What is YOUR dollar value? Understanding how much money your hard-earned efforts are actually worth can lead to making smarter, money-savvy spending choices and can lead to saving money at the same time.
Finding the value of YOUR dollar is extremely simple. To find out how much YOU are worth essentially, all you have to do is take everyday purchases and divide them by the money YOU make an hour at your job. How does this tactic work? It trains you to realize how much you have to work to afford something, therefore placing a working value to your spending and alerting you to what is necessary spending and what is frivolous in your life. When you realize you had to work your ass off for 3 hours to afford a “trinket” it may help to curb your spending habits to what you truly need and encourage you to put greater thought to your spending tactics.
That $35 manicure? Doesn’t seem so expensive right now, but imagine you make $8.00 an hour at your job. Take the $35 manicure and divide that by the $8 you work hard for an hour for, and the result is you had to work over FOUR HOURS to afford a $35 manicure. If that sounds like a reasonable sacrifice to “get your nails did” to you, go for it. If not, go to WalMart and buy a $2.00 polish and paint them yourself. Now, take the money you would have spent on a manicure and put it into savings.
This “dollar value” tactic works for nearly every purchase a person can make. Grocery shopping is a wonderful time to teach yourself the difference between what is necessary and where you can cut corners to stretch your own dollar value further. Do you really need those Oreos, does the name brand cereal really taste better than the store brand competitors, etc. The goal is to feel like you’ve gotten the most of YOUR dollar value when you hit the checkout line. After all, the $250 you just spent on groceries, on your $8.00 an hour income, cost you over 31 hours of your time at work. If what’s in your cart looks worth it to you, good! If not, review your receipt and while putting items away at home review how you can make your dollar value stretch further next time, either by cutting costs or getting more items for cheaper so you’re getting the most of what you’re worth.
The best time to use this tactic is when you are impulse shopping. That pair of jeans at $72 will cost you 9 hours of work (back to the $8.00 an hour earnings again). Realizing how MUCH you have to work for your spending will often curb a spending frenzy.
A person may not always have control over how much money they make, but they DO have control over how they choose to spend it. Knowing how much YOUR dollar value is worth can help you get the most of your hard work, AND allow you to save at the same time. You don’t have to deprive yourself of things that you want, but this tactic will definitely allow you to train yourself on what you want versus how much you are willing to work to have it, and you may find yourself wanting a lot less things than you thought you did.
Happy smart spending!
