Economic Wisdom to Apply in Your Twenties

Chapter 34

Chapter 4, Section 6 Consumption also requires planning

The 24-year-old Xiao Min was supposed to be a "single nobleman": a monthly salary of 3000 yuan and no burden at home.But she still often has to rely on her parents to "support".She calculated the monthly expenses like this: "Investment in a girl's appearance is indispensable. I spend six to seven hundred yuan a month on skin care and eye protection; vocal music training classes, fitness classes, and a month. It costs five or six hundred yuan. Cosmetics cannot be out of stock, fashion needs to be added impromptuly, and fashionable beauty items need to be tried in time... These averagely cost at least a thousand yuan a month. In addition, communication costs and transportation costs cannot be saved. The monthly total is about five or six hundred. These add up to nearly 2000, and the rest have to take care of their own meals and parties."

There are not a few girls like Xiao Min in life.Growing up under the background of reform and opening up, most of the young generation born in the 80s advocate consumption. When they go shopping, they can always find many things that are "worthy" of spending a lot of money, so they buy this and that, forget about it when they buy it, and regret it when they have no money. And, "If I had known today, why should I have done it before?" There are so many good things in this world, buy them if you like them, and sooner or later you will have to worry about money.Therefore, young people must learn to control their desire to buy.

1. Learn to keep a "chronological account"

Prepare an account book from now on, or register an account on Accounting.com, and write down every expense in your life.This method may seem simple, but it is actually very effective.I usually live at home, and the expenses of going in and out are very sporadic.Three meals a day, transportation, entertainment, etc. seem to be fixed, but there will always be some inadvertent extra expenses. At the end of the month, you will be surprised.

Learn to keep a "chronological account". After a long time, you can not only know where the money is at a glance, but also clearly judge which expenses are necessary, which are accidental "accidental expenses", and which unnecessary expenses can be completely avoided.

2. Make a consumption plan
Young people lack planning when buying things. They often rush into the store to buy when they are in urgent need. As a result, they have no time to choose and compare prices;It is a science to make a good consumption plan. Carefully plan the timing and location of shopping, and then cooperate with time or seasonality, which will save a lot of money.For example, you can make a list of things you need every time, and then buy them all at once, which not only saves time, but also reduces the number of shopping.Because the dazzling array of displays on the shelves can easily make your desire to buy out of control, resulting in unlimited overspending.

3. Shopping takes advantage of the "time difference"

Shopping malls have different promotion methods in different seasons, and smart consumers should be good at fighting the time difference.When are shopping malls most likely to discount?Which items are discounted in which seasons?For example, down jackets and leather boots, which are very expensive in winter, are 7% off and [-]% off in summer.In addition, when new products are launched every season, activities such as "spring clothes up to [-]% off" and "summer cool buying" are also emerging one after another; and at the end of each month or at the end of a quarter, shopping malls will also hold a large number of promotions in order to achieve turnover Activity.Smart consumers know how to buy the things they like at the right time. In this way, they can save the most and buy back the things they like.

Our desire to buy is endless, no matter how much money we make, there is never enough to spend.Spending money is like flowing water. No matter how much you earn, if you spend money recklessly and without planning, even mountains of gold and silver will disappear in an instant.

As the saying goes, "It is easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but difficult to go from extravagant to frugal."Once you get used to spending money, it is not easy to plan everywhere and learn to save money.But habits are also formed. You may feel uncomfortable at first, but once you develop the habit of planned consumption, your wealth will follow.So, the next time you feel that you are struggling in your life, don't think that you are earning less, but first look at your spending habits.Life in your twenties has just begun, and forming such a good habit at the starting point of life is also the starting point of wealth in life.

Wisdom Pieces: Bravely step out of the misunderstanding of psychological consumption

1. Blind obedience
When shopping, many people involuntarily tend to buy behaviors consistent with the majority.Blindly follow others to buy, on the surface, you get some kind of benefits, but what suits others is not necessarily what you need.Blindly rushing to buy a lot of useless goods, I can only regret it.

2. Psychology of seeking fame
A famous brand is a market reputation obtained by a producer through long-term efforts. A famous brand represents high quality, the user's identity and social status, and also represents a high price.Buying a famous brand can guarantee the quality, but if you buy a famous brand to show off and compare, you are falling into a misunderstanding.

3. Seeking honesty
Influenced by the traditional thinking of less abundant financial income and thrifty housekeeping, we always want to buy cheap things.But if you always put cheap price first when shopping, as long as it is a cheap product, whether it is useful or not, you can still buy it, and the loss outweighs the gain.

(End of this chapter)