The Festive Spending Test

Festive seasons can be testy. The line between needs and wants keeps blurring as you find yourself deafened by the din of noises—from high-street and neighbourhood shops, from Insta reels and shopping ads to app notifications and more—and don’t even realise when you give in.

I won’t completely blame you. It’s only human to succumb to the festive fervour and go overboard. It’s become all too common to hear those maxims: save for the future, don’t overspend on your wants, invest-invest-invest, don’t give in to those alluring pitches. We listen, even understand, but rarely follow when we come face-to-face with real-life situations.

But now that the mind-buzz has somewhat quietened down post Diwali, maybe it’s time to revisit some of your decisions. Don’t get me wrong. I won’t tell you to calculate your expenses and feel guilty about overspending. I will surely guilt-trip you, but not for those expenses, but for the wastefulness and the mindlessness you may have exercised.

So, what all did you spend on this Diwali? Include the biggest to the smallest of items—from the home renovation to the designer clothes for the family, to the gifts for friends, that extra pair of earphones, the summer ensemble you will use next year, and other knick-knack you bought from the multiple festive sales.

I am not telling you to write down how much you spent on all those items, but try to list out and measure their utility to you. Will you wear that Diwali dress again and how soon? If that ‘soon’ is not soon enough, it may go out of fashion, or you may have found something better by then. You did give those gifts you bought for friends, but how many of the gifts you got in exchange are useful to you? Do you really need those miniature animal figurines on your table, or does that bedcover has just added to the already huge pile in your almirah? And how many of the gifts you gave to them were well-thought-out? What about those extra pair of earphones? Are you simply going to throw the old one away or did you really need them because the old pair was not working? And that summer ensemble? Are you sure it will fit you six months from now?

Each one of you will have your own list. The winner here will not be those who spent the least, but those who ended up buying stuff that they will really need, either immediately or in the near future.

Until a few years ago, a friend of mine used to buy summer clothes for her daughter during the sales season just before the winters. Why? Because most of the things on sale was meant for summers and her daughter fit into age-appropriate clothes in terms of the size. It worked for her for quite a few years, but one fine year, the daughter entered the phase where the growth spurt became unpredictable, and she ended up gifting all that sale stuff because she had outgrown all of them. She desists from doing that anymore completely.

Larissa Fernand cites an interview of Ratan Tata where he says that after some time, the lure of what money can buy fades away. It sure does, but old habits die hard. I am referring to the habit of spending even when you don’t need or even want something anymore but go shopping because that’s been a pattern you have been following. Work on that by putting your mind to where, why and what for are you spending. Perhaps that will help you make a list for the next year before those neon lights start blinding you and the babble gets difficult to navigate, and you give in to the old habits again.