Why is it easy to spend money you did not earn but very hard to spend if you earned it??
This question is kind of funny and I can pretty much relate to it. It's really true that spending money which was given to us is much easier than spending our hard earned money.
I don't know the exact reason for it, but here's what I think...
If someone try to spend his or her hard-earned money, it's really difficult to do so, because they are aware on how they earned it. The sacrifices, hard work and effort they have put into earning that money is there. It's difficult for them to spend it, especially on mere wants.
In contrast, if one receives money from another person... it feels like "easy-money". You didn't put any effort in earning it, so a person would feel more free to spend it. The idea of "It wasn't difficult for me to get this money, so I can easily let go of this through spending."
As for the hard earned money, we tend to think "I spent too much time and effort in earning this, so I should spend it wisely, or spend it on things that are worthy of it.