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Setting Aside Budget for Self Love

Jun 05, 2020
5 Minutes

In the past few months, the term self-love is often seen in various social media and national media outlets. Based on several definitions, self-love is a process or a decision taken to please your own self in order to create happiness in an individual’s life. So, what are the impacts and influences of self-love in a family’s financial planning?

It can’t be denied that one of the ways to practice self-love is by buying a certain product or service that can create pleasure and make you happy. Not only that these spending only generate happiness, I would like to relate the buying objective with the motivation behind it. There are three things that generally underlie buying decisions in a household.

First, we buy because we dream of it. For instance, a family might dream of having a new vehicle of a certain brand or going to an exotic holiday destination. I suggest to include that dream and aspiration into financial planning and strategy by saving money.

Secondly, we buy to invest. Differing from investing in certain financial products, investing in self-love means spending money to upgrade yourself or your family. For instance, enrolling in a photography course to learn new skills, joining private ballet lessons for the daughter, or joining yoga classes to boost mental and physical health. Investing in yourself has to be followed by a balanced budget and financial strategy. Ideally, the maximum budget for this is 10% of your monthly income.

Thirdly, we buy out of pride. Consumerism tends to create an image that happiness is achieved when you own a certain product or brand, which symbolizes a social status. Nothing is wrong with this, but are you sure you want to let go of your future financial freedom because of this? Every family has their own financial situation. My recommendation is when you do want to buy something of its prestige, spend it with cash rather than credit.

After you have set the motivation behind your self-love spending, you can implement the below steps to allocate your budget for your self-love spending.

  1. Specify the self-love spending that you need. There are things that can be allocated for your self-love budget. Me time like watching your favorite Korean drama, buying books, or traveling. It could also be shopping time in your favorite boutique or online shop. It could also be pampering time such as buying new skincare products, spa treatment, or working out at your favorite gym. Which one out of the three is most important for you and your family?
  2. Allocate an ideal budget from your monthly income. You should set your self-love budget from the start. The ideal percentage for personal shopping needs is 5 to 10% of your monthly income. So, should there be a budget allocation of IDR 1 million per month for personal shopping needs, the family household should receive a regular income of IDR 10 million per month.
  3. The allocation does not mean it has to be used each month. You can save it up first and spend it later on. I suggest saving your personal shopping needs in a different account, which I often call by “playing account”
  4. Take advantage of discounts and other promotions. With the same amount of money, you can get more products in terms of quantity or even quality. This can be done through discounts or cashback promotions. Don’t forget to join several loyalty or reward programs, so the points accumulated can be used as an additional saving in the future.
  5. Pay everything with cash. Paying with a debit card, e-wallet, and cash is better than credit. Try to not utilize online loans for self-love spending. Love yourself and use things, not the other way around.

Live a Beautiful Life!

Written by: Prita Ghozie from ZAP Finance

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