They have a stable income, a installment house, a car to go to work, stable temporary education for their children, a few small investments, and a very ordinary wish: Live a little more properly. However, it is the feeling of having enough to spend more comfortably than before that makes them slide into a particularly dangerous state of consumption - not spending wastefully, but spending regularly according to emotions. Each salary is a self-reward, each promotion is a " misspoke" purchase, each vacation is a time to say to yourself: "It's worth it, there are not many opportunities in a year".
They don't spend money out of need, but because they feel it is worth it. After many years of hard work, few people want to continue living like when they first graduated. The old chair should be replaced. The old kitchen should be repaired. The phone runs out of battery quickly, which is a reason to upgrade. It's okay for me to take an extra subject. And so, the chain of large and small spending is rationalized with a very vague thing: Because I tried.
This habit of spending does not come from waste, but from a form of silent insecurity. When around friends are all living "better", when social networks are flooded with successful images, maintaining a simple lifestyle suddenly becomes a tiring resistance. And gradually, people do not spend for themselves, but spend to avoid being left behind.
Spending like this does not make you exhausted immediately. On the contrary, it is very reasonable, very moderate - until you look back at your account after a few years and realize that you have worked hard, but still have not accumulated anything significantly. Or until an incident occurs - job loss, interest rate increase, relatives get sick - all expenses "in reach" suddenly become a burden.
Spending, after all, is not a problem of money, but a psychological problem. We use money to feel good, to be recognized, and not to be inferior. But money is never enough to fill those feelings. And if we are not alert, we will live our whole life in a state of "having tried a lot, but always lacking a little more to be comfortable".
Morgan Housel once wrote: Saving is the gap between your current lifestyle and the lifestyle you can achieve but still feel fine with. The problem is, many people don't know what "bust" is - because they always look to others to define.
Keeping money, after all, not because you earn a lot - but because you know what is enough. And living in a middle class, the greatest courage is not to spend according to your knowledge - but to maintain an independent reference system, not to be dragged away by emotions and society. Because in a world that always pushes you to buy more, upgrade more, live "more worthy" - then knowing to stop at the right time is a very rare form of freedom.
Spending less than you can - sometimes it is the way to keep everything you have.
