CogBlog 13: Rationalizing

It's not always sour grapes, but sometimes you have to have that mindset when rationalizing between buying something frivolous versus something you'll need.

If I had no self control, I would be in a lot of trouble. The amount of money I would spend on anything and everything would be off the charts. My schoolwork would suffer. I would probably eat a LOT more sugary foods with no regulation. I'd probably own a lot of things because I had the money for them at the time, but then when the bills for the month come in I would be lacking in funds. I know some people who don't seem to have any kind of impulse control and I have seen this kind of living come back and bite people. I had to develop an ability to use self control when I was young and I think that it has served me well into adulthood. Still, that (unfortunately) doesn't mean that I am immune to falling into to situations where I have to start rationing things whether it be money, time or food.

While rationalizing food and time is something that I do everyday (do I eat the pizza for lunch or the salad?, Do I work on that homework assignment or go play video games with my friends?), the more important piece of my life I need to rationalize and use good judgement on at the moment is my money. I don't make a lot of money right now as a student worker with a limited amount of hours I can work per week, so I have to watch my spending all the time (safe to say, I like the word ‘free’ a lot).  At the end of every month I have bills to pay and I never know if I’ll have to make any sudden emergency payments out to something. However, I am subjected frequently to the temptation of buying so many things all the time thanks to emails from stores and websites and websites like Etsy, which doesn't help keep my temptation to buy things down.

Screenshot from my own "junk email" account where I get emails that are from stores, websites, concert promoters or general junk mail. This is a sample of what I get just about everyday.

Another huge factor with spending money in my case is concerts. While most metal shows are decently priced per ticket, sometimes the tickets are a bit to afford when they go on sale because of how much money I have to spend on material objects for that month. Especially if I’m covering for a friend when I buy them so I’m owed money that I might not get until the date of the show (which could be months later). Around this time of the year especially, I'll have to balance out what I need to buy for others for holiday gifts and what I want to buy for myself. Typically during the months between October and January, my spending is heavily rationalized and monitored for that reason.

When I want to spend money on something, first I think of what else I have had to spend money on during the month whether it be things I needed or things I wanted. If I've already spent a lot of money that month (say I've bought around $100 worth of something), I'm more likely to only buy something if it is a necessity such as a hygiene product. With clothes and shoes I am generally frugal when I can be. I see no reason in why people would spend hundreds of dollars on articles of clothing, accessories or one pair of shoes, that's just me as a person. Usually my shopping for clothes involves the "sale" or "clearance" sections. These days in particular, I've been trying to buy clothes that are more "workplace attire" instead of comfy and casual due to already having plenty of the comfy type but not nearly enough of the professional type. By shopping in the sales section, I rationalize that I can buy the clothes because I'm not paying full price for them and I need them for my professional wardrobe.

 The same applies to shoes. I just bought two pairs of boots in a clearance sale that I will be using as shoes I can wear to my internship even though it was very tempting to also pick up a pair of boots that I could wear to a concert during that day. I had to make the rational decision that because I already have a pair of boots that I wear to shows, I don't I need another pair. But I did need shoes for my internship, so those pairs of shoes won out. I always look at the sales sections before the rest of the store and if I'm shopping online, there has to be a really good sale going on for me to go in and buy something. I do not like paying full price for anything, so if I can find something cheaper at another location online, I will ration with myself that whatever the shipping cost ends up being will make up for the money I am saving due to the discounts (which is why I ironically will pay for Amazon prime every year).

This kind of discount is usually what it will take for me to go shopping online. Sales like this are how I rationalize spending money on things that are not necessities.

If there is something that I don't consider a necessity such as huge concert coming up that I want to go to and the tickets will be a bit more expensive (such as festival tickets), my rationing becomes different. If I buy the tickets, there will be no excessive spending on anything for at least two months to recoup from the cost. If I have to buy a necessity, they are bought in smaller amounts. I willing take the gamble that if anything else that would require me to spend money during that recovery period comes up, then I'll have to skip it because of the judgment call I made when I bought the tickets.

Months of saving is my way of rationalizing large purchases like this. By my judgement, being extra frugal for some months will be worth it in the end.

Bottom line, when it comes to whether or not I will buy something for me comes down to a few factors. Do I need it for something or do I just want it? If I want it how much money is it? Will I still want that as much tomorrow as I want it today? Can I afford that right now?. If I answer no to any of those questions, I grit my teeth and skip over buying the object. I have done this multiple times in my life but in the end, by not spending money then I have had more money to use when I really needed something. At times I will be at aware with myself with rationalizing my money, especially with large purchases. When it is one of those big purchases, I will justify buying it by being more frugal for a period of time, even if its not the best idea I've had. Is it a perfect system? No. I fall off the wagon sometimes and don't realize that I need to watch where my money is going until I have a decently sized bill to pay off. Most of the time, my rationing of my money and what I spend it on dose help me keep my money in my bank account. I just need to remind myself that there are reasons why I shouldn't and why I should buy something every time. Those rationalizations and judgement are how I shop and if they weren't there, I have a feeling I would be in one giant money hole by this point in my life.

Using good judgement and rationalizing what I spend my money on is a skill that I will need to use for the rest of my life. Practicing how to use these elements of cognition now will only benefit me in the long run.