idea because of my sensitive skin, but did it as a favor. After one application my skin was a blotchy, red disaster that took two months to get back to normal. I gave the makeup away to a friend. After trials of many brands, and a box full of products that gave me skin problems, I found that the one makeup and skin cream I can count on is Clinique. It isn’t cheap. This wasn’t me rationalizing, it was a clinical, painful, ugly fact that only Clinique could solve. [For the record: I am in no way, nor is anyone I know personally affiliated with the company. The product just works for me.]
In my new habit of price checking and comparison, I am now aware that an eyeliner pencil can be $5.00 for most, but for me they are $15.00 so my eyes don’t get puffy. Now my one obsession, and yes, I think it truly is one, is also an expensive one. I need to always use the needs vs wants rule when I go to their website after they send me the VIP email with the weekly deal. Do I want the new blusher and matching lipstick? Of course I do! I want the two different shades that are “IN” this season! Then I say to myself, do I need them? No, the other blush isn’t anywhere near gone, and really, will anyone notice that “Precious Posy” is last season’s color? I think not. And if they are so astute to the hues of makeup, then they should be in the fashion world and not in mine.
There you have it: some spending boils down to rationalization, and to control it, you need to consider needs vs. wants.
No comments:
Post a Comment