All around us we see the American dream of wealth and happiness fading. Many people have seen their dreams of riches shattered by rising debt, loss of income and drastic changes to their lifestyles. The real problem is not with the economy or with the changing times. The problem is that we are a society of compulsive spenders.

Disposable Income

We are surrounded by images on television and film of successful single women and men, living fabulous lives. They live in beautiful homes in which every closet is packed with mouth watering clothes, shoes, and junk of every kind. They have it and we want it.

TV would be pretty boring if it just showed ordinary people living their lives, so the media give us a peak into the lives of the rich and famous, or characters depicting that life. That doesn’t stop us from wanting these things and the sponsors know it. So television commercials and print advertisements push the products even further.

With online shopping available to most people, we no longer have to wait for the stores to open the next day, during which time we may have reconsidered and decided not to buy yet another thing we don’t need. Instant gratification and the ability to buy everything we think we want immediately has helped us to waste money too.

Put Your Money Back in Your Wallet

But all is not lost. Learn to think twice before you spend. If you feel that you must have that special thing, whatever it is, you probably are feeling a loss or some tension in another area of your life. No matter how much money you spend, no purchase will make that feeling go away. This is especially true if the tension is due to debt or other financial issues.

Material things will not make you a better person or solve all your problems. How many items do you have in your closet that you thought would make you happier? We all need money for shelter and food, to pay our daily living expenses like rent, fuel and utilities. Being able to pay these bills gives us security.

The attraction of material things dwindles as you feel more secure, looking after the necessities before the wants.

Spending money on things you cannot afford, no matter how nice they look, will not ease the stress of debt or financial burdens.

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Everybody likes to have a lot of stuff in their life, for the most part, even when that stuff isn’t exactly a physical object, for example. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the need to get the good things in life and getting them the right way is the smart way to live one’s life. Remember; learn the difference between having things that are needed versus having things that are wanted.

As an example, consider how popular a digital book reader is these days. Now, it’s a fact that the real (i. E. ‘paper’) book is probably going to disappear one day, but that doesn’t mean that one should go into hock to get one of these readers right now. Instead, save up for one or make sure that one can reasonably afford it on an extended payment plan before getting it.

It’s important to keep in mind that getting good stuff in life means more than just getting material things. Gaining the love of a family or the respect and admiration of friends can be just as important as trying to make sure of being the one who dies with the most toys. On a shallow level, dying that way might be a fun journey but it’s certainly no way to really live one’s life.

Keep in mind that what’s being discussed here is the need to be able to afford not only the things we need but also the things we might want, such as a Martin acoustic electric guitar. That little musical instrument can run thousands of dollars, so going deep into debt to get it — even though we might love it — probably isn’t smart. Save the money or make sure it’s affordable before getting it.

Maybe one has had one’s eye on a classic Harley-Davidson motorcycle and the black helmet that goes with it. No self-respecting Harley rider ever fails to have at least one such helmet of that particular color in his or her collection, but it also needs to mean that one is getting the motorcycle (or the helmet, even) only when it can be afforded and not until then.

It’s probably more important to make sure that getting a lot of good things in the right way is the attitude rather than just acting like a squirrel preparing for winter and storing away nuts in anticipation of that winter. In the end, most shopaholics or people who just fixate on amassing things end up unsatisfied on many different levels, and also in way over their heads, debt-wise.

A good philosophy in life to have is that it’s very important to get the things we need but that we need to be able to single out the things we need from the things we want, whether they’re physical or things of some other nature. Making sure we can afford something — whether we’ve saved for it or we’re getting it by some other means — makes much more sense in the short and long runs.