5 Ways to Avoid Money Guilt After Buying Your "Wants"

You might have once in your life felt guilty for spending money on your wants instead of your needs. This feeling is very common to an average person who likes to make sure their hard-earned money is spent on something worthwhile. However, at a point, you can be fascinated by something you don't really need, like a gadget or a pair of shoes, and be led to buy it on impulse. It would leave you with a guilty feeling after you're done making the purchase. This is your mind judging you based on how you set it. Maybe you're the type that grows up in a family that monitors their expenses and has no flair for buying things that they don't need or find very important, or maybe you are not yet financially stable but you desire luxuries that are really not needed but you want them, and that desire creates guilt after you satisfy it. It's not wrong to spend your hard-earned money on what you want; after all, you need to enjoy your money on earth, hence the need to spend your money without having "money guilt" tormenting you after you purchase what you want. Having money guilt is not bad; it shows you are not spending the right way. For example, if you have a debt over your head and go about spending money unnecessarily, you will feel guilty afterwards. Money guilt has a positive and negative side. In the first place, it helps you channel your spending on crucial needs, but on the other hand, it fixes you in a box; you can't explore your cravings and the varieties of wants you desire without feeling reckless. The goal of this article is to help you avoid money guilt while you spend wisely on your wants without guilt, and we have crafted out five ways you can avoid it.

1. Have a budget for your spending

In trying to avoid money guilt after spending on your wants, one way to be free from it is to have a budget for everything you want to buy and ensure you don't spend above your budget. In your budget, include miscellaneous expenses, which will be used to cover the money you would spend on your wants. In this way, you will not feel guilty since you already have a budget for miscellaneous. Budgeting helps you allocate a particular amount of money for each of your needs and wants. So when next you receive your paycheck, ensure you budget for both your needs and wants; in this way, you will use your money on yourself and not feel guilty. 

2. Prioritize needs above Wants

Ensure to allocate a large chunk of your income to your needs. Have a scale of preference and spend according to how they rank on your scale. Make sure you satisfactorily spend on your pressing needs, such that when you spend on your wants, you won't feel guilty since your crucial needs have been sorted out. Sometimes money guilt is the result of clearly neglecting your most crucial needs and spending the money on your wants. Your conscience would keep reminding you how you made the mistake of buying less important things while neglecting the important ones. This happens especially when you run out of funds due to reckless purchases of anything that fascinates you. But when you have your priorities, it will help you decide what to buy or not. 

3. Remind yourself that you might need it in the future

Yes, you have bought what you clearly don't need at the moment, but you need to remind yourself that it might be useful in the future if such items are not perishable. Your "wants" today can turn into something very useful to you in the long run. Sometimes, it's not that those things are useless, but they are dispensable at the moment, yet they could be useful in the future. You may have purchased things you came across in the market without planning, but they're not completely useless, so make use of them to your satisfaction. Once you find them useful, your guilt about your decision will disappear. You felt guilty because you find them less useful, but as time goes on, you will appreciate their use.

4. Change Your Mindset About Spending

Most times, we feel guilty for spending on things we consider less useful because of our mindset. When you are the type that lives in a vicious, predictable circle where everything you buy is something you need only, you will feel guilty when you act on impulse and buy something you want. You desire it, so you make the purchase, but because you are not used to such a lifestyle, you would feel guilty. You need to change your mindset and remind yourself that both needs and wants are necessary for life. We work so that we can have a better life, and most times our needs are basic, like food, clothing, shelter, etc. One can decide to buy expensive designers; it's a want but not a need. You don't need an expensive designer cloth to look good or cover your nakedness, but you want it so that you can fit into the league of rich guys and girls. Desiring such is not bad in itself when you have the means; the guilt is in your mindset. When you change your mindset about things, you will enjoy both your needs and wants. 

5. Limit impulse buying

When you have a budget for both your needs and wants, stick to it and limit how much you buy on impulse. Impulse buying is buying without planning for it. It will make you feel guilty because it's not in your plan. You probably bought things because they tickled your fancy. When you buy on impulse, you will feel money guilt after each purchase. Besides the guilt, it will drain your finances. At some point, you will notice you have more things you don't need than you actually do. Limit buying any beautiful or fancy stuff you see, and if at all you should buy it, it should be based on your budget.

Conclusion

Money guilt, like I said before, is both good and bad. It helps you to monitor your spending at the same time; if it were not checked, you would not be able to get things that you really crave or want. The tips given above would help you avoid money guilt after each purchase of what you want. Remember to apply them in your daily life. It would help you find a balance between your needs and wants and be guilt-free. 


 

 

 

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