Hello!

Happy New Year!

I want to share a personal observation: this time, contrary to the established tradition, the New Year holidays did not knock us out of the saddle financially. And gifts were made to everyone who should have been, and the tree was decorated, and goodies were bought for the festive table. And at the same time, during January, until the next cash receipts, we will live quite calmly …

What happened? Our incomes, if they have grown, have not grown significantly, prices have risen much more tangibly. The attitude to shopping has just changed. Both my husband and I, almost simultaneously (he was a little earlier than me), came to a state of «reasonable consumption».

What is it expressed in? I’ll try to explain. Here I go to the store and see a cool holiday dress, my size. Do I like it? — Definitely, yes! I tried it on, turned around in front of the mirror — it sits as it should. The husband says: “Buy it, cool!” But I didn’t buy. For one simple reason — I DO NOT NEED it. In the foreseeable future, there is no reason to wear it. So why buy? It will have time to bother me, just hanging in the closet on a coat hanger …

Or, for example, take products. Previously, they didn’t buy anything for the New Year: several types of fish, meat such and such, and a huge amount of fresh fruits and vegetables … Then all this had to be urgently used up, cooked and eaten so that the good would not disappear …

The number of New Year’s purchases clearly exceeds the reasonable … Photo from Yandex. Pictures The number of New Year’s purchases clearly exceeds the reasonable … Photo from Yandex. Pictures

And sweets, this is a huge amount of sweets, which at first everyone ate until allergic pruritus, and then they lay in vases for months …

This time, exactly as many products were bought as can be cooked and eaten on the first three days of the New Year, when it is too lazy to go shopping.

Perhaps we have finally learned to live with abundance.

With sadness (light, of course, because we were all much younger then!) I remember the post-perestroika times, when a huge amount of clothing appeared on all kinds of markets. Yes, its quality was, as a rule, very “not very”, but clothes appeared, and it was possible to buy them, without cronyism and queues! Most of the women then were like possessed, each salary almost completely descended into rags. We dressed up like crazy, there was a real cult of clothes …

Remember these outfits? I also flaunted with might and main in the pants «Pyramids». And my husband had a sweater, like the two men in the photo, with embroidery on the belly. Photo from Yandex. Pictures. Remember these outfits? I also flaunted with might and main in the pants «Pyramids». And my husband had a sweater, like the two men in the photo, with embroidery on the belly. Photo from Yandex. Pictures.

And then the cult of cars appeared — a person often himself was without his own corner, without a permanent job, but — “a car from the salon”, bought on credit …

And there was also a period, at least in our village, when everyone, as if possessed, undertook to make repairs. And not just repairs, but on a grand scale: multi-level or stretch ceilings were fenced, old wooden doors were changed to newfangled cardboard ones. Strong reliable slate on the roofs was changed to a fashionable metal profile sheet. And they did it all with borrowed money.

And here’s another example. One of our elderly relatives complained all the time that she did not have enough money for medicines. We were a little surprised, because we knew that she had a very decent «police» pension. But they helped as much as they could. And when a relative died, and we had to put things in order in her apartment, we took out 3 (!) large bags from there (they sell 50 kg of flour in such bags), full not so much of medicines as of advertised nutritional supplements.

Yesterday a colleague called, chatted, she complained that the whole New Year could not calm her daughter: she did not receive a new smartphone with three cameras as a gift, and threw a tantrum because she had been walking with the same phone for a whole year …

No new smartphone — life is over … Photo from Yandex. Pictures No new smartphone — life is over … Photo from Yandex. Pictures

In general, evaluating myself a few years ago, and looking at others, I see that often our “wishlists” are far ahead of real needs and run counter to common sense . I want it, just because I want it!!! And no matter how high the salary is, it still won’t be enough to satisfy all the stupid “Wishlist”.

Do you think I’m against people’s wage increases? In no case! I am for it». Because in my region, most people work in official positions for the minimum wage. Sometimes non-working benefits receive more. This is not about the size of salaries, but about the fact that we would already need to understand that it is impossible to buy everything. And you don’t need to.

I do not call to save on everything indiscriminately. But it’s just time to understand and reason: it’s really necessary, I’ll buy it. And I like it, I want it, but there is no need. And don’t buy.

By the way, in Europe, so respected by many, people have long ceased to chase after the number of things, do not boast to each other about the situation in the house and car brands. Reasonable consumption is already the norm there. And we still need to learn this.

What do you think about the rationality of spending in general and, in particular, about New Year’s follies?