While reading various stories lately there seemed to be a ton of articles talking about government services where departments have spent tens of thousands of dollars on items that they ended up not really using much. A complete waste of money where on top of that it seemed like they overpaid for it. The comment that came up was how this is probably due to the fact that it was tax payer money as opposed to it coming out of the person’s own pocket who made the purchase.
It got me thinking though when it comes to spending money you get as say a gift where it is essentially someone else’s money that they gave you. A lot of people would then throw away any kind of financial frugality because it’s free money so may as well be carefree with it right? For example, if you really wanted that piece of candy that costs two dollars today for some reason which normally costs one dollar it’s not like it’s your money right? May as well spend it as it’s like getting it for free still.
Fortunately I never had that mindset even as a child where if someone gave me money I treat it with the same importance as if I had to earn it myself. Even today whenever people say treat me to a meal I am always conscious about not wanting them to spend too much because I value their money as if I was spending my own a well. It helps overall to make you not lose sight where when you do have a lot of funds for whatever reason that you don’t act as if it will always be there regardless of how you spend it.
That also means still making sure that you check prices on items to make sure you are getting the best value. People just love to take advantage of people that have too much money too. If anything you should check so that you don’t get financially taken advantage of.