Boredom and your money
The relationship between boredom and money may be easy to overlook, but it shouldn’t be ignored. It’s only recently that I’ve begun to see that the relationship even exists. (I’m good at overlooking stuff like that.)
I’ve noticed that many times when I’m bored I want to “go do something”. That “something” can cost anywhere from nothing (visiting the library) to $30 (going to the movies & getting a popcorn). If this happens enough, I can spend an inordinate amount of money on entertaining myself. So it’s something to pay attention to.
Feelings of boredom don’t have to equate to spending money (or for that matter to playing video games, surfing the internet, or watching TV.) They can lead to positive things too — like starting (or finishing!) projects, investigating various methods of investing, writing articles, etc — whatever areas your interests lie in.
It’s a matter of focusing and being purposeful.
Have you noticed that you spend more when you’re bored?
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October 28th, 2008 at 7:18 am
To relieve the boredom I have found that I have plenty of things around my house to keep me occupied. A whole book shelf of books that I have been meaning to read, computer games that I’ve purchase for a dollar at our local swap meet that I want to play. Cleaning up around the house. I’m not often lured the need to ‘go out’ and do stuff so I guess I’m lucky in that respect.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Oh yeah, I definitely spend more money when I’m bored. No doubt about it.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
For me, boredom leads to eating. I guess it depends on what your vice is!
October 29th, 2008 at 7:00 am
There’s no question about it… boredom (and its antithesis, stress) are two of the biggest culprits in my own life when it comes to unplanned spending. In both cases, we look at going out to spend money (to eat, to do something, to relax, to undertake a project, etc.) as a way to say “If I do this, then everything will be OK”. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. The real danger is when spontaneous moments aren’t tracked, and the realization comes that you’ve had them way more than you realized, and that the cost for them can be considerable.
Sometimes, the best thing to do is to see if there is a lower cost (or free) option to counter the need to spend money. Books and movies, at least at my public library, are plentiful, and I’ve been able to watch a lot of cool titles I otherwise would have had to rent for free. Same goes with books I was interested in, but wasn’t sure I wanted to plunk down the money for. Net result, less money spent and more books or movies to read and watch, which fills those periods of time where boredom sets in :).
October 30th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Sometimes, definitely. Or I eat more…which is like more spending. And then lots of guilt about both the money and the food. So I try to pick up projects and books I’m in the middle of when I get bored and drink a lot of water instead of eating. I only manage to do it maybe half the time, but at least I’ve learned to recognize it. :P