Hi everyone,
This might sound a bit strange, but I genuinely don’t know how to judge prices, and it stresses me out more than it should.
For the first time ( as an 18 year old) I’m actually able to buy things for myself. Growing up, I didn’t really have the chance to go out and spend money or choose what I wanted, so I never developed a sense of what things “should” cost.
Now I find myself overthinking everything. For example:
- I’ll see something like a £14 purse and feel like it’s too much… but I also don’t know if that’s actually normal
- £20 for a lipstick feels expensive to me, but I know some people see that as standard
- £12 jeans feel “reasonable,” but then I wonder if that’s actually just low quality
It’s like I don’t have a baseline, so every purchase turns into this mental debate of “is this a bad decision?” and it honestly makes me anxious.
I think part of it comes from not having much growing up, so now I’m very cautious and almost scared of “wasting money.” But at the same time, I don’t want to feel guilty every time I buy something small that I like.
I guess I’m trying to figure out:
- Is this a normal thing to struggle with?
- How do people actually learn what’s “worth it” vs “too expensive”?
- How can I stop overthinking small purchases so much?
If anyone has been through something similar or has advice on how to build a better sense of money/value, I’d really appreciate it.
Thank you :)