Controlling Your Shopping Budget

The First Rule: Have a Budget

A lot of people complain about going out to go shopping and coming home having spent more than they expected. This is because people do not budget at all. A shopper could make very careful purchasing decisions at each transaction but is not able to view the overall cost as a whole. In the end, when you calculate the total amount spent, it still feels like the money was overspent. That is why the first rule of budgeting is actually having money to budget.

Shopping money should be an amount that is fairly suitable to cover your shopping needs but still money you can do without. This is how you make a budget, and the simplest rule of this is: as long as the only money you spend is within this budget, then you are perfectly fine.

The question still stands, how much should one set aside? The answer varies from person to person. Because each individual earns differently, and every person has their own monthly expenses, there can be no clear cut rule as to exactly how much one should set aside for shopping.

One rule of thumb that you can follow is to dissect your monthly earnings and expenses. Take the value of your monthly income, deduct all the necessary bills, taxes and other expenses. With the amount left, split it into what you should be saving, and the rest is free for you do spend as you wish. This ensures that your shopping money will not cut into your priority expenses.

What You Can Do With a Budget

Once you have been able to set aside a budget, you should spend it as you want. Yes, even if other people might consider your spending as a waste, keep in mind that this budget is composed of money you do not need, money you earned and most importantly, money you should spend to make yourself happy.

The point of shopping is to buy the things that would make you happy. While this may sound selfish, it is the true purpose and real value of the money you have set aside. Set aside the misconceptions of shopping and learn to appreciate that you actually have a budget to spend. And as long as you only touch that money and nothing else, then you are still doing the right thing with your finances.

Of course, you should still avoid making purchases that would make you feel guilty afterwards. So before deciding that you want to buy something, you should try to see for yourself that you would really love owning it. What you should avoid, however, is that unnecessary feeling of self guilt over a personal purchase. There is completely nothing wrong about spending for yourself; as long as you want it, even if it is not a living necessity, purchasing something that makes you happy is a purchase well made.

Budgets and Credit Cards

The amazing thing about having a budget is that you will not need to use your credit cards. The only exception is if you decide to buy something expensive that you would not be able to pay for with your current budget. In this case you will need to sacrifice shopping until you have finished paying off your credit.