While checking out the menu board, I had my usual sticker shock that meal deals are now about $9. That’s crazy! When I worked at McDonald’s back in the dark ages, a meal deal was $3. Then, I started down the mental road of asking myself asking myself why I always have to be so cheap, and telling myself that I “deserve” the $9 meal just like everyone else. It’s not about whether I deserve it, but did I plan for it?
Be Honest
What constitutes if you deserve a new pair of shoes, or the latest video game? What qualifications do you need to meet in order to deserve a $9 value basket vs. a $3 meal?
Do you get to treat yourself if you’ve been good all week? Showed up to work everyday? Treated your spouse extra nice? Let your co-worker have the last donut? Or, is it because everyone else is treating themselves, so why not you?
This is skewed thinking. Rather than justifying every purchase, it’s more effective, more mature, to plan ahead of time to make certain kinds of purchases on purpose.
Plan For It
If you set specific amounts in your budget for eating out, entertainment, clothes, and other miscellaneous spending, then that is the amount you have decided ahead of time that you can afford to spend or that you want to allow yourself to spend instead of using the money for something else.
You don’t deserve it, you plan for it.
Cash Envelopes
Try using the cash envelope system, or a money app, to be the deciding factor in whether or not you spend money on each category of your budget. When the cash runs out, you no longer “deserve” to buy in that category. Not based on who you are, or how nice you are, or what your friends are doing, but based on what you planned to do with your money at the beginning of the month.
You might steal from another envelope, but that’s a trade-off choice you are making. If you run out of coffee cash and want Starbucks, you have to decide if you want to dip into your clothing envelope and have less in there to spend when you need clothes.
Make Choices
It’s your money and it’s your choice. But, it’s not about deserving it anymore. This change in your thought patterns will change your money mentality. When friends say, “It’s Friday night, you deserve to go out,” you say, “Yes, I do! But I choose to spend my money elsewhere this week. I deserve a vacation to Hawaii next spring, so I’m choosing to stay home tonight!”
I have friends, two sisters, who planned a backpacking trip to Europe. They saved their money, took a month off work, and did a lot of planning before they went. They made the decision ahead of time that they would not waste their money on food and fancy lodging, but use what money they had saved on train tickets, museums, and making great memories. So, they stayed in hostels and the YMCA and they ate cheap food like tuna and crackers.
When they got home, both said they would never eat tuna again in their life! But, they had a great experience and so many fun memories. Sure, they could have eaten at nice restaurants while they were travelling foreign countries, but then they would have given up some of the other experiences as a trade-off.
Change Your Thinking
This way of thinking has served people well. If you decide what it is you really want, in turn, you decide what it is that’s not as important. Then, you make a plan and stick to it. You don’t let factors outside of your plan dictate your decisions.
When I drove through McDonald’s drive-thru, the $3 meal filled me up just as well as the $9 meal. And my cash envelope had the extra $6 left for the next time I needed a sweet tea to keep me going. I’ve really got to break this habit altogether though. It’s not healthy!
You Deserve To Make A Plan
Start a new way of thinking about your money, your goals, and your budget. It’s your money. You can decide what to do with it. Set your goals and make your budget match those goals. Make a plan to reach your goals and change your thinking to line up with that plan. It’s no longer about whether you deserve to spend your money on impulse purchases, but it’s about what your budget says you planned to spend your money on. You will see your way to reach your goals more clearly and soon be there.
Dream big, set a goal, and make a plan!