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How to not feel guilty about spending money on me

3 replies

Wenchelda · 02/11/2013 16:16

Whenever I spend money on myself - whether for clothes / cosmetics / toiletries or a (very rare) massage or similar - I always always always feel guilty and like I have to justify it (to myself, my DH doesn't say anything). I don't know why this is - i'm hardly extravagant... I don't buy stuff for me very often at all and when I do it's all high street so not exactly £££. I'm pretty good with money - I contribute the same percentage-wise as DH to household bills, save 15% of monthly wage, budget for food etc as well as put money aside each month towards things like car tax / insurance. With what's left, I divide up to give me a weekly budget which I then use to pay for day-to-day stuff ... Taking kids to soft play, buying lunches if we're out, milk from the corner shop etc... I rarely go over, and if I do, I try to balance it by spending less the following week. Quite often I have "spare" money from being under my weekly budget... An occasionally I use this to treat myself. But it's almost like I can't enjoy it as I feel guilty about spending money on things for me that I don't actually need. Does anyone else feel like this? If a friend was saying this to me, I'd tell her to stop being so silly and it's important to spend money on yourself too as long as bills etc are all paid - so why can't I take my own advice?! Any suggestions on how I can stop feeling like this?

OP posts:
Wenchelda · 02/11/2013 17:03

Just me then.....?

OP posts:
honeybunny14 · 02/11/2013 17:12

No not just i know how you feel i get the guilt pangs as well but as long as my dcs have everything they need i dont feel too bad ive just finished getting all the dcs xmas in so 2day i went and got myself winter clothes new jacket boots jumpers jeans ect but even though the dcs have loads of winter clothes i had to buy them more 2day or i would have felt guilty just buying for myself i think alot of mums feel the same

Hopefully · 02/11/2013 17:19

Can you set yourself an annual clothing budget? I do this, and anything up to that limit is a guilt free purchase. I am self employed, so it's a percentage of income rather than a fixed sum, so maybe you could allocate a percentage of anything leftover to treats for you to remove the (unnecessary!) guilt.

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