In our 11 years of marriage, Thammie and I decided that when the purchase would be above a certain amount, both of us need to first agree on the purchase before acting on it. With this rule in our marriage, we have literally saved hundreds of thousands of pesos. Not only was the reward monetary savings but also the stress of purchase regret. Purchase regret means you ask yourself why you bought a certain product after it was delivered to your home.

So let me share to you how we do it in our family before we purchase something big.

1. Sleep it first.

I learned this art from Thammie. Every time she will buy something, she would sleep it first before making a move. There are times when Inwould hear her say if it is God’s will that I will have that stuff, then it will be there when I come back for it. Usually after a night’s sleep, she would decide it’s not worth the purchase.

When products are marketed to us, we get excited about it. A good night’s sleep will taper the excitement we feel about a thing.

2. Ask yourself why and do I need it?

Tough question to ask but a question we definitely need to ask before a purchase. Do we really need this? Why are we buying this? If the reason is to keep up with the neighbors – then forget the purchase. 

3. Consider the opportunity cost

Opportunity cost is the amount of money you could have now if you didn’t make the purchase before.

When you buy a brand new car, the moment it leaves the factory- it depreciates in value. This a car, if not meant for business is not an investment. It is an expense.

So let’s say I have p500,000 and I want to buy a car. I go to the car store and realized there are no p500,000 cars on sale. Then I need to loan from the bank and pay off my car loan monthly.

But if I buy a second hand car for p250000 and then invest the remaining p250000 that has an average return of 15 percent per year, then I would have saved more money for a future purchase.

I blogged about OPPORTUNITY COST in detail here
4. Agree with your spouse.

Very important in marriage. Husband and wife needs to agree first before making any major purchase. Your spouse is your partner.

5. Only purchase something you understand.

Lastly, even when it is an investment that would require a high capital- make sure that you know what you are getting into. Don’t invest in the stock market if you haven’t studied it. The same with starting a business, don’t get into something you don’t understand.

I learned it the hard way. I made some investments because my relatives told me it wil have a good return. I did not do my due diligence of studying the investment first. I only have myself to blame since my relatives also lost their investments.