By nature I am a rational person and that also goes for the way that I spend my money. I tend to think about my purchases a lot (many times too much) and I often put them “on hold” for a day or two, to analyze if I really need or want something.
That being said, even I (being a bit weird and all) have my moments where rationality is put out of the equation and I get something that is totally not thought through and I think that it is not necessarily a bad thing – as long as it doesn’t happen all the time! We don’t have to be in control all the time and letting go can be refreshing once in a while.
In Jason’s blog ForFundsSake he writes about 2 situations where he sees rational reasoning for irrational spending:
1) When the spending brings you (real) happiness (or added value) to your life
2) When the spending brings others happiness (or added value) to their lives
My most irrational purchase to date is called Susy. She is a 13 year old, not very beautiful and not especially nice cat that we took in in a moments weakness back in 2001 (I will not even post a photo as she might scare you off ;-))
At approximately NIS 100 (about US Dollar 30) a month for the last 13 years she has cost us about NIS 15,600 (US Dollars 4450) so far… Although the kids are not especially crazy about her, both Dear Husband and I have a certain attachment to her that you might call love and I would claim that she brings us a kind of happiness but maybe not added value 😉
So what are your examples of irrational spending?
Other related posts: The Joy of buying too Much and Can Money Buy you Happiness
All my baking tools… I tend to buy them and then immediately store them
Maayan, I think you just have to bake more 😉
Thanks for the mention! I like the sound of Susy. My cousin took in a cat years ago he actually found and put forward huge vet bills to save. He takes her everywhere..
You are welcome. I know what you mean, my parents (who are otherwise very rational people) have paid thousands in vet bills throughout the years…
My biggest irrational spend is my damn Nespresso machine. At $1 (NZD) per capsule and my bad habit of around 10 cups a day (on a good day), I stopped counting already.
We have one of those too and I love it! To keep the costs down we have a daily budget on the number of capsules, though.
Did you know that you can actually refill your Nespresso capsules?? I tried it, it work! Just a little slow when you are in a rush but worth a try. Could be worth posting about. Thanks Veronica!
Hi Noam,
I did not know that. Definitely something worth looking into. Thanks 🙂