As working parents of two young children, my husband and I weigh our spending decisions carefully. But over the past few months, our focus on being frugal has intensified. Even though our personal financial situation has not changed, we have been clipping coupons, spending less at grocery stores and avoiding malls.
Unfortunately, after so much saving, I often get the urge to splurge on shoes or clothing. It’s like being on a restrictive diet. One late night last year, after two weeks on a very limiting meal plan, I consumed an entire container of vanilla Haagen Daz. Overly stingy household budgets can also trigger regrettable actions.
To avoid the falling into this trap, personal finance expert Alison Griffiths recommends that families shift their focus from cutting back to spending wisely.
“We’ve gone through a period of where the mantra has been ‘cut back, cut back, cut back’,” she says. “But a lot of people are at the point where bone is showing and there is not much left to cut.”
She has two pieces of advice to curb spending in a way that won’t hurt. First, spend on what you love. Second, spend on the things that will improve the quality of your life.
“It’s important to make conscious choices,” Alison says. “We spend hundreds of dollars on stuff we don’t even remember.”
Whether it’s another cute pair of flip-flops or a bunch of CDs, the dollars add up at the end of the month, she warns. “When you’re tempted by an impulse purchase, ask yourself – how much pleasure will you get out of it?”
Alison recently had to prioritize her own needs during a home renovation. She and her husband compiled a long list of changes they wished to make. But after asking themselves what would really improve their quality of life, they were able to trim the list in half.
There are endless demands on working parents’ budgets, from mortgages and daycare to RRSPs and RESPs. Making conscious spending decisions is very satisfying, says Alison. “You’ll stop feeling like life is controlling you and like you’re controlling life.”
I agree that if you spend your discretionary dollars on what you really value and enjoy, you will not only avoid splurging, you may even spend less. I now feel much better about the designer suit I bought on sale last week.
