Hello Grasshoppa,
Do you ever feel guilty whenever you are buying something that you don’t need or overpriced? This is a normal feeling for me especially for my characteristic that is known to be stingy. Aside from my watch collection & my BJJ Gi collection, I usually don’t splurge my money unless I stumble upon a good deal. The following is an example of a good deal that I recently found on Zalora.
With the Promo Code that I found in Zalora website & me redeeming my RM100 Zalora voucher using Grab Points (16,000 Grab Points), I was able to purchase the bag with a huge discount. This may be the question that many of us may ask ourselves. “I am working so hard to earn my money, why can’t I buy what I like?” I personally agree with this statement as we work hard every day & we should be rewarding ourselves with our hard work but is there any limit that we need to set to avoid overspending?
What Are The Ways You Can Use To Avoid Overspending?
1. Allocating A Fixed Amount Each Month
I used to have a friend that told me that she allocates RM500 each month for her splurging account. You may consider allocating a fixed amount to splurge but try to limit it at the amount where you can afford. Don’t forget to allocate your money to save & invest too. You can try to allocate between RM200 & if you plan to buy an item worth RM500, you may carry forward your monthly splurge amount until it reaches RM500. Or if you spend RM100 out of your RM200 budget, you may save or carry forward that amount to next month splurge account.
2. Zero Interest Credit Card Instalment
It is similar to Method 1 where you are using your monthly splurge budget to split into 12-36 months instalment. Avoid buying more item & include it as credit card instalment as it may cause you to have more debts.
3. Overpaying Your Credit Card
This is my favourite of all & I’ve been practising this for years. What I usually do is to overpay my credit card each time I pay my credit card bills. There are 2 general ways you can apply this by either rounding up each transaction you made with your credit card or rounding up based on your credit card statement. You will be surprised how much you are able to have after a few months or a year.
4. Using Your “Future” Money
When I mention “Future” money, I don’t mean using your credit card to splurge your money. What I meant is the future money that you know you will get like your year-end bonus or commission. Only spend a small percentage of that money as you may miscalculate on the income tax & end up overspending your money.
5. Sacrificing Your Fix Expenses
I think most of us have done this when we were young to save money & buy things we like. I remembered saving some money to buy a Gameboy Lite where I don’t spend my daily allowance & a few months later I am able to buy it. As a working adult, we may not go through such a process where we save from our daily allowance but are able to save some by avoiding going to some expensive restaurant or preparing our own meal.
Conclusion :
Splurging or overspending, at the end of the day it’s all about our discipline on how much we are able to control our expenses. The more you splurge, the chances of you falling into having credit card debt are high & you may also end up with lesser savings. Don’t get carried away when you start splurging especially when you accumulate those small spending. It may end up in a huge amount if you don’t keep track on it. Online shopping is the most dangerous of all especially prior to checking out, they may recommend us other products to make us spend more. DO NOT FALL INTO THIS TRAP. Always know your spending limit & remember to spend within your limit. Prioritize on your savings & investments as it will help you with your future retirement.
OSS!
