Psychology of money.

As an adult, do you believe in making more money or spending less money?

Growing up, I’ve always known a way to make money, to make more money. Being an adult, I realized there are two ways to make money; make more money or spend less money. The latter was the advice I gave to myself and a friend days ago. Many of us focus on the first strategy, while the second one is more easier.

We’ve all learn two or more lessons about the second strategy in our lives so far. I learn the second strategy more by watching my Aunt.

Whenever there’s parties, she would buy the cloth taken and guess what? Parties doesn’t finish. There’s always a party after a party.

The most amusing thing is, as she buys more clothes, she started having clothes problem. Now she realized she needs to make another wardrobe, she needs more soap, and even more marching shoe colors. She also need more accessories to match the clothes too. And before she knows what’s happening, she’ll keep spending.

By the time I started growing up more, I started realizing many people have the same problem. As human, we spent most times to avoid being bored. We spend money most times to buy things that makes us spend more money

I found this shoes, they are perfect, I buy them, and I realized I need a shoe rack. Before I know what’s happening, I would need a shoe polish, I would need some tea bags to put inside the shoe so it won’t smell. And I would realize I needed bigger space and before I know what’s happening I’ll keep on spending more.

When I heard of Marie Kondo book on to organize and tidy ones home, I was laughing thinking why would someone buy such a book. It amazes me when I realized how her books suddenly is celebrated in the USA and I was wowed.

The simple secret a lot of us don’t know is that; if your house or room is crowded because you have lots of stuffs, your thinking will never be clear. You need a clear space to think well.

In one economic textbook, the author said; if economics is the study of human habit, then to understand economics truly, you’ll need other social sciences course and not economics. He said, what is human habit than addition of distractions when bored. That’s definition is just one of the fundamental truth about human.

When people make more money, they inflate the lifestyles to show case change in status ( A friend said we’ll understand status if we read Leo Tolstoy).

From the past, I’ve seen people who didn’t need a car buying one, all to show the status of making more money ( Apology if you feel offended).

I want you to rethink your values, particularly those related to money. Focus on what you’ve determined is really important in your life and the lives of your family members.

When a man makes money, he would remember there’s this babe he couldn’t date when he was broke and now want to impress her. So, he gets the girl by inflating his status and that’s how the spending circle started. And before he knows what’s happening, he started making more friends who are as interested in status game as him. And before he knows, the money finishes.

Bruno Munari, a well respected Italian architect and product designer said; what is the essence of a car if not to move you from one place to another. Apparently, as human, we tend to miss the point always. We tend to not always understand the essence of things. And it’s more interesting because I’ve noticed the poor tried so much to look rich, while the rich tried so much to look poor.

Funnily, we’ve all got this little thing called choice. We fool ourselves by never thinking about the total annual costs of the things we spend our hard- earned money on. When you buy something expensive and people appreciate it, they don’t really appreciate it, they wished its theirs. But ad human, we usually equate that appreciation with people being impressed by it. Many people perish for the lack of wisdom and it’s sad they still refused to be wise.

Still on the spending less money strategy. I don’t really like going to a store without cash with me. Retailers are well aware of the statistics that prove that you will spend at least 30percent more if you are in a store with a credit card, debit card, or intention of doing transfer than you would with ” cold hard cash.” A customer who carries cash is the last thing they want to see coming. Why? Because they know how cautious and non- impulsive the cash buyer will be. It happens a lot!

We get so caught up in our lifestyles that we fail to realize we’re spending a great deal of our money on things that don’t even fit into our value system.

Ideas by: Tunde Adegoke. Edited by: AbdulAzeez Zainab.