My 2008 Discretionary Spending: Progress and Challenges
Published on - January 12th, 2009 (by J.D. Roth) For nearly three years, I’ve chronicled my adventures as I learn about money management. I’ve dug myself out of debt, quit my job to write full time, and begun to build wealth. But how well do I practice what I preach? For the most part, I follow my own advice.
I believe there are two components to building wealth:
- Reducing costs
- Boosting income
Doing one or the other can help you meet your goals, but to really succeed, you must do both. My goal has been to create a significant positive monthly cash flow. I’ve managed to do this. But as my income increases, so does the temptation to spend more. Have I been able to fight the urge? It’s time for the annual review of my largest sources of discretionary spending:
- Comic Books (2005: $2810.52, 2006: $3202.91, 2007: $897.08, 2008: $550.51)
- Although I use comics as a prop for laughs at Get Rich Slowly, I’ve genuinely struggled with my spending on them in the past. Not this year. I made vast improvements in 2008, actually spending less on comics than I had planned. There are two reasons for this. First, I’ve narrowed my focus, collecting only those titles I most desire. I’m also making an effort to read all of the books I’ve bought but never finished. These two changes have helped me to spend less on this hobby.
- Books (2005: $1049.91, 2006: $657.96, 2007: $702.73, 2008: $404.49)
- At one time, I spent over $200 a month on books. Now I spend less than $40. I’m content with this number, especially since many of these are for our monthly book group. One reason my inclination to buy books has decreased is that I’m able to purchase personal-finance books through Get Rich Slowly, the business. (Plus authors and publishers send them to me for free.) This gives me a never-ending source of reading material, and makes me less inclined to spend time in a bookstore. And again, I’m trying to read books I own but have never finished.
- Entertainment (2005: $478.81, 2006: $543.55, 2007: $1094.83, 2008: $897.91)
- This number isn’t as bad as it seems. It includes two Decemberists concerts for me and Kris, and it also includes some of our television viewing. (Remember that Kris and I cut back to basic cable, and now we watch TV through Netflix and through the iTunes Music Store.) There’s also a one-time $236 event here that ought to have been a business expense. I’m not unhappy with my spending on Entertainment.
- Pets (2005: $397.76, 2006: $471.03, 2007: $625.52, 2008: $378.75)
- Many personal finance writers view pets as an unnecessary expense. To me, $35 a month to keep four cats is a bargain. It only costs me about a quarter a day for each animal, and they bring much more joy to my life than that. If Kris would let me, I’d be the “crazy cat lady” on the block. (Are there “crazy cat gentlemen”?) Note that our actual pet expenses are greater. Kris pays for their food, and that’s not reflected in these numbers.
- Food (2005: $5290.06, 2006: $5060.04, 2007: $4108.55, 2008: $5522.00)
- which includes Dining out (2005: $1648.63, 2006: $2018.81, 2007: $2051.93, 2008: $2628.08)
I knew going into 2008 that this category needed some work. I didn’t do a good job. In fact, I managed to reduce spending in nearly every other category except for food. Looking closely at the numbers, however, I’m not that worried. Over two-thirds of this spending occurred during the first half of the year, just after I quit working at the box factory. For those first few months, I was still getting adjusted to working from home alone all day, and often pestered Kris to go out to nice restaurants in the evening. During the last quarter of the year, I only spend $445.72 dining out, which is about our 2005 level. - Vice (2005: $1055.33, 2006: $768.95, 2007: $431.89, 2008: $924.79)
- This includes wine, liquor, pipe tobacco, poker nights, etc. I don’t smoke regularly, but I do smoke a pipe maybe a dozen times a year. Most of this expense is for alcohol at dinner parties and social gatherings. My alcohol consumption did increase during 2008, which is a concern, but that’s not the reason for the increased spending. For the first time ever, we bought a couple of cases of wine. This will actually reduce the “wages of sin” in the long run, but it bumped the number for 2008.
Although this report is interesting, there are problems with my methodology. For example, I’ve included my grocery spending above (although it’s not really discretionary), but have not included spending on exercise equipment (which is discretionary). Also, Kris pays for much of our grocery shopping. Because we keep separate accounts, her share of that expense isn’t reflected in these numbers.
In order to be consistent from year-to-year, however, I’ve elected to continue reporting the same expenses in the same ways. You’ll have to take my word that the figures here are representative of my spending as a whole. This annual report is sort of like tracking a stock market index, I guess. It doesn’t reveal nuances, but it’s still a useful indicator of the Big Picture.
For those keeping score, here’s my discretionary spending on these categories for the past few years:
- $11,082.39 in 2005
- $10,704.44 in 2006
- $7860.60 in 2007
- $8678.45 in 2008
So despite cutting back on the areas that are really important to me — books and comics — my spending increased last year. And most of that increase came from dining out.
