It seems like the idea of rewarding yourself with something that you wanted might go against the idea of being a postconsumer. After all, we keep telling everybody to find the satisfaction of enough without always having to buy things! However, what we really believe is that a postconsumer is somebody who consumes mindfully, whether that be with a little or a lot or somewhere in between. That’s why we think it’s a good way to motivate yourself to stay within your budget by rewarding yourself with a little something special every time that you do.
Here’s what we recommend. Everybody should be working against a monthly budget, regardless of whether you live paycheck to paycheck or whether you’re trying to find the best way to responsibly spend a more, shall we say, comfortable salary. Your monthly budget, no matter how small or large, should be designed so that you have money left over at the end of the month.
So, you should look at what you’ll have left over at the end of the month if you meet your budget goals, and then you can take ten percent of that and just give it to yourself to spend or to put in a “piggy bank” to spend later when you have more money. So, if your monthly budget means that you’ll have $500 in savings at the end of the month, then you can give $50 of that back to yourself. If you’ll only have $50 left over at the end of the month, give yourself back $5. You can buy yourself something with the money you give yourself back, or wait a couple of months until you have a nice chunk of change from all your “budget rewards” and then buy yourself something you really wanted!
Of course, if you don’t meet your budget goals at the end of the month, you don’t get your financial reward, which should motivate you even more to meet your budget goals!
Got another tip on how to control your budget and reduce your consumerist habits? Friend us on Facebook and share it with us!
The Get Satisfied Interactive Handbook evaluates where you are on your journey to finding the satisfaction of enough and gives you a personalized how-to plan on beginning to find the satisfaction of enough.
