15 Signs Money Controls You
A lack of money control makes rich people greedy and poor people miserable. It's the reason why most say that money is the root of all evil. There are some signs when money starts to take control over your emotions and judgments. So here are 15 signs money controls you. Welcome to Alux.
Number one: You wonder what else you could have done with it. One of the first signs money is taking control over you is when you look at the money you have, and you think it's the last you'll ever have. You toss aside the purpose and start looking into ways to how to make it last as long as you can. You start comparing different ways to spend that money in the most efficient way possible, and this cripples your judgment. You can't spend it on anything because you always think to yourself, what if there is something else more important that I should buy? So your whole life becomes a constant comparison of what things you should spend your hard-earned cash on, and this is the start of your money problems.
Just a note here, we're not talking about people with really poor financial situations. They need to make every dollar count and spend it as smartly as possible. Here we're talking about above-average individuals with above-average jobs. You see, when you start doing this, you stop enjoying your life. You'll constantly say things like, "Why go eat at that restaurant if the food isn't perfect? That would be a waste of money. Better spend that money on something else." Why get a winter jacket? It's not going to be cold forever. Better spend that money on something else. Oh, why go on vacation? Maybe there are better beaches somewhere closer and cheaper. Better spend that money on something else.
You will form this thought pattern, and it will follow you everywhere. It's downhill from there. This is when money starts to take control over how you think.
Number two: You get frustrated when you need to pay extra fees. There will always be random ass fees or changes in price—things you don't really foresee or even think about. Most of the time, it's a "It is what it is" type of situation. But when money controls you, you have a whole nother attitude toward it. The Uber is more expensive now than when you checked 10 minutes ago, so you would rather just stay home and not go anywhere. There's a fee to use a public toilet at a gas station, and you would rather hold it until you get home. A bottle of water is slightly more expensive, and you'd rather spend one hour shopping around for something that's more appropriately priced. It's little things like this, where the alternative is nothing that will change your life, that gets you mad.
Following this, number three: High prices offend you. If high prices offend you, then money has control over you. It's one thing to question the value proposition in relation to the asking price; it's a completely different thing to straight up get offended by it. When people are controlled by money, a high price will make them say, "Will this thing offer me a massage too?" in a condescending voice. They think that expensive items are for people with more money than brains. They split the world into two types of people: those who can afford and those who cannot, which sets them up for a very skewed world view.
Number four: You look at what something costs, not what you get for the price. You're not interested in quality. You don't care about craftsmanship or long-term value; you only care about the cost. You need to know how much money will move out of your wallet, and if that sum makes you uncomfortable, you stop there. So you end up not having anything of real quality—from the mattress you sleep on to the shoes you wear. Everything you own costs as much as you decide it should cost, and you're hyper-protective with it.
Number five: You only buy cheap and on sale. You are the main target of sales tactics. You buy everything on sale because you think you're fooling the system. In your mind, you're doubling the value of your money by buying the one plus one offers. But you don't need half of the stuff you buy; you're getting fooled.
Number six: You underpay for your health. When money controls you, you start to neglect basic care of your health. You think you can recover from an injury without having to spend anything on it. You'd rather endure the physical pain than the financial pain. That's how you have people in their 30s looking and acting like they're in their 60s.
Number seven: You underpay for conveniences. When money controls you, you grow your tolerance to inconveniences because you don't want to spend anything to fix them. You'd rather walk for an hour than pay someone to drive you there in 10 minutes. You would rather try to fix the plumbing in your house by yourself instead of calling a plumber. You adopt an "I'll do it myself because it's free" mentality, which in the long run not only makes you spend more money but you miss out on basic life quality upgrades.
