Life on a Budget: the Grift on the Gift

September 13, 2007

When I was younger, I used to love DVD’s and consequently I now have quite an impressive collection. I bought up DVD’s like they were my life’s blood, constantly picking up some new film that I felt I couldn’t do without. I bought television series and movies, wracking up thousands of dollars spent on entertainment. Gradually, and for no real reason I can find, this phase died out for me and now I can’t remember the last DVD I purchased. One day it seemed I simply lost my interest in their materialism and my desire for them faded away. Now, a little down the road from those days, I can see the improvements that have come out of kicking this habit, but the biggest change may just be my finances. Doing away with a DVD expenditure of $20 a week can save over a thousand dollars a year. Doing away with a $10 a day Starbucks habit can net you a grand total of $3,650 a year! That’s a nice chunk of money, but isn’t life too short to live without coffee and movies?

I would never encourage anyone to give up their guilty pleasures. I’m not big on materialism, but damn if I don’t enjoy my toys. And why shouldn’t I? Life’s too short not to spend it having fun any way you want to. Doing away with material possessions may be great for some people, but a life spent denying yourself is not a life well lived. So if you have a slight overspending problem might I suggest a solution that will let you have your cake and eat it too? It’s a simple idea and probably not an original one, though as far as I know I just thought of it a few days ago. Instead of cutting yourself off from all of your creature comforts just to save a few bucks, why not just buy yourself a gift card.

The Grift on the Gift

These days gift cards and gift certificates are everywhere. I mean everywhere. Chances are good that if you can think of a store that you shop at there is better than even chance that you can purchase a gift card. Starbucks has them, Best Buy has them, even Victoria’s Secret, Wal-Mart and Amazon.com have them and the great thing about them is that they’re you’re own little pre-paid credit card.

If you have, like I did, a spending problem when it comes to electronics and DVD’s then start figuring out how much money you spend on a monthly basis at Best Buy. Let’s say the answer is $100 per month and you would like to reduce that number to $50 dollars a month. Well, march your happy butt down to the Best Buy and lay down $50 for a gift card and from that day on, never bring real money into that store with you again. A lot of people will tell you that you should just be strong enough to stick to your budget, or else resist the temptation to even walk into your store of choice. I say what fun is that? Live a little. The day you have to restrict yourself from even walking into a certain store is a sad day indeed. I say forget that, go into that Best Buy whenever you want, just leave your cash, debit card and credit cards in the car or at home. Take in your gift card and nothing else.

The best thing about the gift card idea is that it will make you a bit more picky when it comes to your purchases. When you can spend as much as you want, you’ll buy anything just for the sake of buying something. When you know you only have a limited amount on your gift card, you’ll start to pick only those things that you really want. There’s also the added bonus that your finances can never get away from you again when it comes to impulse spending. You plop down your $50 upfront and for the rest of that month the remainder of your money stays at home. If you buy something out of impulse it comes straight off your gift card instead of out of your bank account. And, if you happen to spend your $50 in one day, you’re out of luck until next month, so it requires a little financial planning on your part. Not to mention a healthy dose of self discipline.

And like I said, gift cards are everywhere! I know that some people, myself included, love to buy music off iTunes, especially when you just want to get one song. $.99? Who can resist! Well, after buying ten songs you start to realize you’ve been roped in. But no more! Just buy yourself a gift card from the nearest Apple store and you’re good to go. I know some people do there everyday shopping at places like Wal-Mart and Target and they will go in and spend a hundred dollars at a time on stuff they didn’t really need. With all that stuff in one place, sometimes it’s hard not to just grab everything that catches your eye. Once again, gift cards to the rescue. Wal-Mart and Target both sell gift cards, but here’s the greatest part of this whole thing: even big chain grocery store have gift cards! Find that you just can’t walk past that ice cream without picking up a carton? Buy a Kroger gift card and you’ll have to think twice about whether or not you really need that Chunky Monkey.

Surviving Life on a Budget

Okay, so we established that cutting out all of the things in your life that aren’t completely necessary can save money. In some cases, lots of money, though I know a few people who will argue that Starbucks is vital to life. But ask yourself if a life without these things is really a life you want to live. Yeah, your bank account might look a bit more robust, but as I said in the Nature of Making Money, your cash is meant to be spent. Some people become so obsessed with saving a little money here and there that they don’t stop to think about the fact that money is meant to be spent, not kept locked away in a vault somewhere. Money is transitory simply by the virtue of being money. The only reason we make it is so we can spend it.

Is life on a budget a bad thing? No, it doesn’t have to be. If a budget is what your financial situation needs, then embrace it and find a way to enjoy it, such as the method detailed in this article. There’s certainly nothing wrong with not being able to afford all of the things you want, in fact it can make life more interesting. People like challenges and if we could suddenly acquire anything we wanted, what would it be worth to us? Working your butt off to earn something you really want is rewarding. Embrace the challenge now and decide that you will work toward financial freedom for the future.

The point is, enjoy your life, no matter how low your income. If one rental movie a week is all of the luxury you can afford, then take it! Life is too short not to have some unnecessary expenditure. So long as you’ve got enough to eat tomorrow, who cares? This article isn’t meant to encourage overspending or going into debt. It’s meant to encourage you to live the best life you can with what you have because denying your desires never works. Were not meant to live in a world of want, so why would you make living life on a budget so Spartan? Go buy yourself a gift card and treat yourself to a good, yet frugal life.

Posted in Happiness, Money