Discipline
They say we learn everyday, and I'm clearly a living example of that because one of the most importance things I've learnt this year is discipline, especially when it comes to spending money, sadly I learnt the hard way.
photo by Praveen kumar Mathivanan
You see, my experience this year has taught me that the more money you make, the more expenses you make, or at least that was what I used to think, until I realized that all of that quote may just be some bullshit afterall.
Thinking like that influenced me in ways I didn't know were harmful to me at the time, I found myself making unnecessary expenses and everytime I tried to check myself and maybe put things in order, I would remind myself about that damn quote and just keep on spending like it's nothing.
With time, I realized that your expenses doesn't increase based on the money you make, your taste does, and a bigger taste equals to more expenses. You don't think about buying a car right now, not because you don't want a car, but because you're too broke to even think about it....but the moment you start making enough money to buy a car, you start to get the taste for it and then before you know it, you will buy one even if you don't need one.
Fortunately, this is where money discipline comes in. You see, being disciplined in times like this, is just what might make the difference between you being broke in the future or not.
Unfortunately, I didn't have that discipline (and probably still don't have a rough of it right now), and although I didn't get myself a car lol...I made other unnecessary expenses that took me from where I was suppose to be, to where I found myself.
That period of time wasn't exactly the best moment of my life because I saw myself hating myself for things I was doing by myself to myself. It was a shitty feeling to feel, but due to the fact that the discipline wasn't there, I couldn't do anything about it. I just surrendered myself to the "more money, more expenses" quote and I paid for it dearly.
Now, I'm trying to retrace my steps and discipline myself, hoping that it's not too late for me to make a change and hopefully get things back in order because I'm tired of having regrets and I'm ready for a change now, a change that I hope comes soon.
I am strict when it comes to finance even if am more capable of spending. Most of the time I try to reduce unnecessary expenses and manage them. So, I don't think it's totally illogical to say that if one earns more the spending increases automatically.
I wish I can be strict too when it comes to this.. I've tried and always failed miserably.