Number eight: You think you would be happy if you were rich. When money controls you, your happiness levels are directly correlated to how much money you think you should have. It's an imaginary number that keeps changing every year. It's starting off low; you think you'd be happy if you had one hundred thousand dollars in your bank account. That would take care of some of your debt, if not all of it, plus some bills for a while. Or you could buy a new car and stop driving that old rusty one. Then the number changes to five hundred thousand dollars because you want to buy a house too, without becoming a slave to the bank. Then that number changes to one million dollars because you'd never have to worry about paying bills again. But then the number changes to a couple of million because, hey, one million dollars isn't what it used to be, and it keeps on going just like this. Soon you get to a point where you think the only way to be happy is to be filthy rich and never have to worry about anything ever again, which of course is not true.
Number nine: You create a money fantasy land. You start thinking about what you would do if you won the lottery. How would you spend those millions of dollars? What kind of car would you drive if you were a millionaire? Where would you live? You trap yourself into a money fantasy land where you are rich and successful, and you daydream about it every time without actually doing anything about it. Winning the lottery becomes your ideal version of success, or writing the next Harry Potter, or creating the next Facebook. You don't care about the product itself; you care about the millions upon millions of dollars falling into your lap overnight.
Number ten: You always look to make a quick buck. If money controls you, you'll do anything to make more. You'll go out of your way to put yourself through unnecessary inconveniences just to make an extra buck. You'll take on more jobs, sleep less, and do overtime just for a small increase in pay. You'll think that making money is extremely hard and the only way to do it is through suffering and burnout. This also makes you susceptible to money scams and people taking advantage of you.
Number eleven: You judge others based on how much money they make. Like we said earlier, when money takes control over you, you split the world into those who can afford and those who cannot. You put everyone in a monetary hierarchy and you use that to judge their character. You cannot see past it. You put yourself under those who make more than you and above those who make less. You often ask yourself, "Who's the richest person in the room?" whenever you're with more people. At this point, money starts to consume you and change who you are as a person.
Number twelve: You compare yourself to others making more money than you. Building on the previous point, when you start to judge others based on how much money they earn, you ultimately end up comparing yourself to them, and you start holding unjustified grudges towards those who make more. After all, they aren't that special, right? They're not better than you. They're not smarter than you. They don't work harder than you, so why do they make more than you? It's not fair; at least that's the narrative here.
Number thirteen: You want people to think you earn way more than you actually do. You start to avoid talking about your job or your salary. You only give faint hints at what you do, and you tend to make it sound like there's a lot more than meets the eye. You start behaving like other people, and this is when you start to overspend on appearances just to keep up the illusion. At this point, money dictates how you behave and how you present yourself to the world.
Number fourteen: You think you're underpaid no matter how much you earn. In a year, you strongly believe you're underpaid. You start blaming the hungry corporations, the greedy CEOs, or those overpaid managers who don't want to pay you what you're worth. You don't look at what you bring to the table anymore or how impactful your skill set is. You start feeling entitled just because you showed up. You won't do anything unless there's something in it for you.
Number fifteen: You believe all rich people are evil. The final sign of money taking complete control over you is when you actually think that all rich people are evil. You think they all lied and cheated others. You believe there's a limited amount of money in the world, and most of it is already gone into the secret pockets of the elite. You feel like you lost the battle, and the only thing left to do is to keep running in circles in the rat race and curse the universe for dealing you such a bad hand. You'll find a lot of people who are at this final stage; money has taken complete control over them.
And hey, Luxor, since you stuck with us until the end, you're getting a bonus. Money seems to always avoid you. You will always struggle with money if you let it control you, no matter how much or how little you make. That's why you still see people living paycheck to paycheck even after numerous promotions. It'll always feel like your money is falling short because you upgrade your life at the same rate you're upgrading your paycheck. So it doesn't seem like your life is changing at all.
As a matter of fact, we made a dedicated video about what you should spend your hard-earned cash on, which we suggest you watch after this one. You'll find it in the description and in the pinned comment. Tomorrow we're doing the reverse of this, and we'll see how things look when you actually take control over your money. We'll see you then, Aluxor. Take care. Thanks for spending some time with us today, Alux. We're so glad you did. If you found value in today's video, please give us a like, hit that bell icon to never miss an upload, and hey, don't forget to subscribe.