IT IS A DESIRE TO BUY AND NOT CUTTING BUDGET

Like most people, i was never taught about the basics of personal finance. After graduating from university, i worked for one year as EMEA Marketing Executive for an I.T company and i had a tendency to overspend on things i thought would defined me as a man of good taste. In retrospect, i found that i was making the same mistakes over and over again, only in different ways. I was living from one paycheque to the next. Suddenly, i discovered that i was spending far more than what i could afford. One evening i asked myself; what is wrong here?! Then i decided to bring all the receipts and look how i was spending. I collected receipts and most of them were from stores, shopping malls, drycleaners and restaurants. I discovered that i was spending a lot of money on dinners with friends, clothes and magazines. Recognizing was one thing, but actually changing it was another. After thinking for a while, the first thing i thought i needed to change was my desires not my budget; “the problem with the working class, is the poverty of their desires” Ogilvy said one day. I went through a week, just thinking about my inner desires and created a plan and separating those that will facilitate who i want to be and those merely a show to others in regard to finance. Then, i stop making plans and start making decision. Most people want to be financially free which is good, but they end up solving minor problems by doing things such as a severe spending cuts instead of dealing with the major issue which is; the impulse to buy. If you cut spending soon or later you will end up in the same habit of overspending, which will give you a short term and not a long term solution. This has been a problem from the global level, Government, Family and individuals. The spending therefore which needs to be cut is the emotional spending; spending on the things that you only buy them for you to feel good. Once you have identified these then you will find yourself automatically your spending is reduced from time to time without having to consciously cut spending. As your savings now increase then you will realised whether you are finding pleasure in spending money or accumulating it! Let me explain briefly the joy of savings: 1. The more you have the less susceptible you are to emotional spending. The more you see money in the bank after removing emotional spending in your life; the joy of seeing them there will increase. Imagine you have 500Tsh in the bank and lose 50Tsh. And imagine you have 5000Tsh and you lose the same 50Tsh. Does it feel different? That shows that when we have more money in the bank our emotions remain stable. 2. The more you have in the bank the more you get Have you ever noticed, the rich seems to get richer?! I have noticed it, and since the day i noticed i made up my mind to continue saving and investing. It’s because they already have money so their unconscious mind spends its time in searching for more ways to create more money. And because unconscious mind works always and everyday it eventually find a way to make more. This is when the joy of having money is created from the joy of spending. Have a great time in getting richer. Check your desires and start making decisions now.