How Long Do You Have to Work to Pay For Stuff?

Have you ever looked around your house, apartment, condo, townhouse or whatever you live in and wondered where all the stuff came from? I mean, really look. What have you bought and then ignored ever since? Do you even like the knick knacks anymore? Do you even use what you bought anymore?

How many candles holders, candles, picture frames, DVD's, CD's, kitchen gadgets, purses, or shoes do you really need? More importantly how much of your hard earned money have you spent buying these type items? You probably don't want to know.

Have you ever thought about how many minutes or hours you had to or will have to work to pay for the items you have bought or are thinking of buying? How long do you have to work to pay for the restaurant meals you frequently eat? If you take the time to figure this out you will probably be surprised. I know I was.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that you work hard for your money and you deserve to treat yourself every now and then. Right? And that's true, to a point. The problem is that we don't treat ourselves every now and then anymore. We treat ourselves daily. And the question is, why?

Could it be that we value what money can buy for us more than we value money itself? Getting stuff has become more important than getting and keeping money. If we truly valued money, we wouldn't depart with it so easily.

Think about this. When you are out shopping for groceries, do you go prepared with a list or are you just throwing stuff in the basket when you see something you like? When you leave the store do you even know how much the total was? Sounds shocking I know. But I have actually left the store and did not know what the total of what I bought was. I just swiped my debit card and headed out the door. Surprisingly this happens to most of us. We have become disassociated from our money.

Using credit cards and debit cards makes it seem like we aren't using real money. I don't know about you but I rarely see money anymore. I don't even see my paycheck. I have direct deposit. It just shows up in my bank account twice a month. I don't write checks for bills anymore, they are paid electronically. No wonder we are disassociated from money, we never see it anymore.

Before you buy that next item, think about how many hours of work it will take to cover the cost of purchasing it. Start thinking of this and you will find that you spend less money. You will start to reconnect with your money and will hold onto more of it.