Mental Shopping

Ever shopped for things to decorate your home? Furniture and other decorative items can prove a hassle to hunt for, lots of thinking and may burn a hole on your bank card.

The solution is to do some “Mental Shopping”. Much like window shopping, you now shop with a pencil and a paper. Here is the step-by-step of how I did it:

1) Pretend that money is not the objective and you can spend it all on quality items or things that you would really like to have.
2) Write the name of the item, its dimensions and its price.
3) Shop for the next item.
4) Stop only when there is nothing more to "buy".

Note: A good place to do this activity is in your local “All-Under-One-Roof” furniture shop.

When you have finished, sit down with a calculator and a cup of tea and add up the entire list. What’s the total? If you think it is too expensive, perhaps you might want to rethink about some items on your list? Sum up the list again. In a perspective, this is the amount you have to earn or save to achieve your dream home. Perhaps you can set this amount as your target in the quest to achieve comfortable living?

This target is your cost ceiling or the “maximum you will need to spend”. Next, look for areas to trim. You may wish to search for similar but cheaper items elsewhere. It would mean that you will spend more time hunting and bargaining. Factor the time and effort as part of the cost of a dream home.

Mental Shopping helps you plan for your future and see in advance the dream home you will have one day. Happy living!!

picture posted by Daniel