It only costs …

Have you ever justified an impulsive purchase with “it only costs…”?  

I know I have.  

And it’s always something I don’t need and only kinda, sorta want. 

But “It’s only…” pushes me over that purchasing edge. 

Financial success is achieved through good financial habits. 

It’s not the big-ticket items that push back our retirement 5 years, or that force our kids to get student loans. 

It’s a lifetime of little things… habits that are imperceptible in any given moment, but add up over a lifetime.

Bad financial habits are like smoking.  It’s never that one cigarette that leads to lung cancer and heart disease.  It’s all the cigarettes added up over a lifetime.

The last three weeks I gave you some tangible, actionable tips to save more (Save 5%) and spend less (Try Generic).

This week’s tip is less tangible, but more important.  

Healthy Spending Tip of the Week: 

The next time you catch yourself about to buy something preceded by the thought “It only costs…“, just stop.

Use that thought as a red flag.

Then ask yourself:

Are you mindlessly obeying a marketing department’s command like a rat in a cage, or is it something you really, truly can’t live without?  

And remember: that decision is NOT permanent. 

If you walk away and decide later you made a terrible decision and that you really, truly can’t live without it, you can always go back and buy it later.  

But I’d bet you won’t even remember what it was you almost bought, that you only kinda, sorta wanted.