How do I keep the money in my pockets?

In the previous article of this series we've talked about the dangers of lifestyle inflation and how getting crazy with your expenses as you get a promotion in job can leave you with more misery than joy in the long run, putting the point across with a series of examples where the most common demographics get affected by this phenomena. Well, In this continuation I will talk about how you can combat this toxic behavior and actually enjoy the money earned while spending It responsibly and even benefitting you for the future. Let's begin with the first one:

Be mindful of what you spend your money on:

When we see something that we really like and can afford to pay in a store shelf, a lot of us will give the money without even considering If It is really necessary for us or if It will improve our the quality of our lives having It in our posession. We'll repeat this pattern until we're short in cash, time where we'll be more mindful about everything we purchase, and even, in some cases, this is not enough. As retail companies have gotten more and more specialized in their niche, they have become much more proficient at getting you to purchase things. From psychologically proven positioning of certain products on a store to aggressive ad campaigns that will make you identify that particular item with a sense of freedom, status or being in touch with trends, they will surely get an advantage on our ability to resist compulsive purchasing. However, there's two things we can do about this. We can remember ourselves that everytime we purchase something we're making someone richer and ourselves poorer, thought which will make us question If It's really worth to buy a product for us and even the motives of the people selling It to us, in this way we can be much more aware of how much a particular transaction affects each part. Along with this, we can ask ourselves If we can buy at least two units of the same product without our finances being compromised, a good question to take into account If something's really worth purchasing.

Invest a part, use the other for leisure

This advice might seem overused and pretty obvious, however, many people don't even consider It when they get additional money, at the end just spending all they have won in things which won't grant them any dividends or benefits in the future, either by being momentary pleasures or by just gathering dust in their closet. You can be just as happy with with that increase in salary by knowing that you can augment your level of expense in a moderated measure while having your back covered with some actual assets to provide you even with more sources of income in the long run. However, investing doesn't necessary have to be just using your money for buying stocks or real estate, as you can begin by purchasing something as much or even more powerful than that, education, either in the form of courses or seminaries that leave you with something of value at the end, which will surely bring you a return of investment and leave you with something that doesn't get deprecated over time: Knowledge to apply to future endeavours.

Don't think status and expensive things mean the same

Depending of the place you live, you more or less can see these kind of people, who always wear branded clothes and drive nice cars, and you can jump to the conclusion that they just are rich and belong to a higher social class than yours. However, many times this is not the case, where the subjects you're looking at are just insecure middle class people that want to stand out by appearing like they actually have some cash in their pockets, blowing out their money through partial payments to acquire those things and having a hell lot of debt just because of appearances. A person of means and high status doesn't feel the need to look like a walking price tag in order to convey their class, as they are much more focused in their own ventures and having their actives in order to care for the price of their clothes. So, one thing you can really use when considering buying these kind of goods is the fact that they can be just a cover for your insecurities regarding how people see you (Many of which will probably not even be aware of your existence), making more apparent to you the possibility that you might be just buying It to feed your ego.

Finally, with the conclussion of this two part series, I hope that I could have provided you with a safe way to be aware of how salary increases, If managed badly could leave you with much less than what you had before the raise, and also give you some useful strategies for being aware and controlling your expenditure when perceiving a higher amount of money in your account monthly, making you much more wise abouthow more money can mean less problems If administrated in the right way. Thank you for support and good luck!