Tightwad Tuesday: How to Spend Money

Photo courtesy of renjith krishnan; FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I've just finished whining to my darling love about not knowing what to write about for Tightwad Tuesday.  I whined about it to Neonatal Nurse Nancy too, right after 6 this morning.

I said, "I can't think of any more ways to save money except just don't go anywhere, do anything, or buy anything!"  Much of my life does hold true to that, but that's boring stuff.

So let's talk about spending.  How do you decided what to spend on?  I have a few simple rules for choosing my expenditures wisely.

Do you love it?

Simple, right?  I think us girls can tend to fall into the trap of buying too many clothes in particular...but this could fall to knicknacks, electronics, or any item you personally purchase regularly.  Think about the things you have that you love.  You use them or wear them all the time; you take extra special care of them.  Start training yourself to buy only in this category.  Not only does it save your budget, it saves space and helps keep clutter out of your life and out of your closet.

Choose to make space in your life for items that you love and leave the rest behind because somebody, somewhere, needs that item to love in their home.

Do you need it?

Another seemingly simple question...but define need?  Right?  Need is personal, and all I can say is you have to define your own parameters of need for your budget and lifestyle.

The best advice I can give on this is what I say to myself when buying or when giving things away....  I ask myself this question:  What is the worst thing that will happen if I don't have this and I need it in a year?  Answering that question usually helps me decide whether to buy and whether to purge from my home.

Can you get a better price elsewhere?

This is a big one because, quite frankly, we tend to be lazy.  Why go to three grocery stores and get the best deals when you can get everything in one place and be done?  This is where you have to decided upon and balance the value of your time and the value of your money.  Only you can make this decision for your spending, but I advise you to think about this aspect at least occasionally if you are committed to living a wise-money life.

Is it going to last for an extended period of time?

Think about how long the item will last and how much use you will get from it.  Thinking this way will allow you to consider a general price-per-use or price-per-year cost.  Now, you don't have to get fancy with pages of calculations.  I'm talking about taking a moment before you impulsively buy something.  If I get this black sequined dress and wear it once a year, and knowing me I will get sick of it after a few times, at $500 it costs me about $100 each time I wear it.

Not such a good deal.

If you spend $20 on a pair of jeans you will wear twice a week for a few years, however, that's a good deal!  Even $100 for a pair of jeans would not be a bad deal at that rate of use. 

Think about the useful life of items before dumping cash into them.

Does the price match the quality?

This one is a big one for me.  Let me give you an example:  I love Target.  Who doesn't, right?  I particularly came to love them for kids clothes.  I feel that, in general, they have decent quality at a reasonable price for these items.

I also love Kohls.  They carry more name brands when it comes to kids clothes, and carry a slightly higher quality than does Target, however, the prices jump higher than does the quality, in my opinion.

Thankfully, Kohls has great sales which get you down to the price you actually should pay for their quality, so it works out. 

My favorite in-my-head question for this is:  I love it, but do I love it x-amount of dollars?  This little question has saved me from impulse buys over and over again.

How do you control your spending when you are in the shopping moment?