November 23, 2009
How To Deal With The Monster Of Conspicuous Spending
If you are wondering what conspicuous spending is, it is the lavish spending on just about everything you can to show off your spending power. There are quite a few of us consumed with such a notorious habit. It’s not really bad if you can really afford it but the sad truth is that most people with such habits end up in serious debt.
Well you can argue that you have worked so hard and feel you deserve to treat yourself to the nice things in life but if you are a conspicuous spender, you are most likely showing off and not exactly rewarding yourself. This means that you are most likely to spend money on things you don’t really need just to try and keep up with the Joneses.
Conspicuous spending is rather addictive. Once you are hooked, it is extremely hard to snap out of it. This is why most people with this habit, even the well off, find themselves in huge debt sooner or later. So if you are one of them, you are probably wondering how you could tame or even rid yourself of this habit.
The first step is of course to realize that you do not need to spend on everything on sight to display your status in life. Whatever your economic status in life, you do not need to spend big for everyone else to recognize how well off you are. In doing so, you will not be spending for yourself but for others. So before you take out your wallet or credit card, ask yourself, do you really need whatever it is you want to pay for? What value does it really add to your life?
Secondly, you perhaps realize that when spending big for show off, you are most likely trying to compete with someone who again is most probably better off than you are. It could be your neighbors, your workmates, your fellow club members or even your family. Whoever it is perhaps it’s time you examined your relationship with them. Is it especially useful to you? If it was genuine then why do you need to spend to belong or feel confident in their company? Perhaps it’s time you engaged them in your own terms or got rid of them all together.
Quite a number of conspicuous spenders are not even in competition with anybody. They find the need to spend big and show off to everyone around them how well they are doing. In such circumstances, the people in whose benefit the show is being acted out are most likely to be more than fed up with it. If you are in a similar situation, you could end up losing the very people who really matter to you or care about you. They do not need to be reminded how well you are doing to care about you. Think about them and maybe you might want to change your spending habit.
You might also want to seek help from people with more financial discipline if you feel you need the help. It could be a friend, a colleague, your parents or anybody you trust to be honest with you and is thoughtful in their spending. But you will need to be honest with them about what drives you to spend big if they are to really help you out. It has proven very effective for many people.
In the long run, what you do with your money is your business and yours alone. Try and remember that. It will take some resolve and discipline to stop spending unnecessarily. Your money can be put to much better use.