How do you keep yourself from spending on unimportant things?

[Shikaina]

I dont know if it is just me or others also experience it. I always set goals financially, set limits in spending and trying hard to save but most of the time no matter how i tell myself to refrain from spending in unnecessary things whenever i see something i really like even if i dont need it i cant resist buying it that cause me to regret later. Are you familiar with this situation?

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[Shenzou]

I dont know if it is just me or others also experience it. I always set goals financially, set limits in spending and trying hard to save but most of the time no matter how i tell myself to refrain from spending in unnecessary things whenever i see something i really like even if i dont need it i cant resist buying it that cause me to regret later. Are you familiar with this situation?

It is not just you, i feel this is something that everyone here had experienced i guess we just got so spoiled by bitcoin and its high price, to the point where we see everything easy to get as long as we got money, some of us just embrace this feeling and just do what they want because it is as they say you only live once, and others say that you shouldn't spend money on things that are not essential and try to save them for the future, everyone has his own opinion, and a way of seeing things.

[harizen]

I dont know if it is just me or others also experience it. I always set goals financially, set limits in spending and trying hard to save but most of the time no matter how i tell myself to refrain from spending in unnecessary things whenever i see something i really like even if i dont need it i cant resist buying it that cause me to regret later. Are you familiar with this situation?

It's a common and usual thing happening on a person BUT it all depends on the situation especially in terms of financial aspects. Since the way you talked you don't hesitate meaning you can afford it as you don't think twice before doing that action. But on the other side of the note, since like I said that it's a usual thing, some people are hesitant to do so because they have lots of another concerns on their mind like their "budget is just enough" , "there are more important things to that" etc.

There's nothing wrong if you can really afford it and deal with other things later on. It's a wrong if you just did it because you can't resist it but later on, you have to deal with your other expenses on which you have no more left.

P.S. How come you think that's it's only you who experienced it lol.

[lionheart78]

I think it is a problem everyone has. It a sickness. Losing control over onself when it comes to spending. The idea of loving onself or doing yourself a favor most of the time is causing us to do this. Sometimes also it is the thought of living once and we will be leaving everything we have here on earth when we die so we better enjoy them while we are still alive.

[Dutchyyy]

I dont know if it is just me or others also experience it. I always set goals financially, set limits in spending and trying hard to save but most of the time no matter how i tell myself to refrain from spending in unnecessary things whenever i see something i really like even if i dont need it i cant resist buying it that cause me to regret later. Are you familiar with this situation?

Up to two years ago, the less I had the more I wanted an unimportant stuffs. Now, the more I have, the less I spend on unimportant stuffs. Because now I know that I can afford it whenever I want. I guess it's philological based.

When you are temped, ask yourself - will you have the time to keep it interesting. Like if you want a dron very badly, will you have the time to fly it?

[bill gator]

Realizing that they are unimportant things would probably be a good start. If you can honestly look at what you are spending money on and say that it is unimportant, then why are you spending money on it? Money is a product of your time, hard-work and creativity which should all be very important to you. If you are trading away your life (time/energy/thought) for things that you prioritize as unimportant, then you clearly do not place much value on your own life.

Pay yourself first is always a good rule, meaning when the money comes in you put that towards savings, investments, bills, important desires. Obviously budgeting helps, but it is so easy to drift away from a budget. You just need to take an honest look at what you are trading for idiotic things like take-out food, alcohol, drugs, dates, clothes, etc. Are you happy trading away all of your time and work for some unimportant things or would you like to make something meaningful with your life?

[Hydrogen]

I dont know if it is just me or others also experience it. I always set goals financially, set limits in spending and trying hard to save but most of the time no matter how i tell myself to refrain from spending in unnecessary things whenever i see something i really like even if i dont need it i cant resist buying it that cause me to regret later. Are you familiar with this situation?

It helps not to have an ATM card, debit or credit card. If cash/credit is easily obtainable it will probably cause someone to spend more.

Internet shopping is easy, convenient and often supports free shipping which can make saving difficult.

