While this is probably true of most people you know, this is probably not something you would expect from a personal finance blogger. I sometime feel guilty about the fact that I spend whatever I want, but I have a secret. I have trained myself to be mostly content with what I have, so I don’t want a lot.
One idea that I have seen again and again is how people really value experiences, not things. I used to be the opposite. I used to think that I would much rather get a really cute sweater than go to a concert. But then I realized that of course I would rather get a cute sweater than go to a concert since I don’t like music that much! It wasn’t that concept that was wrong, but it was my points of comparison. Now I’ve realized that rather than spending money on a cute sweater, I would be much happier to spend that money on the experience of a nice vacation. I have trained my brain to not even want to cute sweater very much since I am pretty content with my closet.
Of course it helps to stay out of stores too. I have most of the clothes that I need to be happy, but one place where I have the desire to spend is on home furnishings. We have very few items in our home that was purchased new. Most of our items were hand me downs from family and friends with a few items purchased from craigslist. I would love to have a semi matching living room set or even a bed with a headboard. I realized that I’ve never owned a bed with a headboard or any kind of frame beyond the basic metal ones that come with the bed in my whole life. But when I go to the store and think about spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on new furniture, my mind talks me out of it since it know that I would much rather spend my money on a lifetime adventure.
