Financial inspiration

[rebeccmeister]

For me, a big part of retaining good spending habits is reading inspirational articles on the matter. Here's a recent one that's pretty basic and straightforward (but then again, developing good spending habits is a remarkably basic and straightforward process!):

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0305/p13s02-wmgn.html

What I like about this article is its emphasis on the psychological aspect of spending decision-making. I have to say that, having worked hard to develop better spending/savings habits, I'm now quite reluctant to part with my hard-earned money in this hunt for a road bike...It's quite an interesting phenomenon.

Comments

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Well... they're right that living in a smaller house can lead to saving money. It's harder to buy things if you just plain have nowhere to put them. For example, clothing wise I've bought a grand total of two dresses and three sweaters since the beginning of November. Might still be more than some people would buy in that time, but not too bad when you factor in a cruise requiring dress-up clothes, a total lack of same (granted that was due to a packing mistake), a drastic climate change, and a slightly dressier work environment.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Living in a smaller house certainly makes a difference! I've been enjoying life in the garage for just that reason. Last week I bought a few small kitchen items and then immediately had to deal with the fact that I have nowhere to store anymore kitchen stuff. It always makes me think twice about accumulating anything unnecessary.

That's pretty good for clothing shopping--I'm quite impressed! It's a testament to your versatility in dressing. It seems to me like clothing is one area where it can be easy to go way overboard. I've never had much of a problem with that, but I happen to dislike clothing shopping...

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

um. It may be more of a testament to how many clothes I already have!

[earthlingmike.livejournal.com]

I think I usually ask myself how much I need or what something, in comparison to what it costs, and in comparison to alternatives. For example of alternatives, I just ordered pizza for delivery, which I don't do often because I can make my own dinner, like a bowl of chili, pasta, or baked potato and wings, for a lot less.