The Pendulum: Save and Splurge
Anyone who has ever been on a diet can recognize the pattern. You're hyper vigilant about everything you consume. One day you simply can't take it any more. Absolutely sick of going without, the dam breaks & eat everything that isn’t nailed down. You feel terrible, swear to be good & the cycle starts all over.
“The Pendulum” is someone who does this with their spending. They cut costs and bargain shop, faithfully denying themselves any expenditure outside of their allotted budget. Eventually, the expectation of perfection is too much & they swing the other way, blowing their hard earned savings. This unfortunate cycle has some BIG consequences:
1. Because the splurge point is a bit of a manic state choice, there’s rarely much thought put into the particular thing you splurge on. As a result, you often end up with something that isn’t particularly useful or meaningful to you. Awesome, I’m broke AND nothing to show for it.
2. You worked really hard to save that money and you fumbled it. You feel awful about yourself and the negative self talk is LOUD. You may begin to believe that you aren’t at all capable of handling your finances, or punish yourself by restricting your spending even further than before. No one needs that hit to their self esteem.
3. Car needs an expensive repair? Medical bill pops up? Friend invites you to a once-in-a-lifetime event? You’re out of luck, Chuck. That bank account is dry as Arizona and you are stuck with the Steak Of The Month Club. You may be able to use a credit card, but now you are racking up debt and interest and the problem is exponentially worse.
Retail therapy is real–splurging once in a while is actually healthy. What’s the point of money if you don’t use it, anyway? But splurging wildly & without thought is a sign that you are out of control & need to re-evaluate your patterns.
If you had $100 to spend totally irresponsibly, what would you do with it? An informal poll at my house says: inflatable t-rex suit, roller skates & a suit of armor (I’m not even going to tell you which of those answers belongs to me & which ones are from my kids). Drop your answer in the comments!
