What is a great way to force yourself to save money? Whether you have money or not, pretend that you don’t have money. That means, whenever you find you have the urge to go get a cup of coffee from the Starbucks or need to go to Walmart or Target “just to window shop” you don’t because you don’t have the money.
Folks, one of the reasons we are in the situation we are in is because the entire world has been driven by marketing people telling us that we “have to” have this or “have to” have that. Other than food, clothing, shelter, the rest is just embellishment!
Seriously, you don’t have to go over the top. Just start thinking about taking the money that you would have spent on extra coffee, comic books, magazines, clothes, snacks you don’t need to eat, and anything else and put that into a jar. Keep the jar away from your family. Unless they are putting money into that jar I suggest that you hide it. With all the banks going under, maybe under your mattress may be lumpy, so try a shelf in your closet.
A lot of people live their entire lives without anything other than food, clothing and shelter. If you judge being profitable by happiness, the chances are that they are much more profitable than you or I.
Am I asking you to become completely spendfree? Of course not. You may not be able to do it but at least you are pointing yourself on the right track for savings. Thinking poor is the first step to getting rich. Save, save and save and treat yourself as if you don’t have money. We all need to work on developing better money management attitudes.
If you are in debt, that may not be an easy thing to do and I applaud you for working through your debt. Keep at it but try and soak away some money for savings as well. It is profitable in case something happens and you need a doctor, a new car, or an emergency trip somewhere. You will need money for that. If something happens with your kids or relatives, you can be in a position to help out - though don’t make it a habit.
Try and think back as to when you were really happy. Sure, a lot of the times you may have had money or gotten something material that you really wanted. How about some other things that were not depending on cash? Ever feel happy just being alive? How about walking along the beach? Thanking the universe that you are healthy and able to walk, run, wheel, think, have working bodily functions? You don’t need to spend money to be happy. It does help at times but you need to search yourself - and you don’t have to be spiritual or psycho-babbling to do it.
Start small by pretending that you don’t have excess cash and see how creative you can get. Try and see what things you can do for you and your family that will keep you all happy and not cost money.
Drop me a line as to how that is working out as well!
Kim Isaac Greenblatt
Kim Isaac Greenblatt in his blog, profitable suggests you think poor to be happy.
Tags: Business, good health, happy, Kim Isaac Greenblatt, money, poor, profitable, savings
[...] to be everything and it can get very depressing. One way to try to come to grips with it might be, Thinking Poor But Happy. It might help you save some money and ease some of the emotional weight that is something we just [...]