While Always Treating Yourself Is Great For Improving Your Quality of Life, It Can Drain Your Bank Account Faster Than You Realize
Who doesn’t love treating themselves?
Over the last few years, everyone’s been talking about the beauty of the “little treat.”
The $6 coffee you get from Starbucks after you’ve completed a difficult task? That’s a little treat. The new candle or skincare product you bought from Target on your way home from work the other day? Consider those little treats.
While rewarding ourselves and occasionally treating ourselves to nice things is great for improving our quality of life, constantly stocking up on “little treats” can drain your bank account faster than you realize.
Living in a post-pandemic world is exhausting on all levels. Many of our lives have changed drastically over the last few years, and sometimes it feels like the only things that keep us going are material goods.
I mean, who didn’t go a little crazy with online shopping while stuck inside during quarantine?
The idea of getting yourself a little treat has been glorified on apps like TikTok, where people have been opening up about the hardships they’ve faced this year while filming themselves walking over to a nice café for a pastry or going on a solo shopping spree.
But if you’re not careful, these treats will add up and won’t seem so sweet anymore. A $6 coffee might not seem that expensive in the moment, but if you’re getting one three times a week, that’s around $72 a month on just coffee.
That’s not even counting any other “fun” money you spend in a month on drinks and dinners out, clothes, skincare, makeup, etc.
At the end of the day, little treats are great but only satisfy us for a short time. In this day and age, with housing being so expensive and the job market so brutal, we have to remember what we want for ourselves in the long run.
Anela R/peopleimages.com – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
So the next time you’re tempted to spend more than $10 on something that’ll be gone the next day, just to make yourself feel a bit better in the moment, think about what you want your financial situation to look like in the next 10 years.
Instead of prioritizing short periods of satisfaction, put that money toward something greater that will satisfy you longer. For instance, if you want to move into a better apartment in the next year or two, maybe don’t stop at Starbucks when you have coffee at home.
With all this being said, you should never stop treating yourself completely. You do deserve a little treat now and then. Just remember to be mindful of what you purchase and how often you get these treats.
\Make a monthly “treat budget” that aligns with your savings plan and see what works for you. This way, you can find a balance and ways to get short-term and long-term happiness.
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