Because keeping up with your neighbors usually affects you financially and emotionally.
We’ve all heard the saying, “Keeping up with the Joneses.” And almost all of us are guilty of doing it. We keep an eye out for what our neighbors and friends are purchasing and get envious when they acquire new and interesting things. We follow that envy by purchasing something similar, whether it’s a new grill, clothes, cell phone, or even a car. Sometimes we are competitive and purchase something more elaborate and expensive. Sometimes it’s to subconsciously one-up them or feel better about ourselves.
But do we actually feel better?
We’re surrounded by so many people trying to have the latest and greatest that it all becomes very expensive.Imagine your life if you didn’t keep up with the Joneses. Would you be better off financially and emotionally? Would you feel more confident when your influences are your own versus the comparison of others? Would your wallet provide extra money to do things you genuinely want or need? As your personal budgeting coach, Meru Mentor is here to help you discover the answers to those questions.
How to Shift Your Perspective on Purchases
Challenge yourself to be honest with yourself by considering the following points to start uncovering the root cause of your true emotions around money management habits:
Don’t fall to the will of others.
The pressure we often feel from keeping up with the Joneses is internal. Our friends don’t care, and if your friends do apply pressure to keep up, are they true friends?
Sometimes people who purchase a lot of items are hiding their debt or lack of happiness. In addition, some people have an “I DESERVE” or “I ONLY LIVE ONCE” mentality. Your friends could be straining under the pressure of loans — whether those are credit cards, mortgages, or car loans — just to keep up with what they think they need. Also, they may have some emotional debt or challenges themselves that they temporarily resolve by purchasing new items. Even our best friends may be facing these situations without sharing what is going on underneath that veil of purchases.
Value the things you have.
We often forget about what we already have and don’t value those items. They may not be perfect — perhaps the car doesn’t have the newest features, the TV isn’t as large as it could be, or the black suit in the closet could be a little fancier. But in reality, they are good enough and serve their purposes sufficiently.
Replacing those items not only adds to your expenses but also creates more clutter. Additionally, if we do replace those items and continue not taking care of them, they lose their value quickly — causing us to want to replace them again.
The cycle continues:
- We don’t value what we have.
- We buy something new.
- We still don’t value what we have.
Purchase with Intention.
Taking the time to put intention around our purchases also increases their value. When you turn to Meru Mentor for financial coaching and mentoring, we can help you see this.
Rather than chasing the current promotional deal, which often has us purchasing items only because they are on sale, stop and think about what is needed.
When we step back and think about what brings value to our lives, we often spend less money and can use our savings toward more meaningful items to create more financial freedom and gain time instead of always working hard.
Get Back to Balance with Meru
When we let others influence our purchases, we often find ourselves in an ugly purchasing cycle without intention. We purchase what we think society, or our friends, think we should buy — even though society and our true friends really don’t care.
That emotional burden often leads to unnecessary purchases, stripping our ability to have more financial freedom to buy items we truly need or activities we genuinely want. Even worse, those purchases can increase our debt — a vicious cycle that can be difficult to overcome and reduces the quality of our life during our retirement years. Fortunately, at Meru Mentor, we’re here to help as your financial freedom coach, offering a personalized and holistic approach to a more balanced life.Let us help you get to balance — financially, emotionally, and spiritually. Get in touch today!