What’s interesting to me is that we actually dined out less often in 2008 than in any of the past few years. But with rising food prices and a taste for fancy restaurants, my spending soared. Take a look:
- In 2005, we spent $1423.39 to dine out 100 times, for an average cost of $14.23.
- In 2006, we spent $1869.58 to dine out 108 times, for an average cost of $17.31.
- In 2007, we spent $2051.93 to dine out 84 times, for an average cost of $24.43.
- In 2008, we spent $2628.08 to dine out 77 times, for an average cost of $34.14.
We dined out 23% less often than in 2005, but our average meal cost was more than twice as much! I’ve been complaining to Kris that we don’t eat out often enough. Maybe we can do so a little more often if we curb our expensive tastes. It’s time for more Mike’s and less Gino’s.
In reality, my total expenses in 2008 — which includes everything, and not just those listed here — were the lowest they’ve been since I started tracking them. This is because I have no more debt payments, because of my continued campaign of frugality, and because I’m now working from home.
But here’s a confession: I expect my discretionary spending to rise in 2009. I don’t think it will rise a lot, but it will increase.
Recently I’ve embraced two tools, the balanced money formula and the adult allowance, both of which have help me to see that money isn’t just something to be hoarded. Now that I’ve paid off my debt and accumulated some savings, it’s okay to use money to do things that make me happy. The trick is to never again allow my spending to get out of control. (It’s going to be important for me to continue to fight impulse purchases, for example.)
Remember: there’s nothing inherently wrong with buying things that bring you joy. Problems arise when you finance these purchases with debt. If you’re meeting your other financial goals and have money left over, it’s good to indulge your interests and passions.
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This article is about Budgeting, Real-Life
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I can’t think of 2 better things to spend money on than food and wine, unless maybe its the pets. My dog brings me endless amounts of joy and laughs. Not to mention a blood pressure decrease of 10 points (and its lasted all 6 years we’ve had him, too).
It sounds like you may have reached a threshold in your spending, which was bound to happen. Your costs probably can’t be improved much upon unless you get bored with your hobby and just drop it. Besides pet expenses will fluctuate from year to year, especially as your cats age. And food and vice are likely to increase each year with inflation. Entertainment and books likely will as well although they are more discretionary then food. But I’d be happy with your numbers. My husband and I really rack up the food and alcohol tabs.
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I really appreciate your sharing your specific, real-life numbers in the different categories — it’s a grounded reality check for the rest of us. We’ve got to measure an expense to then manage it.
I did this with my wine expense, only I did it on the lifetime level rather the one-year timespan. What I found was rather shocking: http://tiny.cc.3RQJA
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It seems like you are making great progress in aligning your spending with your values/interests now that your original goal of paying off debt has been met.
I have reached a point where I’ve made a choice not to engage in efforts to substantially cut my expenses. I think they are in line with our values, and we are just trying to hold steady.
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Are you including furniture damage in the cat expenses?
I favor the going out less often but to nice restaurants option myself, but by less often I mean probably less than twice a month on average. Thought about cooking classes to learn to prepare fancy meals at home? Invite some friends, so it’s still an occasion rather than a chore.
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J.D. I totally agree with you it’s the balance between making more money and spending less. So many people think that just cutting back will be enough, but it’s not. Every one of us needs to have a little entrepreneural spirit within us. One thing that you didn’t mention is the concept of “do I really need this”. Many of the things on market today didn’t exist 10 years ago, “and did we survive not spending our money on it”. I think the answer is yes!!
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It’s always tough to assign categories to spending. I think you’re doing a great job by keeping the same categories, year over year to get a consistent outlook.
The fact that you are so open about your life and finances is what makes G-R-S so wonderful. Thank you!
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I hope your maximizing the fullest with the use of coupons! so many pet food coupons out there to save a bundle of money
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It’s fun to get your perspective on eating out. As I read your column I had all this advice going through my head about how you could cook fancy meals at home to save money, but then I realized that the food isn’t the point for you. When you indicated that you’d keep eating out but choose less expensive restaurants I realized that you’re not searching for fantastic food that you’re unable to prepare at home but that some other part of the experience is drawing you to eat out.
It sounds like you’re pretty happy with your status quo, so maybe you don’t want to change this habit. If you do want to save some money in this area, you could figure out what attracts you to eating out and see if there is another equally enjoyable but less expensive way of meeting that need.
Good job with the books and comics, by the way. Very tough habits to curb.
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I can see why it is interesting to use the same categories for a long term look. But as you point out, things change when you get your debt load under control, and at some point the distinction between discretionary/nondiscretionary becomes really thin — we usually have choices about almost everything: how much to pay on the mortgage (over the minimum); what car you choose to drive, and what gasoline you put in it, and so on, so eventually, I think that one just needs to track how much one is spending and on what, and react to that.
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Those numbers actually look pretty good, congrats!
