We are currently living in the world of people in debt and living paycheck to paycheck. We are brainwashed by advertising industries into believing that happiness could be achieved by consuming - by having more stuff. It will never fully satisfy us, yet, we keep doing it.
I, too, experienced chasing happiness by buying stuff. And more stuff to top it off. A few years ago, makeup and skincare was my happy pill so I set aside 10% of my monthly salary just to buy new products and make myself happy. But honestly, I wasn't. Accumulating all these new products actually gave me anxiety in the long run and bam! I realized that, in a year, I have spent more than what I earn (in a month) on products that I'm not really happy about.
Here are my realizations:
1. The excitement will wear off. I usually purchase stuff online and I get so happy when I click the purchase button. When the delivery service calls, I get that excitement back and when I open my parcel too. But days after I purchased the product and used it, I won't definitely feel that excitement anymore. When I get tired of the said product, I look for new or better products in the market, I purchase it, get excited and the cycle continues.
2. There is always something new. As I said in my previous point, when I get tired of the product I bought, and when a new one comes out on TV, I have this urge to try the latest one. Manufacturers, advertising, etc. will always release a new and better product from time to time. How would they earn money, right?
3. Each purchase adds extra worry and maintenance to our lives. When we purchase something, we have to organize it, try to find ways to maintain or manage it. And there will come a time when it gets broken, scratched or stolen. If you think about it, buying more stuff consumes our time (i.e., cleaning and organizing), money (i.e., maintaining), attention (i.e., we worry when it gets stolen or broken). And it sometimes distracts us from what really matters in our life.
4. Our purchases cost us more. Buying products always involve us money. But how did we acquire that money? By working 8 hours a day. Is that new phone really worth 60 days worth of work?
5. Shopping will never satisfy us. Ask yourself: when was the last time you were satisfied with shopping? By taking a good look of our closet, we'll know if we ever got satisfied or not.
6. Experiences makes us happier. We often experience temporary happiness when purchasing stuff, and we stop having that happiness when we don't. But as I said, its a vicious cycle. Hence, we need to find experiences that will fulfill us in the long run.
7. Spending Money You Don't Have Can Lead to Stress. When we keep buying stuff to satisfy us, there will come to a time when our finances will be shaky. We start buying stuff with our credit card or buy a car through a loan that we could barely pay. These cases, when managed poorly leads to lower quality of life, debt and stress.
How to Stop Buying Things You Don't Need:
1. Declutter. Through decluttering, you assess what you have and what you don't use. By the time you pass by a store and want something, you would probably tell yourself "Oh, I have a similar one at home." And skip buying it.
2. Be grateful.
3. Change bad habits and routines into healthy ones.
4. Slow down.
5. Experiences makes us happier.
Do you think money can buy happiness?
0 Yorumlar