.Manage Money Based On Reality

Don’t Live a Financial Fantasy: Manage Money Based On Reality

Post From Brave Saver

 $800.

That’s what I consistently spend on monthly groceries for our family of four.But I’m not always happy with that number.

Other finance bloggers spend far, far less — sometimes as little as $100 per person, per month.

I compare my budget that’s double that and wonder, why can’t I do that too? I get sucked into googling how to save on groceries, looking for an easy answer or a simple way to spend less on food. I obsess over my meal plans and grocery mailers and coupons until my eyes cross.

Other times I tell myself: It’s fine! I’m trying! Feeding a family is no easy thing, and our spending is below the average for a family of four. I already keep costs low while feeding everyone, and my spending is consistent. I’m doing great, really, and there’s just no room or need for improvement.

In both cases, I’ve noticed something happens: I idealize a financial situation — either someone else’s or my own. 

When I Idealize Other People’s Finances

In the first case, I look at someone else’s situation and automatically view that as the ideal. In this example, it’s other people’s grocery budgets. But it also happens with their debt-free lifestyles, higher savings rates, or more-impressive freelance incomes.

I see someone doing better than me and get starry-eyed and a little jealous. There’s a compulsion to try to accomplish the same. To show I can put in the hard work to earn the same outcomes.

But why do I idealize others’ finances? Why do I look at their money situation from the outside and see only easy success?

Because I want it to be as easy as it looks — easy enough that I can do it, too. I want that idealized version of money management that promises results and always delivers. I want to know that if I only follow this financial advice, I’ll always get amazing results.

When I idealize other’s finances, however, I’m missing the steep costs that are paid to reach that success. While cutting groceries costs looks easy when it’s packaged into a slick list of 10 tips, that doesn’t mean it is. It doesn’t reflect the author’s effort coming up with these tips. Or how hard it was to apply them to build a consistently frugal system for buying groceries.

When I idealize others’ money, I buy into the fantasy that money is easy, the myth that these one-size-fits-all solutions will work for me.

When I Idealize My Own Money

I don’t just idealize other’s finances, however. I’ve noticed another pattern that crops up: I idealize my own finances.

I minimize money issues, smooth over financial bumps, and tell myself I’m already doing my absolute best. My grocery budget or money simply is what it is — and it can’t really be changed, I say to myself.

Or I justify my car loan and why I’m not yet focused on paying it off. I tell myself that my retirement savings rate is already okay, that saving at all puts me ahead of the average person, anyway.

To continue reading, please go to the original article at

https://bravesaver.com/2019/08/07/financial-fantasy-money-reality/