don't let buyer's guilt haunt you!

The other day, we decided to go on a few adventures. We went to dollar days clearance at Plato’s Closet and spent a whopping $14.77. It was nice because each item was only $1 and who doesn’t like things for a buck. The next transaction was a bit more stressful. Well at least for one of us. We ended up going to JCPenney and buying a few pairs of suit pants, one vest and one jacket, which cost almost $100.

Buying more expensive things almost gives you a sick feeling like you are doing something wrong. The Plato’s Closet purchase was definitely an impulse buy. The JCPenney one was not, well partly, anyways. We ended up going to the store about two weeks ago. Jaclyn found a suit that she absolutely loved and it was so worth it because not only was it on clearance but it also was an extra 50% off the clearance price. Gosh, it was such a great deal but we couldn’t fathom the thought of purchasing it then. We know; crazy right? So, we had the cashier put it on hold for us. Flash forward two weeks ahead and here we are standing in line at JCPenney with our most recent impulse buy. Normally, stores don’t hold items for more than 24 hours but we figured we would ask anyways. Lo and behold… IT WAS STILL THERE! Luckily, the cashier never put a date on it. Now you can call Kiara a Devil’s Advocate but her exact words were “you might as well buy it because it’s still here!” The moment that we walked out of the store, it was instant buyer’s remorse. Jaclyn talked about returning it for days and is still currently holding on to the receipt.

Fast forward almost a week and here we are confessing to our coach Jamie about our indiscretions. Jamie asked a really great question; why do you think that you felt that way about the purchase? And then it hit us like a ton of bricks! WE DID NOT HAVE A BUDGET SET UP! It was extremely out of the norm for us now. Had we had a budget set up, there would be no guilt, no need to confess and no threat of having to return the items.  So for now, it looks like Jaclyn can keep her suits and we will just have to set up our budget which we have decided will be a self-care budget. It will include clothing and grooming such as eyebrow waxes, haircuts and anything we consider to be spoiling ourselves with.

The lesson that we want you to take from this is that it all starts with a budget! Whether you are trying to save money or pay off debt you have to budget your money so that you know where it is all going and what you can afford to spend or save each month. Without these budgets that we have, we would still be struggling to pay our bills and to save money. We wouldn’t have nearly $3,000 saved or almost $10,000 paid off. So remember, it all starts with a budget and if you need help, you can reach out to your financial advisor or even a good friend that is pretty great with their money!