Scarcity isn't all bad, trust me
Allan Buckingham 
I sometimes get frustrated when I hear people blasting a scarcity mindset because it can limit our thinking.
Awareness & Making Trade-Offs
There's an upside to scarcity, it helps you make choices. If you could do everything, you wouldn't need to make any choices, but that's not reality. Our reality means we have limited resources both money and time, and we need to make choices about what we want to do with it. An envelope system (where you have different envelopes for different spending categories) is one way to help us make choices as we put our money in the envelope we want/need to spend it, and it can't be in two envelopes at once. This can be done with actual envelopes and physical cash, or it can be done digitally using software or spreadsheets. Either way, you get to experience the control of putting your money where you want it to go, and the scarcity of needing to make the choice of where it needs to go.
You Choose How To Spend
This quote is from a book geared towards service industry professionals, but it applies to us all. Sometimes we do things because it's the default, or it's easy, but if we spent some time thinking about it, we might make a different choice. Remember our resources are limited, and we want to make sure we're making the best use of them. Sometimes that's a $12 glass, sometimes it's a $12 bottle.
It's Not Just About Spending Less
This is a long quote, but I still think it's too simplistic. Yes making more money can lead to more savings, but it doesn't necessarily. I think what matters is the amount you save vs what you earn, and you likely need to work on both sides of the equation in the short term if you want to take advantage of the savings later. Just earning more so you can blindly save, isn't necessarily the best choice. Knowing how much you need so you can match your income to your expenses helps us decide between saving and earning.
Categories: : Weekly Quotes