A friend of mine once bragged to me that she saves Rs 7,000 every month, come rain or snow.

Just when I began to have immense respect for her financial discipline, she goes and blows up Rs 15,000 on a designer outfit!

Not so much because anyone would spend so much on an outfit (I know quite a few who do).

But because someone would save so meticulously for months for one outfit (which, incidentally, I did not think was worth the extravagance).

When I did get my voice back, I asked her how many months had she harboured the dream of owning such an outfit.

Her response left me speechless: "I was not saving for it. I was just saving. I saw it, I loved it, I had the money, I bought it."

Talk about impulsive buying. This was a classic example.

But you know what is good about other people's mistakes? You learn from them while they pay the price for their folly.

Let's see what we all can learn from this episode.

Text: Larissa Fernand
Illustrations: Dominic Xavier