One of the most treasured segments on the Suze Orman show is all about whether or not you can afford to make a purchase. It’s about whether or not you actually not only have the money in hand, but that all of the pieces of your financial puzzle are in place. Do you really need a major financial guru to tell you about the state of your own personal finance empire? Not at all.

You really don’t need Suze Orman or anyone else to greenlight your purchases. you have the power to actually do this on your own, without anyone’s help. There are just a few things that you’re going to need to think about before you get too deep into things.

You see, you’re going to need to think carefully about the way your finances are right now. Sure, there’s the thrill of buying something new, but is it really something that you want? We’re not just talking about the short term, but the long term as well. You need to make sure that if you go through with a major purchase that you’re going to enjoy it for a long time. That’s one of the top ways you know that you’re already on the right track when it comes to the purchases that you want to make in the future.

Yet is that the only thing that matters? Of course not — you want to make sure that the money that you’re going to spend on the purchase of your choice wouldn’t be better spent on your debts — if you have any.

Usually this is where the problems start. The trouble comes from having debts and other responsibilities where the money would be better off spent on something that will be put to good use in your financial blueprint. It’s not sexy to pay down your debts instead of buying a big screen TV, but we’ve never seen a TV lead to you getting a bigger home. A TV is a depreciating asset, much like a car. You’re not going to be able to see the value of the big screen TV go up — if anything, it’s going to go down. it’s going to cause problems later down the road as you really want to make sure that everything is in proper order.

We’re not saying that you can’t spend on things from time to time. But you only have so many years until retirement. You only have so many years to save up for a home. You only have so much time to make sure that you have a rainy day fund where liquid cash is waiting in case life goes a little sour. Do you really need to sacrifice those things just to have material goods that nobody will care about?

Sure, the big ticket items are indeed status symbols, but there’s a time and a place to get them. You’re going to find that these days, it’s better to have savings in the bank than the bigger house on the block. The global recession has taught a lot of people that now really isn’t the time to get bogged down with material goods at the risk of losing out of everything else that matters in your life.

Setting a good example with your spending doesn’t just benefit you — it also benefits any children that you influence in your day to day life. So daughters and sons, nieces and nephews, and even the children of your friends. When they see adults spending, they assume that it’s okay for them to do the same thing. That’s when you need to just let them know that there’s a time and a place to spend and there’s a time to save as well. The better personal finance lessons that you teach now, the better spending habits that your children will develop when they become adults. it’s all on them then, and not knowing much about finance is one of the things that many adults regret and wish their parents had taught them about.

What choices will you make? You don’t need Suze Orman to make your choices — use common sense and let your financial blueprint be your guide!