Our schools have thought us the importance of wants and needs. Whereas the needs should be prioritized first or called "essentials" and wants are termed as "non-essentials. Let's say that you have done your budgeting your essentials, you have some extra $$ to spare for your non-essential stuff but before you go and spend those extra you need to stop for a while and think.
Always remember that for an average joe earning money takes time. To earn money demands hours or days of hard work. However, spending it is easy, and more often than not, it only takes seconds, and your hard-earned money can be gone with the wind.
So before you make the purchase and have buyer's remorse at the end of it here are some of the tips that I can share which you can contemplate.
Ask yourself, is it affordable for me?
Check your budget allocation, confirm if everything is clear. It would be better if you are writing a list. Did you forget to write down something important? In most cases, what can be forgotten easily is the food expenses. How about medicine? Do you have enough supplies available that can last?
There's a time wherein we splurged on buying stuff online and we ended up on a tight budget the next week after. We believed that we had covered everything. Later we found out that our formula milk and baby diapers supply will only last for one week.
On this particular purchase, what value can it add to my life?
Convince yourself on why you are buying this certain item. What's in it for you? When I was single more often than not I tend to buy useless stuff. Because I find it cute or somehow useful I bought it immediately.
After answering it, ask yourself again how often are you going to use it? Is it daily, weekly, etc. I'd remember purchasing a stationary bike last year due to the pandemic. Yes, it brings value to my life as it is bought for health reasons but I seldom use it. From the time that I bought it, I think I used it less than 10 times only. As of the moment, the stationary bike is where I put my towel to dry as we don't have enough space in our little apartment.
Will you be buying a quality item?
When making a purchase you need to make sure that when you purchased it, you will not be buying another one again or go to the nearest repair shop.
I am selling shoes and slippers in the local marketplace in our area. I always brag about the quality of the item as it takes years of usage before it gets destroyed.
At times buying a signature item that is of superb quality matters a lot. If you do not find it useful anymore just post it on eBay, Amazon, or any other shopping website for an extra $$$.
Is it spur-of-the-moment buying?
Let's say that on the three items above, you already checked it there are no issues with purchasing. But does it need to be bought now? In most cases before buying the item do some research. Compare the price in the market. Read the reviews by the users who bought it. At times, we are driven by the desire coming from advertisements and what we read. I am always like that especially when I bought a cat litter box for our cats. The reviews are good, but my cats are not using it as they preferred the basin that we used for our laundry before.
Pre-pandemic times, what I do is when I am tempted to buy on impulse in the mall area is I walk away and tell the sales rep that I need more time to think if this is needed.
Rewarding yourself is something that you need to do too however if it will create remorse and end up being wasted or a lump in your home then better think again.
This list is just a short piece of advice that I can share. Some of the advice that I wrote is not something that I follow all the time.
How about you? Do you have a tip or something to share on the things to consider before making that purchase?