This is about establishing good financial habits and developing willpower.
- You're like the dieter who KNOWS he should eat a big salad ... but the chocolate cake just looks so good, and how often do you get to eat chocolate cake?
- You're like my students, who KNOW the big paper is due on Monday, but instead they go to the football game on Friday night, then out with friends on Saturday, sleep in on Sunday ... and suddenly they have only a couple hours left to complete what they've had a month to do.
You KNOW exactly what you should do -- spend consciously, choose what you actually need, and save. You KNOW that saving now while you're young is more effective because you have years of compound interest ahead of you. Yet you don't DO these things. It's about willpower.
My suggestions:
- You need some structure to keep yourself on track. Make a list of the three things that matter most to you: Perhaps maintaining good health, finding the right spouse, growing in your career, having a comfortable and functional home. When you are uncertain about whether to make a purchase, look at your list. Does this purchase further you towards these goals? If not, don't buy it.
- Paying yourself first is a great idea. All too many people just spend what they want, then assume they'll save what's left over. This rarely works. You're earning plenty of money, but you need a budget.
- When you decide to splurge on something, be sure it's a splurge that'll last. For example, the alcohol is an expensive but short-lived luxury -- you enjoy it for an evening, and then that spend is gone forever. The upcharged airplane ticket is another good example; when you step off the flight, that spend is finished forever. On the other hand, my husband and I splurged on an expensive mattress -- four years later, I still think "Ahhhhh" every time I lie down. Another example: I have some foot problems, which essentially disappear if I wear shoes with the right support -- so I have a pair of expensive orthopedic inserts for my winter shoes, and I pay as much as $100/pair for summer sandals with the same support built in. However, those shoes are good for hundreds and hundreds of wears, and they allow me to walk without pain. Be sure when you decide to spend, it's a spend that will give you joy not just for an hour or a day ... but for a long time.
Finally, asparagus. I can tell you some things about asparagus, which is one of the yummiest foods in the whole world:
Asparagus is expensive because -- unlike most vegetables -- you put lots of effort into building an asparagus bed, and it's five long years 'til you harvest more than a spear or two. Once the bed starts producing, you get loads and loads of asparagus, but the farmer expects to be paid for the five years he nurtured that bed and waited. The best, most tender asparagus shoots are the white ones, which may be what someone's calling "fancy", and getting them to grow requires additional skill.
