Often, we like to be able to treat ourselves to a few things. Whether it is a holiday, a trip out, a meal in a restaurant, a bar of chocolate or a new phone, there are lots of ways that we can treat ourselves. We often think that because we have worked hard for our money, then we deserve to treat ourselves to something as a reward for that. However, when we treat ourselves it is really easy to spend more money than we can afford, so we need to be careful.
Set a budget
It can be a good idea to start by setting yourself a budget. You need to think about what you can afford to spend on the treat. You may have to work this out and calculate how much you can afford. You can do this by looking at some bank statements and looking at the money you have coming in and the money you spend on essentials and taking one from the other. This will leave you the amount of money you can spend of treats. You will need to decide whether you want to use all of that money, whether it needs to be shared between family members or whether you want to put some of it into a savings account. Then you will know how much you can spend on treats for yourself.
Save up
You may find that once you have done this, that the amount of money that you have to spend is very little. This could mean that you will not be able to afford that many treats or only something very small. However. You can save your money up from month to month until you have enough to afford what you want. It can take a while, but you appreciate items more if you have to save up for them. It can feel really satisfying knowing that you have worked hard to get something and you will enjoy it much more. You will also be more careful about what you buy and you will want to make sure that you only buy items that you really want as it is such an effort to get them.
Decide if it is worth it
While you are saving up or before you buy a cheaper item you will need to decide if it is worth it. Often, we will just buy things without a second thought, because we are not thinking about the budget. If we do have a strict budget then we will not be able to buy as much. Therefore, we will need to think more carefully about all of the purchases that we are making. We will need to make sure that we really think that it will be worth getting. Considering how much pleasure will we get out of something is a good way to judge a purchase. Also perhaps consider whether you already have something similar that will work if you are purchasing an item.
This can feel restrictive, but if the alternative is that you cannot treat yourself at all, then it is better than nothing. It can feel touch at times, when we have a shortage of money and being able to get ourselves a treat every so often, even if it is something small, will make a big difference. So think about what sorts of things you might like and then start coming up with a plan of how you will get the money together to get it. It might take a while, but you will appreciate it even more for the effort that you had to put in to get it.
