Spending ‘time’ with your friends can often mean ‘spending’ time with your friends.
Socialising with friends is one of the healthiest things you can do for you mental health and personal well-being. Spending time with your friends, however, can often be a chance to get the wallet out and spend some cash as well. Lunches, coffees, retail therapy, movies, a few drinks at the bar or dinner are all common socialising activities.
These are all great activities from time to time, but continually socialising in the way has two negative effects;
You might catch-up with a friend and have lunch, because you always have lunch when you catch-up. Maybe you meet your mates at the pub and have some beers and a punt, because well, that’s just what you do. By continually doing these, you run the risk of the activity becoming the focus, not your friends.
Try saving money and focus more spending ‘time’ with your friends by forming some healthier mental associations.
Meet at your house for a coffee and make the catch-up about your friends instead of the coffee. By meeting at home, you are more likely to focus on your friends and the conversation rather than spending money on coffee and cake. Cafes are profitable for a reason, and that’s because the mark-up on coffee and food is massive. A home made coffee with a home made biscuit is cheaper, and the extra effort will make your friend feel special. It does not have to be coffee, it could be having friends around for a few beers and to watch sport. This is generally more social without the distractions, high costs or temptations of a pub, club or bar.
Going for a walk with a friend has great physical and emotional benefits. The fresh air will help clear your mind, and the exercise will help improve your fitness and well being. In addition, if you are not a huge fan of exercise, then having a long in-depth conversation with a friend while walking will take your mind off the fact that you are exercising. Best of all, a walk with a friend costs you nothing.
If you still want a coffee, grab a take-away and go to a park or the beach. Not only will you get some fresh air, you will lose the temptation to buy food or another drink. Coffee shops, cafe’s, and bars generally have nice ambiance because they want you to come in, and enjoy the experience so much that you want to stay longer. The longer you spend in a shop or bar, the more you spend .
Rather than go out on the town with you friends, invite them around to your house for some drinks and maybe some music or a backyard fire. Not only will this save you bucket loads of money, the quieter and more intimate surrounds will enable you to engage in better conversations. No one likes to scream over the top of music or line up for 10 min for a drink. Counter both of these, and keep your cash in your wallet, with the backyard party.
Hosting dinner parties can be very expensive, especially if you have a lot of guests to feed. The ‘everyone brings a dish’ dinner party has a couple of great benefits when hosting a dinner party at your house. Firstly, it a lot cheaper than providing all the food. Secondly, you get to eat a variety of different dishes for a very low cost. And lastly, if everyone brings something they have cooked themselves, at least you know that everyone will enjoy one dish, even if it is their own.
In all of these meeting, you still get to socialise, and often you still get to have a meal or a beverage, but the meeting is more about spending ‘time’ with your friends, rather then ‘spending’ time with them.
To discuss your spending habits, give the team at Steve May Financial Services a call and start a conversation today.
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Nick Shanley, Steve May, Luke Styles and Shanley Financial Planning T/A Steve May Financial Services are Authorised Representatives / Corporate Authorised Representative of Sensibly Pty Ltd, AFSL 533923. Please refer to our website at www.stevemayfs.com.au to reference our Financial Services Guides.
Shanley Financial Planning Pty Ltd trading as Steve May Financial Services (ABN 19 612 825 180) is a Corporate Authorised Representative of (1265706) of Sensibly Pty Ltd (AFSL 533923)
Nick Shanley, Steve May and Luke Styles are Authorised Representatives of Sensibly Pty Ltd (AFSL 533923)