People are funny creatures. When it comes to most things, we almost always desire the things we don’t have. Why is that? I really wish I had the answer as I think if people thought about what they had instead of what they didn’t have, a lot of the major problems would go away.
I just finished reading a post over at Canadian Dream: Free at 45 where he wrote about how saving money shouldn’t be like dieting. What I really liked about the article is the part where he mentions that when people go on a diet they tend to think about what they are not eating, not what they are eating. They think about how they’re really craving that Big Mac, or chocolate bar – but do they ever mention how delicious the new red apples are they got at Sobeys? Not a chance. Even myself when I think about saving up for my iPhone (still debating), do I mention how much I’ve enjoyed my Blackberry and how it’s never let me down and has even come to my aid when I’ve been lost in the car (thank you google maps!).. nope, I still want an iPhone.
I guess it’s that thing they call human nature. When I was 16 I wanted a car more than anything, once I got it – I wanted a better one. No one is really ever content to just enjoy the things they have, I wonder if there is a way to change that part of you?
As the blog post read, when trying to save money.. people don’t think about how they are saving for their future and how making those sacrifices now is really going to do wonders later on – they focus on how they can’t afford how they aren’t buying the newest TV, device, furniture – it’s really ridiculous when you think about it. Do you think that the wealthiest people in the world are now sitting around thinking – ok I’ve got more than I could ever spend.. I’m done now. Nope! That’s why you see lottery winners going bankrupt all the time (don’t get me started on how stupid that is..), but you do see it and it happens all the time – people get something and they want something else as soon as possible.
When I said that that if people could reverse that thinking a lot of problems would go away.. I mean it. Think about it for a minute.. if all of a sudden the worlds wealth dried up and you were to live the rest of your life with the things you have today – would you be happy? I guess happy isn’t really the word to use.. perhaps “would you be content” is a better choice. If the answer is no, than I suggest you get cracking on what’s really important in your life.
Don’t get me wrong though – I like to spend money on ‘wants’ more than ‘needs’ just like anyone else, but it is fun to think about how much I could be saving if I just enjoyed some of the things I already have a bit more instead of getting something new 
I think you're bang on in this one. After years of being in debt and trying the deprivation route, saving and working hard became very, very easy for me once I figured out that I:
a) wanted to retire young; and
b) really could retire young.
The focus was off deprivation then and towards working for my future self and being able to have enough money that if I ever got into a bad work situation, I could just walk away. Pretty much every time I spent major money after that, I correlated it to how many days of not having to work that purchase would cost me in the future. Sometimes it was worth it, sometimes not.
The same thing happens (to me) when I work out. I always used to do it first thing in the morning. When the time came for eating throughout the day, it was easy to step away from some things because of the thought of how much it would cost me in sweat later on to burn it off. And sometimes it's worth it, but usually not.
yeah I agree.. it's very tough to not think about the deprivation and short term satisfaction. It's just so easy to buy things on credit nowadays it's no wonder people get in a rut.. no one ever hears about the stories about people that never got into debt and are wealthy now.. almost everyone has battled debt at some point in their life and I know for myself it was just a matter of realizing I was going in the wrong direction and that forced me to take action.
Knowing that the little things add up over time really is a mind-set that many people do not have unfortunately