How to Spend Money on Yourself Without Feeling Guilty (17 Tips)

Spending your own money on the things you want for yourself should be easy, right? However, some of us find it hard to do so, whether it’s buying things we want or those we actually need. When you do purchase things for yourself, you may feel guilty because you think it’s selfish to spend money on yourself. You could also be afraid of what might happen in the future because you ‘wasted’ money on unnecessary things now.

For many people with this issue, it is easy to spend money on stuff for their family and friends, and even strangers. But when it comes to things they need or want, they struggle to loosen the purse strings, even when they have extra money to spend.

It’s time you start enjoying your money, spending it on things that make you happy and those that improve the overall quality of your life. This article provides several tips on how to spend money on yourself without feeling guilty or afraid. Read on.

17 Ways to Make It Easier to Spend Money on Yourself

Identify the reason

Knowing why you are so stingy to yourself can help you find solutions and change. You could ask yourself questions or go to therapy to determine the cause.

Some common reasons why some people find it hard to spend money on themselves include;

Bad past experiences with money issues
Fear of the future or the unknown, e.g., medical emergencies , natural disasters, or losing your job
Concern for others with no/less money, such as family members or the less fortunate
Tending to overthink every purchase and talking yourself out of it
Being obsessed with saving money for retirement or to reach/maintain a particular account balance figure
Fear of others’ opinions about your spending, e.g., being thought of as selfish or receiving negative feedback on your purchases
Playing the waiting game, e.g., waiting for deals or cheaper, better versions of items

Identify the reason why spending money on yourself is so difficult, then use the next steps to make it easier.

Set financial goals and plan

If usually worry about financial instability or regret every purchase, setting financial goals can help you feel okay with spending money on yourself.

Assess your current financial situation, determine what you want to achieve in the short term and long term, and come up with a plan of action on how to achieve those goals.

Setting financial goals will enable you to budget your money, track your spending, manage debt, build savings, and make good investments. This will help you overcome the fear of running out of money or not having enough for future needs.

Set aside money for your wants

You didn’t come to this world to work and accumulate money. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. So, as you create your budget, set aside some money for your wants. Because you’ll have budgeted for them, you shouldn’t feel guilty about spending money on the things you want for yourself.

You could even create a fun money account where you deposit a particular amount of money to be used on things you want and your hobbies. Since you struggle with spending money on yourself, make it an obligation to use the funds in that account by the end of every month.

It will be a way to reward yourself for your hard work and money discipline.

Allow yourself to spend on you

Spending money on yourself is not wasteful or selfish. You deserve love and nice things, just like everyone else you like to spend your money on. You shouldn’t feel guilty about the things you buy for yourself.

If you find yourself feeling undeserving of the things you want to purchase for yourself, learn how to practice self-love and use affirmations for self-worth. This will help you change your way of thinking about yourself so you can permit yourself to treat yourself to the things you want without guilt.

Help others when you can

Maybe you struggle to spend money on yourself because you’re worried about others who may need it more than you. However, there will always be people who are in unfortunate financial situations.

While it is good to help others, you have to learn to put yourself first, especially when those you’re worried about aren’t your direct family members or friends. To feel better about spending your money on yourself, remind yourself that you are just one person and you can’t carry the world’s problems alone.

However, you can help where you can. For instance, if you have extra money, you could set aside a particular amount to give to struggling loved ones, spend on food or supplies for the homeless, or donate to poverty alleviation charities.

Start with small things

If you have struggled with being stingy to yourself for a long time, you most likely can’t change your behavior overnight. Why don’t you start with small steps, with small things? For example, buy yourself things you won’t consider to be too much of a ‘waste’ of money, such as food, flowers, skincare products, small gadgets, secondhand clothes, or a staycation instead of a long vacation.

Do it often, and you’ll start feeling less and less uncomfortable about buying yourself stuff, even bigger and more expensive things. If you spend money on yourself more often, you’ll get used to spending money on yourself, and it will become a habit.

Consider the benefits

Your money is supposed to improve the quality of your life. If you feel like you’re wasting money by spending it on stuff for yourself, you can make the decision easier by thinking about the benefits you get from that item or activity. For example, convenience, comfort, new experiences, looking good, having fun, or feeling better about yourself.

It will be easier to justify spending money on things that bring you joy or help you make your life easier and better.

Don’t overthink purchases

We are often advised to avoid impulse buying things, and instead, sleep on the decision or give ourselves time to think about purchases. However, as someone who finds it difficult to spend money on yourself, doing this will result in you talking yourself out of buying things, even if you can afford them and probably even need them.

If you usually overthink purchases, it’s okay to impulse buy. When you find something you like, and you have the money for it, buy it then. By the time you start regretting your purchase, you’ll have already spent the money.

