by John Torquato
During some time of my life I didn’t like buying myself gifts, as I thought it would be selfish and that I could use the money in other ways. A lot of people think the way I used to, and I don’t say they’re wrong because each and every person is unique.
Time passed and I have changed. As my life goes on, I see my achievements and my goals and I think there’s nothing wrong on being rewarded for it. I don’t expect any friend, family member or boss congratulating me for what I’ve done, I do it myself.
It is obvious that we treat well everybody we love, sometime buying gifts — and it shouldn’t be different with ourselves. But sometimes we feel a little guilty by spending for us while we could be paying a mortgage, a loan, buying groceries or even donating the money. It is true, but we also need recognition from ourselves. Thus, I’ve developed a new habit that helped me save money to buy myself a gift without going broke or spending money I should need.
First, I’ve setted a day and month to buy myself a gift and started planning one year ahead. Everyday when I got home, I checked my wallet for $1 bills. If I had more than one bill, I’ll simply put one bill in a jar and didn’t use it for what so ever. Never!
After one year I’ve checked the jar, and there was $284 for me to spend anyway I wanted: I could buy a Blue Ray player, a video game, some fancy clothes or whatever I’d could. When purchasing my gift, I kept in mind all my achievements thru the year and that it was a gift to me, a reward. Every time I saw or used whatever I bought, I had great memories about myself. And I just kept doing it year after year.
I gave this advice for a friend of mine and he said he was on a tight budget, so I told him to save $1 per week. Not using $1 per week won’t be tight, but after one year you’ll have saved $52, what is enough to buy a CD, DVD or Blue Ray, a book, a new pair of shoes and many other things. He tried, and guess what, it worked wonderfully! After he came back from the mall he called me and I was so happy for his excitement, so I learned that sharing good things with other people should be great for us too.
Try it — I’m sure it will work with you too. After one year, don’t forget to come and tell me your results!