This is a good idea to track these things… I hope to begin doing this more thoroughly for 2009.
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It’s great to see that your discretionary spending is headed in your desired direction. I hope to be implementing something similar in my life.
Great stuff J.D!
-HIB
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I agree. Pets are worth the expense. We have 3 cats and 1 dog and we spend on average $100 per month on all of our pets. This includes their good quality pet food (which decreases the costs of vet bills considerably) and our dogs thyroid medicine ($20 per month).
I track everything down to the T. I can tell you how much I spent on cat litter each year for the past 10 years. It’s a great way to track how much prices increase and how much you’re hard work at decreasing spending in certain categories is working.
We worked hard at trying to reduce our grocery spending, while still trying to eat mostly local, organic and unprocessed foods. Ironically while eating healtfully all year (which people say is more expensive) we are spending less each month.
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I’m really interested to see what you spend your “fun” money on in 2009. I too have cut back my book spending, and am working on dining out and vice spending. Its helped me realize that when I get rid of my debt, I would like to spend fun money on travel!
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I really liked this post, comparing how much I spend on different categories is fun and enlightening. I am not sure how you track your expenses, but I found using googledocs to be very helpful. I liked it so much, that I wrote a basic guide.
http://austyrite.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-track-expenses-in-three-easy.html
-ThatGuy
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I think you’re on the right track here with realizing that numbers are only half the story. So long as your spending responsibly, there is no frugal commandment against guilty pleasures. As we all like to remind non-frugal folks, it’s not about deprivation — it’s about wise spending.
Also, given that have a purr-meister sitting on my shins as I type this, I definitely have to agree about the cost of pets. There’s the potential for high costs, if they do get sick. But they bring us joy. And, especially if they’re inside cats, for relatively little money.
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@ThatGuy
I’ve tried to use Google Docs for a variety of things, but just cannot seem to incorporate it into my workflow. If I could do that, it would make my life so much easier.
For personal finance, I use Quicken. The desktop version. For Mac. It’s like the world’s worst personal finance software, but it works for me. I also use QuickBooks for Get Rich Slowly, the business.
I actually have a post I’ve been working on for months (a year?) that explains my process.
@brooklynchick
Right now, I don’t have plans to spend my money on anything. I’ve simply given myself permission to not be so tight. I actually like the idea of planning my spending in advance, and may do that. (I’d thought of that last night while writing this piece.)
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J.D. After years of Quicken in Windows, I bought a Mac and tried to transfer my data. Long story short, I kept my old laptop until Apple made a Mac with ability to do Windows, because the alternative was to start back about 15 years and enter all the data. Even the guys at the Genius Bar admitted it had real limitations, including no transfer of data on investments or mortgages, just to name a couple.
Do you hate Quicken? Or just Quicken for Mac?
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We started spending the same amount $35-$40 for ‘better’ , but less quantity (30lbs vs a 40lb from walmart) dog food which doesn’t have any by-products or corn for our single dog. He actually likes it and gobbles up the whole bowl rather than grazing from it, and his coat has become shiny (as advertised). Its looking like a 30 lb bag can last 1.5 month for him. Better ingredients in means better overall health, and we know he’s happy so its worth it to us. We consider his food as grocery spending.
Oakleys for me is the equivalent of the comic books. I had already been tracking my lifetime spending on their products (15 years), and it really wasn’t that bad. I could easily turn around and recoup all my money if it was necessary, but I never would. I started Quicken this year, and made a category called Oakley so I could pinpoint this years spending on it. I typically don’t buy anything Oakley on impulse either, its usually something I think about for a while.
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@Hope
I just hate Quicken for Mac. I think that Quicken for Windows (or at least the last version I saw of it, back in 2001) is pretty darn good. My complaints are mostly UI-based, though I’m also pretty frustrated that the online updates for my investments seem to have died. It’s nice to look at my balances in Quicken right now, but I have to keep reminding myself that they’re all from mid-September.
And though maybe I’m shooting myself in the foot to say this about a GRS advertiser (hints of Friday’s discussion!), I think that Intuit as a company often sucks. I hate a lot of their policies.
The best personal finance software I ever used? “Managing Your Money” from Andrew Tobias back in the early 1990s.
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Since I subscribed to your site, which is so informative and helpful, I don’t recall you writing about an allocation of funds towards helping out the needy. For example, I plan to start my Foundation to help out kids in some ways (more on that later in the year). But, I realized that I could contribute and help out. I mentioned this to some friends who objected with their pessimism. I countered that I cannot quickly solve the problems but by fueling negativity I am not helping alleviate them either. At any rate, I also countered that a lot of people spend on drinks, excess coffee, cigarrettes, etc. If people made the commitment to save or cut back on items as such, they could save money and help out the needy. Can you write an article about that, please. (see the Fabretto Foundation).
