Frugal Living

My cellphone broke the other day. Oh, perhaps that was an overstatement since it still work but the other half just sort of hangs out with only its internal wiring holding both shell of my very old Nokia Clamshell phone I inherited from my dead mom. I am so tempted to ran to the cellphone store and buy another one, albeit cheaper phone. Some candy bar phone that sends and receives messages and calls… I can dream can’t I?

Anyway, I went to the city today with my son to see the doctor. That was another story, but after we went to the hospital clinic, I decided to give in to the urge to see some phones. Bad idea…not exactly…

I saw a myriad of phones and sales ladies wearing Santa’s bright costume including short red skirts. The store was a buzz and to think that the US is in recession actually did not stop people from giving themselves immediate gratification in getting some shiny cellphone that can play MP3s and can take pictures.

I actually took the time to observe the activities around me and saw that the store is actually filled with customers and almost all sales persons are attending to wannabe cellphone owners. Money doesn’t seem to be the problem, or we are simply just being Filipino. Eh?

I know that is what we Philosophers call hasty generalization, but don’t get me wrong, Filipinos are probably the worst when it comes to celebrations and holidays. Why do you think we tend to use holidays and other events as an excuse to splurge? Have you bought something that you totally thought was great when you were in the store and after a month, the item you bought started to accumulate dust somewhere around the house? When was the last time you actually bought something you did not even need?

Ofcourse, I always say that stores and the mall are there to tempt us to happily part with our money. Inexchange for our money, we buy items that makes us happier and content. You might say, hey, I really needed that iPod! Or that new phone. But sometimes our urge to splurge carry alot of meaning. Perhaps you felt a little annoyed and pressured at the office and just the thought of buying something expensive gives us some sort of high.

I can understand this alot. Before I separated from my husband of 7 years, I used to use shopping as a means to get out of my dissatisfaction on my married life. This holds true to alot of women. We tend to use shopping, going to the groceries, buying clothes we did not even wear, and silverware that ends up under the sink.

So how can we learn to separate our emotional needs from our finances? I actually learned about this the hard way, but hey, its better late than never, right? So, here’s the trick, when you are upset with anything, do not go out of the house or if you do, go somewhere to unwind somewhere where you do not need to spend anything. Go take a walk at the beach, the park or even the library. Stay away from the mall or even those expensive designer lattes.

Use other ways to curb your own frustrations by gardening, or even taking a long quiet bath. If you are finally settled, you will probably forget the reason why you wanted to buy anything in the first place.

Practice and relax before going to shopping. A calm person in the mall is a reasonable person. I promise you, you will more likely spend less.

So what about the cellphone? I ended up going out of the store with a smile on my face and yes, with my money in tack intact and yes… a half-broken phone. (smile)