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Learn to sift needs from wants

Money

If you like to be seen as trendy, you will probably change your clothes, handbags and electronics for no utilitarian value but simply to get in the groove of the sexiest and trendiest designs as they hit the market. But such a habit can cost you a fortune.

The most frequent piece of glitzy purchase is the mobile phone. Phone manufacturers seem to have conspired in ensuring that before we learn how to fully operate any model, a flashier and irresistible one is in the market, suckering in scores of people to spend their funds.

Self-destructive

But personal financial experts say that people can stop this self-destructive behaviour by distinguishing between their needs and wants

Human needs are the basic requirements like food, clothes and shelter that we cannot live without.

There are also secondary needs like health and education which come after the primary needs.

Wants are the human desires that have been created by culture and individual personality. These are things that one can live without with a little financial discipline and focus.

Be wary of the power of advertising which, frequently, appeals to consumers in such a way that they feel they need certain goods or services, when in fact they only want them.

It is easy to get sucked into buying something very exorbitantly, only to discover later that it is not very urgent in your life.

A remarkable case is one where many people rushed to buy DVD players when these appliances were relatively novel in this country and cost as much as Sh15,000 per unit. But the modern versions go for only Sh3,000 per unit.

People who have rushed to buy prototypes of LCD televisions and 4G mobile phones are also going the same way of the early DVDs buyers, yet their old TV sets and mobile phone handsets haven’t stopped operating.

To get out of the yoke of costly glamorous things, start by making a list of your wants and needs. Be brutally honest about the items that you regard as needs and wants.

To sort out needs from mere wants, ask yourself how much each purchase you make will improve the quality of your life.

The best way of going about this is by rating things according to the level of the improvement they will make in your life, starting with those that will make the most down to those that are insignificant.

Nyama choma

The next step is to balance between your high-priority needs, like your monthly overheads, a house, further education and your wants, like entertainment, a new car and a home makeover and so on.

Think of cancelling your pay television, weekend nyama choma outings and other wants in order to start paying for that dream house you have always planned to buy.

If you make all your money decisions based on how your purchases will improve your life and not based on social perceptions, advertising gimmicks and herd mentality, you will never be a slave of fashion.

Photo: beyondbabymamas.com

 

 

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