When it comes to money and savings, an incredible eye-opener for me has been the fact that gift-giving is my love language. I'm extremely willing to take the time to research and then plot and plan how to give something 'nice', 'useful', 'meaningful', and 'wanted' to my loved ones.
And circling back to money - I often end up splurging on gifts when I clearly can't afford to. I gave my dad an expensive watch for his 60th birthday last year. I'm finishing the monthly payments this July- right after 12 months. I also gifted my sister an expensive piece of jewellery - borrowing money from my mom to pay for it. I clearly couldn't afford these gifts, yet I couldn't help myself. Then I, of course, fall into a quagmire of broke life and mounting debts.
Stupid.
When I come across videos on YouTube where people are shelling out advice on saving money which invariably includes this 'tip' - don't buy coffee - it makes me want to roll my eyes. I mean, I did think it was quite a smart tip initially but after thinking it over, it made me consider how saving on one coffee a day isn't going to add anything substantial to the bank account. I assume these budget gurus are literally just taking the easy route and shoving the most obviously common tips in their lists.
Anyway, I tend to find this 'tip' rather inane these days.
I'd suggest starting by trying to curb other unnecessary and more expensive habits. Like maybe cutting down on the number of takeaways or, in my case, dialling back on expensive gifts when I can't afford to.
