Creating a Buy It Later List

This weekend we put together a spending plan for our family to help us save money. It’s been about two weeks in the making, but it’s finally done. Now we’re ready to test-drive it for the first month to see if our category amounts are accurate and reasonable.

 

How to Save Money and Resist the Urge to Splurge

Well, as the seasons change, I feel the need to go shopping for new clothes. The budget doesn’t allow for a massive spending spree, but just a small wardrobe maintenance/refresh here and there. Plus, any money not spent on clothing can go toward paying off the dreaded student loan.

I’ve been thinking about buying a motorcycle jacket (although I don’t own a motorcycle, and I have plenty of jackets already), so I went on Pinterest, and started “shopping” for a new jacket. I pinned, and pinned, and after a while, I was over the thrill of buying the jacket. This morning, I still wanted the jacket, but not as much.

So, in order to fill my need to search for different “wants,” I’m creating a Buy It Later list. I’m going to try to do the thing where you wait at least 30 days before making a big purchase. Truth be told, I probably won’t be able to buy a lot of the things on the list, but I think it might be good for me to see what “wants” disappear after a while, and which ones might be good things to ask for for Christmas?

I just finished reading No More Harvard Debt by Joe Mihalic. It’s the author’s account of how he paid down his student loan after getting his MBA at Harvard. One of the things he learned through the process of being frugal and paying down his debt was that when we buy things to make us happy, the happiness doesn’t last for long. People eventually return to their baseline level of happiness no matter what good or bad things happen to them. No matter what they buy.

Good to know as I start building my list. What things on the list would really bring me happiness (probably none of them), and if it does bring some happiness, how long will it last?

We recently had a garage sale, and we sold a bunch of our junk. As I looked at the junk, I realized that at one point in our lives, we thought our stuff was totally awesome, and we were so psyched to be buying it. And now, it’s in a garage sale, and we’re begging people to take it away for a quarter. It was getting in the way, and it was actually creating problems in our home by taking up so much space.

I’m done with bringing stuff into our home that will end up being excess baggage in a few months. Hence, The Beautiful Useful Project. It’s hard to get rid of the hunter-gatherer mentality when it comes to stuff. I’m hoping my Buy It Later list will help me get the hunting and gathering out of my system so I don’t end up spending as much and bringing as much clutter into our home.

Okay, so what’s on your “Buy It Later” list? Check out my “Buy It Later” list.

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