You can have price tiers for how much thought you give to items before buying them. For example, no overthinking for items below $50, take a few hours for things below $100, and sleep on any items above $100.

Get rid of the scarcity mindset

The scarcity mindset can make you behave like you’re poor even when you’ve saved a lot of money. You never feel like you have enough money, hence you find it hard to spend on things you consider unnecessary. You fear your money will run out and think that every time you spend it, even on things that benefit you, you are losing money to someone else.

To feel okay about spending money on yourself, you have to get rid of the scarcity mindset. If you are on track with your financial goals, you shouldn’t feel anxious or guilty about spending your extra money on things you want because of fear that the money will run out or you might not have enough for some future emergency.

To make it easier to spend money on yourself, you must stop being obsessed with saving or hoarding money, trying to catch up to other more successful people, and thinking of worst-case scenarios. Remember that using your money for things that benefit you is not losing money to someone else. Using your money wisely may even help you make more money.

Remember YOLO

What’s the point of dying with a lot of money lying in your account for others to enjoy? When you find yourself hoarding money because of worries about the future or because you want to reach a particular savings amount to start enjoying your money, remind yourself that life is short and you only live once.

Don’t postpone your happiness, because tomorrow is not guaranteed. You have to live your life to the fullest today to avoid regrets later.

Life is meant to be lived, so enjoy it and use your money to make it even more fun and comfortable now. Even though it’s good to make plans for the future, don’t forget to live and enjoy yourself today. Spoil yourself while you’re still here.

Go out

People who spend a lot of time at home struggle the most with spending money on themselves. You get used to things being the way they are. You may not realize there are newer and better things available because your exposure to the world is limited. The opportunities to spend money are also limited, and you may become lazy or anxious about going shopping.

Getting out of your little bubble more often can make it easier for you to spend money on things you’d like for yourself. So get out of your house and go out there, explore the world, see better things, and get the opportunity to impulsively buy things in physical stores.

You’ll also have the opportunity to use your stuff, such as clothes, jewelry, shoes, or your car, so they can get worn out or you can notice they’re out of style and feel the need to buy more or better ones.

Get rid of your old stuff

Perhaps you find it difficult to spend money on yourself because you think you already have a lot of stuff and have no room for new ones. If you want to change and become more of a spender, you’ll have to be okay with parting with your old stuff to make room for new things.

You can resell things to get money to buy new ones, and give away or throw out what you no longer need. Broken, worn-out, old-fashioned, or useless things just take up space without providing much value.

Make a wishlist

You might see an item you want to buy in an online store, but find it hard to make the decision to purchase it because you can’t justify spending the full price or shipping cost. In such cases, it would be great to keep a list of all the items you desire, especially if they’re from the same store, and then bite the bullet one day and purchase them all together to reduce shipping costs.

A wishlist can also make it easier to remember what you want and keep an eye out for price drops or deals on items in order to take advantage of discounts and freebies.

Trust your decisions

Making decisions can be difficult, especially when it comes to things that involve spending money or too many options. That’s why a lot of people who don’t like spending money on themselves end up talking themselves out of completing transactions.

However, if you know you need or want something, have done enough research on it, have compared prices, and can afford it, you shouldn’t overthink your decision to purchase it.

Trust yourself to have good judgment when it comes to buying things that benefit you. Quiet that inner voice that makes you feel guilty or afraid, the one that tells you that you should’ve gone for the other available option, or that you’ll regret spending your money on yourself.

Let go of the past

If you struggled with money in the past, whether because you grew up poor, had miser parents/guardians, or have ever lost money, it’s time to let go of the past and enjoy the money you have now.

With a sufficient income as well as good savings and investments, you should have less financial anxiety. You’re no longer in the situation you were in and can afford to spend some of your extra cash on your wants.

Get someone else to spend it on you

If you still find it hard to spend money on yourself, get a trusted person, such as your spouse, kids, or a friend, to do it for you. You could create a wishlist and share it with them so they know the things you would love to get as gifts. You can also send someone a particular amount of money every month that they can use to purchase things for you.

It will reduce the stress and anxiety you get about spending money on unnecessary things because you won’t be the one actually buying the items.

Embrace an uncertain future

You have very little control over your future. Constantly worrying about it will not help you in any way. What is meant to happen will happen. The best you can do in the present is prepare for the future, but still live for today because that’s all you can be certain of.

If anxiety about the future is what’s keeping you from spending your money on yourself, it’s time to let go of those worries and live in the present. Save money, but also set aside some for your current wants. Embrace an uncertain future and live life to the fullest in the present.

Happy Shopping!

If you usually struggle to spend money on yourself, we hope the above tips help you make it easier to use your extra cash without feeling guilty or afraid. Stop being so stingy to yourself going forward. You deserve all the good things your money can buy for you.

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17 Ways to Make It Easier to Spend Money on Yourself

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