To Buy or To Save? Treat -V- Guilt!

startingtosave

Ok Moneysaving Experts...

Dilemma! A few months ago after getting debt free I set myself a goal of saving an emergency fund. Things have been going well and I now find myself with a fancy pants budget spreadsheet, an OCD-like compulsion to fill in every penny of my outgoings (whoop!) and i'm very neary at my goal! (double whoop!).

I'm nearly at my goal and have already updated my spreadsheet with next years budget and projected savings

So... the dilemma is that for the last couple of years I've been daydreaming about buying a nice digital SLR camera and going to a photography class to learn some proper photography. I've been putting this off until I got myself sorted financially and now that I feel like I've pulled my head out of the sand and clued myself in about money I'm wondering if it would be silly or sensible to treat myself to this once I hit my savings goal.

I know this is really up to me at the end of the day but I can't help but feel guilty about splashing out £400ish on such a treat - especially when I could be putting this money into savings. What do you guys reckon? How do you justify treats when there are so many reasons to save the money instead?

Many thanks!

penelopedee_2

Well done for getting debt free and saving that much :T

Don't blow any of your emergency savings. Leave it be and make the £400 your next target to find/hide. That way you will get into the mindset of put a different fund aside (apart from the emergency one) for a bit a luxury shopping.

startingtosave

Thank you! That's what I was thinking - I'm aiming to only touch the emergency fund in a proper emergency. The problem is that I'm now thinking, 'well if I didn't buy the camera then I could reach my cash ISA limit for 2010/2011'! I have all the people on these boards to thank for my current situation - without them I'd still be gaily paying the mimimum amount on my credit cards every month but I seem to have created a saving monster with my compulsive spreadsheeting (albeit a good monster!!) and now I'm wondering how to achieve a healthy balance between spending and saving!

Op47

Spending your money is not something to be guilty about. That is what you have it for. Whether it is wise is another matter. If I were you, I would save until you got to £3400 and then spend the £400 on the camera. Then I would think of what my next toy is and save for that. etc. Then you will always be buying what you can afford bt not just saving for saving's sake.