In this day and age of consumerism it is very difficult to live ‘within our means’. Our spending habits may be beyond what we can afford and we may be taking a loan to buy the latest iPod 5, the plush car or the 48” LCD television. There are ‘cool’ things that we may need to possess to be the source of envy or be accepted by our peers. We may visit restaurants and shops which are expensive just to make an impression or because we believe that these make a difference to our ‘status’.
Television and the newspapers are full of advertisements that target the young population. Our spending habits are determined to a large extent by how much we get swayed by these advertisements. However, it is important to accept being a minimalist where living with less is all right, if you cannot afford the more expensive choices. There are a few ways of adopting this kind of attitude: first, giving away things that we don’t need. There are people who need to ‘hoard’ things and feel secure.
Remember though, that there are only so many things that we need (whether they are clothes, watches, shoes or mobile phones). Second, working with people who are less fortunate through community service programmes makes us more sensitive to the needs of other people. We could spend time working with special children, teach in the neighbourhood slums or devote an hour every week to volunteer at a government hospital. Thirdly, if we do need to buy something expensive, it helps if we buy it with our own money. If we can work towards saving our money to buy something we really want, we feel a sense of ownership and pride.
Living a life of simplicity is important because then we can make responsible choices. We can live with less and have a sense of fulfilment. Our greatest assets are just our strength of character for not getting carried away by opulence and understanding the financial constraints that our parents might have.
It is important to participate in discussions regarding family finances and how they can be best spent to meet every member’s needs. We often take some things for granted — that we will have a roof over our head, we will eat three meals a day and have a warm bed to sleep in. We need to value what we already have and appreciate that there may be differences in how much our parents earn and what they can afford. Embrace idealism and dream bigger dreams that go beyond cool cars, a five-figure salary or costly homes.