Trouble spending money
Q_Prime
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
hey, I've had this problem for a while but it's just been getting worse. I get pretty interested in how things work and how things are made, and usually when i go to buy something i assign a value to it, i take into account how much I'll enjoy it, how much it usually goes for and how much i can buy it for, if i can get an item for below the standard price and I'll enjoy it then i purchase it and there is usually no problem.
except recently I've been having trouble justifying the money spent. the most recent example would be that i bought half life 2 episode pack on the weekend since it was on sale, 6 dollars for the both episodes down from 20. i thought it was a great deal but now that I'm thinking about it, the re-playability on a single player game isn't very high and i feel guilty about spending the money. it gets to the point where i feel physically ill spending money.
it doesn't help that I'm not in the best financial position. the last thing i bought for myself was a hdd and some ram and l4d in February. so in the last 8 months i bought about 4 things for myself. every time i get a web design job (i do that freelance) i tell myself i'll take 100 of 1300 (as an example) and spend it on something i want, but instead i just find myself paying bills and saving.
i hate that i can't enjoy myself without thinking about the money and i want to get over it but i have not been able to
does anyone have any suggestions about how i can alleviate the stress i feel when making purchases?
except recently I've been having trouble justifying the money spent. the most recent example would be that i bought half life 2 episode pack on the weekend since it was on sale, 6 dollars for the both episodes down from 20. i thought it was a great deal but now that I'm thinking about it, the re-playability on a single player game isn't very high and i feel guilty about spending the money. it gets to the point where i feel physically ill spending money.
it doesn't help that I'm not in the best financial position. the last thing i bought for myself was a hdd and some ram and l4d in February. so in the last 8 months i bought about 4 things for myself. every time i get a web design job (i do that freelance) i tell myself i'll take 100 of 1300 (as an example) and spend it on something i want, but instead i just find myself paying bills and saving.
i hate that i can't enjoy myself without thinking about the money and i want to get over it but i have not been able to
does anyone have any suggestions about how i can alleviate the stress i feel when making purchases?
Q_Prime on
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And you have a budget right? So you know what you must keep for bills and what you can squander on whatever you like? Include savings as a bill so you have a good emergency fund for back up.
Do you have an emergency fund?
You are paying less than fifty cents an hour for entertainment.
It's not like you are getting fucking lapdances here.
If you set yourself a hard budget and stick to it, you should have some splash money that you should be allowed to spend guilt free.
Satans..... hints.....
last month i brought in 1550 working on one job... i just realized that i significantly increased my savings in a single month. i think if i just get more work I'd be able to work on my spending. i guess my debt just feels overwhelming in comparison to my savings
yeah i know, it's those damn multiplayer games that spoil me. i paid 40$ for starcraft battlechest and played it for 6-7 years, i paid 20 for battlefield 2 and played it for 95 hours (bf2 keeps very good stats), 100 for wc3 and wc3ft and played it for 4-5 years. so it gets harder to justify games i know will have a limited life in comparison. although i also know i'm being stupid so you don't have to point that out. i don't know if i'll ever be able to have 'guilt free' spending as long as i have debt
edit: actually i feel a little better about the money that i spent but i figure now i need to focus on getting another freelance job, i have a meeting today which should go well since i've worked with this person before, i just need to find another one (hopefully a bigger one) to help me pay down some debt.
I'm kind of similar to you in that after I purchase things I often think of them as a waste of money, but like Blaket suggested if you think of things in terms of the amount of entertainment per hour you get, it makes it a lot better. You could go to a movie for about $10/hour or buy that game for $0.50/hour as previously mentioned. And there are far more expensive things than going to a movie that many people frequently enjoy.
Just try to relax and enjoy things while you're doing them. Try not to think about the cost so much. I know if I start thinking about how much I'm spending at a restaurant, for example, I lose any enjoyment I might have gained from eating there. Also, keep in mind that if you've paid for all your necessities and still have money left over then the only thing to spend it on is enjoyment. Your debts will be paid off in time and as long as you stick to the schedule then try not to worry about them.
(of course, this reasoning led me to stick with WoW for a pretty long time!)
The biggest thing is to not think of entertainment as a totally extraneous expense. Everyone needs to spend some time doing fun things to keep from going insane.
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
A.) A neurotic penny-pincher.
B.) Someone on the path to enlightenment.
C.) A combination of the two.
I think it's C, so here's me addressing B then A and you can take a bit of both.
Society wants you to buy a ton of stupid, worthless shit because we are a consumer-driven society and the world runs on your imaginary dollar buying shit you don't need. So if you feel bad after buying something you weren't really sure you wanted and didn't really like and then have this item simply taking up space in your life contributing nothing, then yes, you should feel bad. "Things" will not make you happy, they can only distract you. We all need distractions every now and again but it's stupid to base your life around them.
I hate spending money because 95% of the time I don't look at whatever I bought within a week. So I don't buy much. I don't spend money on unneeded or ephemeral goods, things like eating out, clothes I don't need, full retail games that I'm not sure about, etc.. Nothing wrong with this.
However you get into the neurotic penny-pincher thing when you're worried about $6 for two guaranteed good games. You have to have some valid, realistic cost:time:enjoyment ratio for your budget. I generally wouldn't spend $6 eating out because the enjoyment lasts 10 minutes and I walk away with nothing. But two acclaimed games for $6 will last for a while and you've then had that experience.
So basically be glad you're not another mindless consumer-whore buying everything the media says you want, but get a grip and learn to differentiate between pocket-change for hours of entertainment and shitting money down a hole for no gain.
Dyscord: I ended up playing wow for a really long time as well, almost 1 year, but that was when i was working full time and not going out much. I ended up breaking even on the account so it's not that bad.
FlightTest: I've thought about it alot and I don't know which of the three categories i fit into either
inside i hope it's more b then c, or a, but it's probably the reverse