What Do You Do When You Want to Stop Feeling Spendy?
I keep a quarterly budget, and set aside X dollars for discretionary spending. There are many times when I don't spend all of the X dollars and have some amount left over. And then I just want to buy random crap that I just know I'll never wear or use.
I have developed a few strategies to counter the spendy feelings:
1)I go and look at the bins and boxes of stuff I've got and look at my spreadsheets listing what's in them. Yes, like a rail transportation company, I keep something like a manifest. Crazy, I know. Sometimes, this makes me ashamed of what I've amassed (lots of crap) and curbs my desire to shop. At other times, I see some of the truly fun things I've acquired over my life and it makes me feel all nostalgic and happy and it curbs my desire to shop. If I still want to shop, then...
2)I think of the amount of money I want to spend on random crap and then decide to put some or all of it towards charity. This is where I feel like I'm both a reasonably good person, and a selfish monster.
You see, if I had $200 left over from the quarter of discretionary spending money and I wanted to buy $200 of shoes I know I'll never actually wear, just thinking about giving it away to some charity instead of getting *stuff* makes me hesitate. Suddenly, I only feel like giving away $50. Yup, selfish monster me.
But I overcome the reluctance and usually donate all of the "leftover" discretionary funds and feel like a decent human being after all. And I also feel really relieved, as that means I've got one less pair of never-to-be-worn-probably-ugly-shoes.
