More misc thoughts on the whole spending thing. (Sorry I just finished reading that book so I’ve been thinking about this stuff lately)
My parents are pretty un-materialistic, despite being pretty well off, and I admire them for that. They really don’t care about getting the latest and greatest things, they aren’t that attached to their stuff, and they don’t collect tons of crap. I suppose it helps that they got rid of a lot of it before moving to Seattle. When I was younger I think I saw their mindset as being more “behind the times” or something, when compared to my friends’ parents. But now I think I like them better this way.
There’s a lot about the work-spend-work-spend cycle, which I understand. I mean I know when I was working full 20 hour weeks I wasted more money on useless crap I didn’t need. But I don’t think retail therapy is just triggered by being over worked. At the begining of the quarter I was filling my spare time with shopping, and I definately wasn’t over worked or anything.I wonder if school is considered a catalyst for spending. Supposedly the biggest shopaholics and impulse buyers are also some of the most educated. Although, those people are also probably making more money.
But surely school can be just as stressful, if not moreso. At least for me right now it is, work is sort of brainless compared to the energy I put into stuff for class. I guess I feel weird comparing myself to kids in other majors since each quarter I have the opportunity physically produce something extremely helpful in getting myself a job in 6 months. I guess I understand how other people might not feel as attached to their classes if there’s less of a direct payoff.
Anyways, back to the spending thing. I have this sort of weird love/hate relationship with it. One one hand, I am relatively comfortable financially (esp. for a typical college student), so I don’t really have the strong need to be that frugal, but I have managed to condition myself to almost always feel really guilty about buying things. Not that I don’t like shopping, I’d say I use “retail therapy” a lot too. But it seems that the good feelings are quickly replaced by those of guilt. It’s kinda weird. I’m sort of the same way with watching tv. I usually enjoy it (or at least get hooked on it) while it’s there and I’m watching it…but once I pull myself away I feel really guilty for wasting so much time…
I think the only thing I really don’t care so much about is spending on food. It makes sense to work for food, so I’ll spend the extra money to eat well, because it’s easy to let eating cheaply turn into eating poorly. Not that I have the best diet ever. But I suppose I should be better about it, even if it’s just in terms of not being so wasteful.
As I get closer to getting out of my school phase of life I’m wondering where I want to end up. Or more specificly, what kind of lifestyle do I want? and how much money will it take to get me there? As of now I’m thinking, it actually won’t take that much, I mean I’m already pretty happy as is (but I know that could change as my priorities change) and it’s kinda reassuring to know I don’t really need to be wishing for the big bucks. I’m sure whatever my first job is I’ll be making more than I do now, and enough to keep up my current lifestyle, which is enough for me.
Ok… enough random ranting for me. Time to spread some diabetes. (via information design)