How a person spends their time is probably the biggest factor. If friends always go out and spend money that makes things tough. This might sound unnatural but finding things to do that doesn't involve spending cash could be one of the easiest ways to save. When I was around 18 I managed to save about $10,000. I didn't have any real financial goals and made no real effort to save. I hung out at a skatepark almost everyday for maybe a few years & didn't spend much on things which normally deplete someone's savings.

I guess for those with saving goals what might work best is finding things they enjoy to occupy their time where they don't spend much?

[grimesrhymes]

I have a few simple things that I do, firstly whenever I decide I want to buy something I always wait a period of time after that initial decision, let's say 2 weeks, if after 2 weeks I still want it then I ask myself why I really need it and if it will improve my life, if the answer is yes then I'll buy it.

[Wowcoin]

I dont know if it is just me or others also experience it. I always set goals financially, set limits in spending and trying hard to save but most of the time no matter how i tell myself to refrain from spending in unnecessary things whenever i see something i really like even if i dont need it i cant resist buying it that cause me to regret later. Are you familiar with this situation?

Try to avoid spending your money on things that are not important and i think you need self control to do that. Because i experienced that too,spend money on things are not important then one day i realized that i need to control my self by spending money.

[Komobit]

In that terms I think my money in 3 lvls:

1 - hour of work neeeded to buy

2 - In the monthly payment/saving how much this is in percentage

3 - How much that would save me in a year

Thinking about that you would probably skip the usual 20 dolars ice cream (just an example) and save a lot becouse that money in the year is not woth it for ice cream.

[shield132]

There is a one great app for your smartphone - Monefy (don't know if existd IOS vesion). It will help you in managing of money, very usefull app. Also really check your diet, eat only healthy (vegetables, cottage cheece, lean proteins and etc), don't look for BIO Juices (they are healthy but very expensive).
This is one great saving. Then believe yourself that you don't need new clothes, nor any technical equipment and etc.

[bill gator]

It helps not to have an ATM card, debit or credit card. If cash/credit is easily obtainable it will probably cause someone to spend more.

A lot of extremely wealthy people go into more depth about exactly the principle you are getting at here. Limit your own access to your funds. Put your extra money into some sort of investment, account or any where that you cannot access it, no matter how desperate you get. This will allow you to create a stable foundation at some point. Rather than constantly draining your reserves and starting from nothing, you will have fruitful investments bringing you multiple streams of income. You will be thankful that you squirreled away that money somewhere that allowed it to work for you, rather than buy you whatever you think you need.

Internet shopping is easy, convenient and often supports free shipping which can make saving difficult.

My mother has a terrible problem with internet shopping. My suggestion is don't even go to the websites. Never go browsing through a retailer, or some kind of online store. You'll find yourself monologuing and being convinced by your own stupidity that "it's a good deal", "I've got a few extra bucks", etc. You'll always find an excuse to spend your money, so limit your exposure to these spending opportunities.

How a person spends their time is probably the biggest factor. If friends always go out and spend money that makes things tough.

Agreed. Stop going out and spending $50 on drinks with the boys. Do that twice a week and you're down over $5,000 a year. Add on top of that a $5 drink every morning, because you like the fruity taste and you're down another $2,000 every year. Imagine if you just had all of that to invest, or just threw it in Bitcoin. People that smoke marijuana a few times a day end up spending about $5,000-$10,000 a year on that alone. How you spend your time matters, those mundane little things you do everyday are the most important things you do in your life. Not only does the money add up, but the time does, too. Say it takes you 20-minutes to get that drink every morning, driving/walking to the shop, waiting in line, drinking it and getting back to wherever you need to be; realistically it probably takes even longer than you think. We'll say 20-minutes, though. Do that everyday and you're spending 3 full-time work-weeks doing that small mundane daily task. Your time is worth something like $50 an hour if you have any reasonable skills and you invest it into something that truly matters. You may not be paid that much, but it could be spent elsewhere and you certainly could attain that figure if you spent your time more wisely. So not only is that drink costing you $2,000 a year in cash, but it is costing you 3-weeks worth of work or about $6,000 (at least) of your time, too. Then you have to consider that's it's probably bad for your health, too.

