One of the easiest personal finance tips out there is to simply stop wanting more stuff.
Sadly, humans dont work that way.
This post originally appeared onThe Simple Dollar.
Our desires run amok for a lot of reasons.
We want things for personal enjoyment.
We want them because theyll fill an emotional hole in our life.
We want them to impress others or to keep up with the Joneses.
We want to feel rewarded for the hard work we put into our lives.
All of those thingsand many morewind up being justifications for the non-necessities that we spend our money on.
Im guilty of the same thing myself.
I can name tons of things that I want, for various reasons.
Im going to want an electric car as soon as theyre really viable and approach anything close to cost-effective.
There are non-material things that I want, too.
I want to actually launch a different project that Ive been working on for most of a year.
I want to be in better physical shape (Im working on that).
I want to be better read.
I want my office to be better organized.
But heres the problem:everything has an opportunity cost.
When you spend money on something, youre taking awayevery other thing you could have done with that money.
When you spend time on something, youre taking awayevery other thing you could have done with that time.
(Its also a call to frugality, but thats neither here nor there.)
Heres specifically how I do that.
Lets say its $10 an hour for convenience sake.
I give a shot to think of the other things I might do with that time.
Figure out your own true hourly wage and use that as a comparison point for purchases.
If youre on a retirement budget, figure that youre working 40 hours per week for that money.
When I buy this bagel and coffee for $7.50, Im giving up those things.
Is that bagel and coffee here worth it to me?
Is it really worthwhile?
I think of the time I spent leafing through a magazine and not really reading anything of value.
I waste a lot of time in my life.
I also use time in less-than-worthwhile ways.
If I dont have the time, I dont even start.
If I do have the time, I verify to de-commit from those other things first.
Youre not going to achieve it and whatever time you do commit is going to go to waste.
If you cant give up the time to make a project work, dont bother.
Focus instead at succeeding at your other priorities.
Think about what youre giving upbeforeyou give up your money or your time or your energy.
confirm youre getting the better end of the deal compared to what else you could do with that money.
Dont Think About What You Want.
Image byDooder(Shutterstock).
