5 Quotes to help you stop wasting your money
Jo'burg is a city that never sleeps. There are always birthday dinners, bridal and baby showers, standing lunch reservations, drink dates, invites to eat out or a destination wedding that requires an expensive ticket.
As a blogger, I get at least two invites a week to attend some media briefing on almost everything under the sun. That's requires driving back and forth. So in short, Joburg has no shortage of activities and other money-sucking activities that are easy to become absorbed in.
There are tons of instances when I’ve been swayed to spend despite being on a budget, or given in and made choices that didn’t really fit my spending plan. That being said, I did learn how to find the confidence to say no–though it took some work and practice on my part. Below are five of the most important messages I've learned along the way that have helped me.
1. Monkey see, monkey do
You wouldn’t jump off a cliff just because all your friends were doing it, right? But sadly that's what most of us are doing.
Just because everyone’s doing it, doesn’t make it okay for you.For example, nowadays, everyone is on the owning-a-house-is-amazing bandwagon. Property is a huge lifestyle decision. First, you need to take care of it like a baby because there is always something breaking. I mean there are people who live in it so these things are bound to happen. From maintains that cute garden to fixing your plumbing, a house needs money to keep it looking like those houses you see on Top Billing.
Honestly, you don’t have to buy a house if you don’t want to and more importantly if your financially strained you can't take on this BIG decision. This is a massive purchase and requires proper financial planning.
2. Trying to impress people at your own expense
According to the Popimedia Digital Influence in SA report, 40 percent of consumers allow social media to influence their purchases in some way. Social media influencers help companies market their products by offering a friendly voice, a “one of the people” style of marketing. Another study done by two business school researchers says that social media really can influence the amount of money you spend to the point that you can’t control yourself.
Too many people spend money they haven't earned ... to buy things they don't want ... to impress people that they don't like. –Will RogersSocial media creates a tendency to compare our own wealth or lifestyle to that of our peers. I don't know how many times I've felt just a tiny bit "inadequate" about my own life because of something I saw on social media. Vacations and beautiful houses really get to me. Everything else is just meh.
It’s one thing to feel FOMO, but it’s another to feel pressured into spending money you weren’t originally going to because of what you saw on social media.
3. Keeping Up with the Joneses
We’ve all been there. It’s a classic case of trying to keep up with the Joneses or in our case the Kumalos. And for many, “keeping up with the Ks” becomes an overwhelming obsession that can lead to financial ruin.
Let's be honest, how many people have you seen discussing their finances openly in real life. You see the things your friends and family are buying, but you have no idea how they’re buying them.The world is a show and the show is a performance of the wealthy, the beautiful and the fortunate. The invulnerable, the matchless and the exclusive live a life like dazzling fish in a scintillating seascape behind glass. Everybody may admire them, but nobody can touch them.
Maybe they saved little by little until they were ready to buy. Maybe they got an inheritance. Maybe they’re drowning in debt and living credit card to credit card. A study by the World Bank reports that a whopping 25 million South African adults owe money to various financial institutions and corporate lenders.
In other words, a lot of the people buying all those nice things have no money, no savings, and are only one job loss or medical emergency from everything crashing down around them.
Overspending and conspicuous consumption provides short-term rewards with long-term prices to pay. While the Kumalos are actually wealthy, let's not emulate their lifestyle with our kind of budget but let's do what they did and build real wealth.
4. Pressure, Pressure
Have you downsized and yet still pressure to shell out from friends who always want to spend money and who often make reservations at fancy restaurants without realizing that costly meals out are no longer in your budget?
Pressure on people, people on streets.Those are the lyrics from one of my favourite songs by Queen, Under Pressure. I know the pressure of feeling like I'm being cheap, or I'm the boring one in a friendship group. FOMO is a real thing. When your lifestyle changes, you start to worry you’re missing out on fine dining, fun drinks and going out.
Let's not forget the pressure from family members. We all want to help family members and that's the right thing to do but you can't do it when you don't have enough for yourself.
Figuring out how to handle having less money than your friends can be tricky. But if you stick to your budget and talk to your loved ones you can ways to have fun or help them without breaking the bank. Remember, it’s your money and your life and you have to stand up for yourself. Your future and financial freedom depends on it.
5. Living beyond your means
When you spend more than what you bring in, you are living beyond your means. If you are living beyond your means, you will always make up the difference by incurring debt or failing to save. For example, credit card interest rates can be exorbitant, and high balances can lead to a debt spiral from which you may never escape.
The bill will come due someday.This may happen as bankruptcy, foreclosure, a mountain of credit card debt or as a penniless and destitute existence in your golden years. Overspending and conspicuous consumption provides short-term rewards with long-term prices to pay. The more you compromise your bottom line, the sinker you deep into future pockets: and no matter what, there’s no running from creditors.
Which quote resonated with you most?
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