Trick or Treat?

There's a great saying that I learned from my mother,

 Treat yourself don't cheat yourself. 

I'm all for this, and I enjoy a treat when well deserved. An important question to ask is, are you doing too much treating?

People work hard and I believe that when you work hard, one should also play hard.  In this light, there is nothing wrong with rewarding yourself for accomplishments or reaching major milestones. The key is to make sure your rewards are reasonable and fair.

Reasonable and Fair?

You just successfully completed a challenging night course and to celebrate you decide to treat yourself to dinner at your favorite restaurant. That's a reasonable and fair treat. If you went out and leased a brand new car to reward yourself, that purchase is not as reasonable and is more a trick than a treat. The trick is you'll have payments every month, higher insurance, and more debt. Rewarding yourself once has now become a reoccurring expenses. 

That example may be a little extreme, but the point is to recognize when you're going too far. Think big picture when you make decisions to do something nice for yourself. Payday is the day people often like to treat themselves. This is okay, but be selective, be reasonable. Ask yourself is this a trick or a treat? 

Manage your money like a boss everyday, even on pay day. 

Be careful to not be tricked by a treat!