Even if you’ve long since gotten used to that period in your life when every month you suddenly have more money in your bank account than you’ve ever been able to access, following a brand new job or a brand new income stream that’s working out well for you, somehow we all seem to fall victim to that guilty pleasure that serves as a precursor to buyer’s remorse. I mean most of us know that there are some things we should perhaps just not spend our hard-earned money on, yet somehow we conspire to do exactly that.
Ultimately defeating buyer’s remorse requires you to close off any channels that hold the potential to lead to that annoying feeling of having spent money on something which you really could do without, but sometimes buyer’s remorse comes from sources which aren’t all too obvious. Either way, buyer’s remorse can and should be defeated by just applying a little common sense and enforcing it in those little situations which matter most.
Define importance and focus on that importance
What’s important to one person isn’t necessarily important to the next, be it their friend, sibling, parent, cousin or even their identical twin. Okay, in the case of twins it’s perhaps likely that what’s important to the one will be important to the other, but the point is that as an individual you need to determine what importance is to you personally. You need to define importance and then focus on what is important to you, irrespective of what the media tries to tell you through adverts, product placement in movies and television shows, etc.
This is one of the best ways through which to defeat any situation which could lead you down the path of experiencing buyer’s remorse as it would require you to start thinking about what’s important every time you whip out your credit card to pay for something. Do you really need an iPhone which costs double the amount you’d pay for an Android phone that gives you the exact same features, for example?
You need to be completely honest with yourself on this one though and really take the time to think about what importance is to you and your life. Kitschiness and sentiment have no place right now!
Extend the courtesy to your loved-ones
Some of the wealthiest people in this world who worked really hard for their money and are subsequently enjoying the deliciously tasty fruits of their labour are pretty principled people, contrary to popular belief. You should take a leaf out of the books of these people by staying principled in your approach at attempting to beat buyer’s remorse, which means you should extend the courtesy of focussing on what’s important with your purchases to your loved-ones.
So practice this focus on what’s important in your gift-giving rituals. A good example of this resides in a consideration of something like what exactly makes a nappy cake perfect for baby showers. Considering the constituents which make up this unique gift, every single element which goes into its making is useful and has intrinsic value beyond the sentiment that comes with the thought put into picking it out.
Practice this way of thinking and apply it to all your purchasing decisions and buyer’s remorse will be a thing of the long forgotten past.