People differ in how they calculate the value of money. These differences mainly arise from the following factors:
Income differences: If the income is the same 1,000 yuan, money earned through hard work will be assigned to a work income account, and you will be reluctant to spend it. Money received as a red envelope will be assigned to a windfall income account, and you will be more willing to spend it.
Spending differences: For the same 1,000-yuan shirt, if you see it in everyday life, you will assign it to your daily clothing account and be reluctant to buy it; if you see it before an interview, you will assign it to your investment-in-the-future account and buy it without hesitation.
Differences in purpose: For the same high-performance computer costing 10,000 yuan, if you consider using it to watch shows and play games, you will assign it to your entertainment account and think it is expensive. If you consider using it for video editing, creative work, or software development, you will assign it to your productivity account and no longer think it is expensive.
Differences in planning: Both amounts are earned through labor. If the income is exactly 10,000 yuan, you will assign it to a savings account and put it away. If the income is 238 yuan, you will assign it to a petty cash account and spend it to enjoy yourself.
Everyone has many different accounts, and the way they view various types of income and spending is influenced by the source of the income, their current circumstances, the energy they had in the past, their living environment, and their cultural habits. So, if you break one steamed bun in half, are you being stingy or frugal? If you buy a phone costing 8,000 yuan, does that count as extravagance? Everyone has a different answer. We are always arguing over different ideas about what is worth spending money on and what is not, but mental accounting seems to help us build a bridge of mutual understanding—or provide an explanation for some of our own spending behaviors.
We can also see merchants using mental accounts to influence consumption—for example, framing a purchase as equivalent to a cup of milk tea a day (meaning it's cheap), as a status symbol, as a token of a child's filial devotion, as not a toy but a piece of a child's childhood, and so on. It's all about switching our judgment of what the expense is for. So before spending, think it over: is my spending purpose genuinely justified, or is the merchant playing tricks on me?
We can also achieve savings by deliberately switching between mental accounts. This windfall may have come easily, but it's still equivalent to a month's salary. By switching the income account, we can cherish what we've gained: one fancy meal is like eating hot pot at home ten times. By switching the expense account, we can spend more cautiously.
Mental accounts themselves don't guide consumption; they simply help us understand our own spending psychology and behavior more clearly, so that we can make more rational judgments about our own spending decisions. So please don't start doubting and negating the spending habits you've developed over many years just because you've learned about mental accounts. We developed these habits precisely because, over a long stretch of life, most of their outcomes were good or at least not bad. They aren't senseless stinginess or extravagance—it's just that the reasons don't come to mind right away. If you overhaul them rashly, you might hurt yourself. To negate yourself, you must first affirm part of yourself; to doubt yourself, you must first trust part of yourself—trust that you had your reasons for doing things this way, it's just that your brain is too lazy to tell you.