The stuff I want versus the guilt I feel after I buy it
Posted
Jun 13 2008, 09:26 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
Last month, I was sorely tempted to pick up Mario Kart Wii. Mario Kart has been my favorite video game series. I played it for hours and hours with my friends in high school on the Super Nintendo, then burned countless hours in the college dorms playing it on an N64.
Even as recently as last Christmas, I stayed up most of the night playing Mario Kart DS wirelessly against my wife's family at their Christmas celebration (one person had a cartridge and several of us had DS units.)
I made an agreement with myself that if I hit a number of high personal-finance thresholds by the end of May, I'd get the game. Otherwise, I'd just skip it. I already had Wii Fit preordered (with a Christmas gift certificate), so I didn't particularly need a new game.
I hit those goals about May 4, so I went ahead and picked up Mario Kart Wii. I got home and opened the box.
And I felt guilty.
"You should have saved that money," my mind told me. "Why didn't you just snowflake it instead? Why not play another game you have? Why not do something else entirely?"
I played Mario Kart Wii for a while and enjoyed it, but at the end of each session, the same guilty feeling came back. I had spent money on something I didn't need and, in the end, something I no longer really wanted.
I could have snowflaked that $50. I could have used that cash to buy an LED bulb. I could have invested that cash to save for the dream house. I could have put it in the new-car fund.
I let myself down.
These are the things my conscience said, right or wrong. Instead of seeing Mario Kart Wii as some sort of reward or symbol of success, I instead saw it as a symbol of failure.
Many of you will say I'm being unfairly hard on myself, that life isn't fully lived without those little perks. I agree with the idea that you shouldn't deny yourself things that bring happiness.
But sometimes those things bring guilt as well. Sometimes we wind up feeling as though we've made a mistake spending money, even if there are reasons to justify the purchase. Sometimes the bad outweighs the good, and sometimes we're left with guilt.
When I bought the game, I felt a little tug in my conscience that I shouldn't buy it, but I shrugged it off. After all, I had plenty of justifications for making that purchase. In the end, I should have listened to that little voice in my head, because most of the time, that voice is right. It cuts through the stories we tell ourselves.
If you're about to buy something and that little voice in your head starts whispering "don't," stop. Your heart is probably trying to give you a message that you've tried to pave over with excuses.
Instead, walk out of the store and do something financially positive with that money. Not only will it bring a positive result, but it'll make you feel better about your situation.
Other articles of interest at The Simple Dollar:
The total experience of a purchase
Left brain and right brain financial needs
Reflections on money: 20 valuable questions to ask yourself
