{"id":21093,"date":"2026-03-11T10:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T10:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/a-money-lesson-spending-and-self-esteem\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:11:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:11:27","slug":"a-money-lesson-spending-and-self-esteem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/a-money-lesson-spending-and-self-esteem\/","title":{"rendered":"A Money Lesson: Spending and Self-Esteem"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently found a financial advice column by Suze Orman<\/a>, \u201cWhat Money Has Taught Me About Personal Power<\/a>\u201d that I cut out of O Magazine<\/em><\/a> back in 2009.<\/p>\n

What caught my eye was all the underlining I had done under the heading, Self-worth builds net worth<\/strong>. Here\u2019s one nugget that particularly resonated with me: \u201c\u2026we spend more than<\/em> when we feel less than<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n

How true! It reminded me of my recent struggle to resist a Macy\u2019s special on a skin care line. Buy two items, get a cosmetic bag filled with free samples. These are so tempting! I have half a dozen of these bags in my bathroom cupboard.<\/p>\n

At first I resisted and tossed the flyer away. But when I started feeling stressed out and beleaguered, I found myself rationalizing why I should head out to Macy\u2019s for those products: My facial cleanser is almost gone (even though I have two more tubes in a drawer). I just ran out of the body lotion. (But wait! I already have an extra that I bought in the last promotion.) <\/p>\n

Even though I knew I didn\u2019t really need<\/em> these things, I could feel an almost physical, and definitely emotional, pull to buy<\/em><\/strong> something, something to give me that uptick in adrenalin that comes from a successful shopping expedition. <\/p>\n

Suze goes on to say that when she watched how she used money, she discovered that she was trying to keep up with her wealthy friends, spending money she didn\u2019t have. She didn\u2019t feel \u201cgood enough,\u201d so she spent to \u201cprove\u201d her worth.<\/p>\n

Skin care products aren\u2019t going to relieve the source of my stress or help me deal with it. Shopping can be a diversion\u2014like food. And just like over-indulging in food, over-spending results in a sense of shame and panic\u2014knowing I\u2019ll have to face the credit card statement in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n

So like Suze, I\u2019m watching my reactions to not spending and not buying. So far it\u2019s been quite an education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently found a financial advice column by Suze Orman, \u201cWhat Money Has Taught Me About Personal Power\u201d that I cut out of O Magazine back in 2009. What caught my eye was all the underlining I had done under the heading, Self-worth builds net worth. Here\u2019s one nugget that particularly resonated with me: \u201c\u2026we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[225],"tags":[233,332],"ppma_author":[492],"class_list":["post-21093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-advice","tag-finance","tag-money-problems"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Money Lesson: Spending and Self-Esteem - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Money Lesson: Spending and Self-Esteem\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I recently found a financial advice column by Suze Orman, \u201cWhat Money Has Taught Me About Personal Power\u201d that I cut out of O Magazine back in 2009. 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