The Dilemma of Life: do I (buy) or don't I?

Finance is definitely an important part of our life. It’s impossible to be an effective person without being effective in our finance.

One of the main issue in finance is determining whether to spend or not. This is an important issue to consider. Spending money on something unnecessary is wrong, but not spending money on something necessary is equally wrong.

The point is: how can you decide what you need or you don't?
Sometimes we see as need things we don't.
Example: my mother smokes. She sees cigarettes as a more urgent need than food. But THEY are NOT a NEED.


With the rising popularity of frugal lifestyle (which is promoted by many big blogs, among others), more and more people tend to consider the issue in only one aspect, that is in not spending the money. Of course, frugal lifestyle is a good thing since overspending is a problem faced by many people. However, it might go too far. People may end up choosing not to spend on something which indeed is necessary.

Sometimes we tend to be quite positive when it comes to us, but I think that very often we buy things that not only we do not need, but that add burdens to our life...

Since many people already write about not spending, here I’d like to take the opposite side to keep a balanced view. If something is necessary, you should spend the money.
Let's say, if we really FEEL the need for something we shouldn't ALWAYS frustrate ourselves and deny it to us...
Like food. A good diet is made of good trasgressions.

Of course, necessary is a tricky word. Everyone can give their own meaning to this word.

To determine whether or not something is necessary, I think we should go back to our life purpose. By referring to our life purpose, we could assess the value of something. Is it really valuable according to our life purpose? Does it help us live a life that matters?

Sometimes there are things which may seem expensive in the beginning, but they could actually help us a lot in achieving our life purpose. For example, maybe part of our life purpose is having deep relationship with our family. In some occasion, it may mean spending more on something to give unforgettable experience to our family. It may seem expensive in the beginning, but after taking our life purpose into account, we would realize that it is well worth it.

If you are still overspending, of course you should think more about not spending. But if you are joining the frugal lifestyle (which is a good thing I personally recommend), just be careful not to go too far. Sometimes it is wrong not to spend.

In principle a good life is the one you do what you like to do.
And a good lifestyle is the one in which you like to do the things you can ACTUALLY afford to do.
Happiness is in wanting what you can have and reach, not unreachable goals.
And not in having what you like, but liking what you have.
May be this is the secret...