If you are like many of us, satisfied with what you have until you see what someone else has? One day your neighbor pulls into their driveway in a shiny new minivan and you are overcome by a sudden desire to have something as good, or better, than what they just drove home.

It’s a classic case of keeping up with the Jones’ – coveting what others have, despite the fact that what you have is actually pretty good. The truth is there is no keeping up with the Jones’, or the Smiths or the Lees. There will always be someone with a better computer system, a faster car and a bigger more elaborate entertainment centre. Some of those people will actually be able to afford their many luxuries. Others will go into considerable debt trying to impress people with material goods.

The key to controlling the green-eyed monster is to compare your needs to your wants. Calculating how long you must work to pay off an item is often a useful way to determine if the purchase you are considering is something you truly ‘need.’

Calculate your actual hourly wage after taxes and work-related expenses such as daycare and commuting, and then use this figure to estimate how many hours you would need to work to pay for them. Let’s say your make $15 per hour after deductions and want to buy a state-of-the-art DVD/TV combo priced at $1,500. It isn’t in your budget and it certainly wasn’t planned, but it sure would impress your friends. Do some quick calculations and you’ll soon discover that you must work 100 hours or over 12 full days to pay for this unnecessary extravagance. Finance the purchase and you’ll have to work even longer!

Now imagine the extravagance is a new car you must have, although your 6-year-old car is working just fine. If you take out a loan for $25,000 and pay it off over three years at 5.9% you will pay $759.42 per month, the equivalent of 50 hours of work per month! Even someone in a higher income bracket will have to sacrifice dearly. A person making $20 per hour after deductions must work 37 hours each month just to pay for that shiny new car. That’s basically a full week each month working simply to pay off a car you didn’t need in the first place.

Beyond the unnecessary expense, the question becomes; Who exactly are you trying to impress and why? When you think back on the people who have truly impressed you over the years – were you impressed by their things – or by other less measurable qualities?