My point is that everybody has things that they know they would be better off if they stopped doing them. Figure out what these are, and if you need to then motivate yourself by calculating their true cost. How much time, how much money, is it affecting my health, is it helping me to achieve my goals of financial and marital success, etc. These are the questions you have to ask yourself to push yourself away from the idiotic spending.

[krabut]

I think you are right in making a decision because things like that have been experienced by many people. I personally often experience it, but there is one thing to note, namely what benefits will be obtained from something we buy. Maybe you know more about the above, but I just remind you when you experience something troublesome.

[Jessy Mediola]

I dont know if it is just me or others also experience it. I always set goals financially, set limits in spending and trying hard to save but most of the time no matter how i tell myself to refrain from spending in unnecessary things whenever i see something i really like even if i dont need it i cant resist buying it that cause me to regret later. Are you familiar with this situation?

Discipline. That is the main solution for that. You need to discipline yourself in spending things that is not necessary for you. You must know what things are need to be prioritize. Set limits in yourself if you can't then have a discipline. There is no excuse if you really what to change. Control yourself.

[patz22]

Actually it is the reality OP, we tend to spend on the things that we don't need. This is the sad part wherein when the time that we need money for our needs we will eventually sell the things we've bought. In regards, with other stuffs such as food and other stuffs budgeting is the key and the good part is that I have good partner who can manage our money very well. And I always believe on the saying spend after putting some on your savings.

[camito]

Me, as well do not know how to control myself in buying unnecessary things that I also regret later on after buying it and needing money later. No matter how many times I tell myself to do not waste money or to not spend money to not so important things, I always ended buying these things which I really regret later on. It is true that discipline is the only key for us to stop doing things like spending too much especially to things that are not so important and needed. If we only know how to discipline ourselves, surely we can control ourselves from doing such things and save money instead.

[anakkampung17]

The more money we have, the more expenses we need. It will affect everyone and I do not think such a thing is the best financial solution. If I am given the opportunity to be a billionaire in this bitcoin, I will always live in simplicity. It just needs some important necessities in life and for luxury maybe it's after my needs have been met. Always a life of solitude to be away from the temptation of colleagues to spend our money.

[ralle14]

I dont know if it is just me or others also experience it. I always set goals financially, set limits in spending and trying hard to save but most of the time no matter how i tell myself to refrain from spending in unnecessary things whenever i see something i really like even if i dont need it i cant resist buying it that cause me to regret later. Are you familiar with this situation?

It happened to me a couple of times because I wanted to treat myself. When i'm in this situation what i'll do is make myself busy for the entire day so I can forget about what i'm buying. If you can't make yourself busy you need to find a hobby that works for you and would fit in your daily routine. If I really want to buy something that's not needed I always ask myself different questions is it worth? is it better to save since you can buy it anytime you want? That was just an example to have an idea.

P.S. How come you think that's it's only you who experienced it lol.

There's no discussion about this kind of topic except for this one maybe that's why OP thought he was the only one having issues with saving.

[Alpinat]

I dont know if it is just me or others also experience it. I always set goals financially, set limits in spending and trying hard to save but most of the time no matter how i tell myself to refrain from spending in unnecessary things whenever i see something i really like even if i dont need it i cant resist buying it that cause me to regret later. Are you familiar with this situation?

It is always not that important because we spend in the things sometimes that we don't need but we are using it very well. What i mean is your are just thinking that the things  that  you bought  but it is actually important like bitcoin sometimes your just thinking that it is not important but it is in some people.

[mel1978]

I dont know if it is just me or others also experience it. I always set goals financially, set limits in spending and trying hard to save but most of the time no matter how i tell myself to refrain from spending in unnecessary things whenever i see something i really like even if i dont need it i cant resist buying it that cause me to regret later. Are you familiar with this situation?

Yes that is very true situation, I can buy things which are not in our budget and plans. So what I did was I will not be go out anymore so I cannot buy things which are not really very important. This is what I did in order to hold myself from that situation.