Want to see me paralyzed with indecision?
Want to see me paralyzed with indecision? Give me a thousand bucks to spend on something fun. If it can’t be a trip somewhere, I’m pretty much at a loss. This doesn’t mean I don’t want anything. There ARE things that I want. When I don’t have the money, I CAN think of things I’d like to buy.
For example, I’d love to have a leather sectional. But if I have the money and go to actually BUY it, I find making the purchase extremely difficult. I think of all the other things I could be doing with the money instead. I think about my list of goals that I have. I look for just the right item, and rarely find it. Many times I decide to wait instead, indefinitely.
I even find it difficult to buy things when they’re something that I’ve wanted for months and months that I know I can afford. (Like the iPhone.) Or things that I’ve saved up for. It pains me to part with the money.
I finally realized (during a recent failed attempt to buy a sectional) that the reason I feel like this is because it feels like deciding AGAINST everything else. If I buy the couch, I can’t get new windows with that money. I can’t invest. I can’t donate it. I can’t do anything else with that money, because it will be GONE. But as long as I still have the money, I could do anything with it.
So I agonize and agonize about stuff like that. I don’t think this is necessarily a terrible thing (it’s better than being unable to control my spending, for example) but it’s not really fun. On the plus side, once I finally DO buy something I’m usually extremely happy with it. (My most recent splurge, for example, was the tree that I’m so happy about it.)
That’s what’s hard about being deliberate with your money. It’s tough to let it go, even when it goes toward an item you’ve carefully selected! But, probably like you, I don’t have ANY trouble shelling out thousands for an exclusive vacation to the tropics.
I have a bad, bad time with “buyer’s remorse” everytime I put my money toward a physical item. I’m always finding myself wondering later if I should’ve gotten “the other color” or saved that money to put toward something else. I suppose that’s why I don’t love to go clothes shopping.
Yeah, I have the same problem as you. I always think that it will get cheaper in the future. The person that knows how to spend money is my hubby. If i give him $1000 to spend he will buy a PS3 and a sound system right now.