Many times when I talk to people about purchasing items that may be over the $1000 range they instantly squirm and mention no average person can ever afford anything like that in the year as it is simply too much money. While that is a lot to spend at once my immediate reaction is to always ask people how much they spend dining out the whole year. More than likely they spend way too much. More than $1000 probably too.
It was interesting as for one person when I mention this his reaction was he agreed but because you don’t exactly spend everything at once that gives him an excuse to in a sense believe that he can afford to do so. As opposed to the $1000 item where just seeing the total paints a different story to him. It’s just so interesting that he openly admitted in many ways that it’s not that he can’t afford it but rather he chose to technically spend the $1000 on other things. In this case it was dining out at restaurants.
It’s probably something people want to avoid in terms of tracking one’s spending. But in many ways it’s a necessity so you have a way to clearly see how you are spending your money and what if anything needs changing. Almost like getting people to eat their vegetables huh? It’s probably dreadful if you are drowning in debt and it is horrible looking at all those negative figures. But the problem won’t go away by just ignoring it.
Keeping track of your spending can be a way to not drown yourself with negativity about your finances too. Because with this you could be actively creating a positive change as of today where each day you are doing something good. It will feel good as you eventually tackle one bad habit to another. By tracking everything too you will have some positive reinforcement to show how far you have come and to keep going. It really does become like a challenge I find. Like some video game where you want to beat your old score each time.