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Well, I use a notebook to track all my spending, so at least you’ve got some automation on me! (However I love my grubby little notebook and am already mourning that I can’t find an exact duplicate to use when it runs out of pages in June of this year.)
If you don’t think the numbers are reflective of your full picture, have you thought of adding a metric? Comparing your spending to that of previous years is great, but you could always start a new set of numbers to use going forward.
For the first time I’m trying to pre-allocate my spending in various categories, but I pretty much blew it this weekend, only the 2nd weekend of the year! However I’m going to TRY to get back in the saddle and see how close I can get to my budgeted amounts this month. It’s a learning curve, right?
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Roger wrote: Since I subscribed to your site, which is so informative and helpful, I don’t recall you writing about an allocation of funds towards helping out the needy.
Actually, I’ve written about this a couple of times before. I’ve also had long discussions about this subject with my wife and with my accountant (who is also a friend). Here’s the short version:
I wasn’t raised in a culture of giving. It’s not something my family did. Our church asked for a 10% tithe, but we didn’t even do that very often. So, I don’t have this ingrained. However, it’s something I want to do. All the same, it’s difficult. I do make charitable donations, but nowhere near as much as I could (or should?). Whenever I think about doing a donation, I get scared. “What if I need that money in the future?” I ask myself. So, I don’t contribute as much as many other people do.
I write about the subject once or twice a year, and it’s definitely on my list as something I need to explore in the future.
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Hi JD,
I started reading GRS last year and it really was a good way to stay on track.
I would suggest that you also look at your monthly spending and calculate how long you have to work(based on your hourly wage) to make enough after tax money for that expense. You might find you could work less, be less stressed and needs less vices, if you simply eliminate or greatly reduce certain expenses.
Allen
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Have you written elsewhere about keeping separate accounts from your wife? I’ve known couples that keep their own accounts for “fun” spending, but it seems like it could get challenging to handle separate accounts for your daily spending on things such as cat food, especially if both of you may go to the store. How does that work for you? That could be a great potential post since I know many couples that struggle with the balance between mixing accounts and keeping some things separate.
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Hi JD-
Excellent post. I just did my budget review for 2008. I was so excited to see a reduction in dining out for me (which was one of my goals to reduce). However, my pet expenditures increased due to my wonderful rescue pup who joined my cat, boyfriend and I in our home. Knowing we were eager to add to our family, we sat down and talked about how we could make it work, and found a lot of extra spending in dining out (a habit picked up and mastered by living in the culinary capital of San Francisco for 3 years). Wow, was it worth it!!! My dog needed a lot of training and we were able to address his needs, as well as some extra surprise medical needs he had. We cut our dining out from $300/mo. to $75/mo., annual average. (this includes lattes and days when we don’t pack our lunches, ordering pizza, etc.) I am so proud of us!
And the dog was so worth it. I think the cat is happier, too (Sounds weird, but it gives her someone to boss around and hang out with while we are at work).
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Thanks for sharing. I really like to see how as time wnet on the decresionary spending decreased, yet overall your financial health and mental health continued to improve.
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@Katie
Here’s my take on joint and separate accounts. Basically, I believe each couple should do what works for them. Kris and I have always had separate accounts, and that system has worked well for us. There are places where we’ve merged, but mostly we keep our finances discrete.
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JD-
I agree with the Quicken for Mac. Microsoft Money, for me, was much better. Personally that is the only thing in the world I prefer a PC for.
We tweaked our budget mid-year like we always do, and it lost all of our information when we run reports, so I have to compare my 2008 budget by hand! I can do it, but isn’t the point of a money management software to make it easier on us, make us want to manage our money?
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W/ Allison.
Hey J.D. I also appreciate real numbers. Any chance you could do a piece on the willingness of individuals to share their financial data?
I have often talked finances with friends, some find it prying some find it enlightening, and I wonder why the difference? I don’t do it to 1-up them (like I could) but to see if I’m making the best choices, smart purchases, good career moves, etc.
In short why do some of us share and others don’t?
Food for thought.
-Jim
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Hmm, I should split up food costs into ‘grocery’ and ‘dining out’ in my budget. That’s a great idea.
You mention that you and Kris have separate accounts–have you written a post regarding this? In a couple of years I will be getting married, and I want to have an idea of how we’ll divide our money (and pay for bills, etc) before then.
Whoops, looks like someone beat me too it … I’ll check out the link you included.
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That’s a lot of restaurants and booze
Your cat spending actually seems very frugal. Is that budget adequate for you? I try to do annual vet exams, and I only use high-quality cat food (would never feed my cats the scary grocery store brands that barely even have real meat in them), plus I make sure they get a little treat every day of canned for or a tidbit of meat. I also buy more expensive litter that’s better for the environment and the cats. I don’t track things precisely, but I’m guessing I spend a lot more than you do, and I only have 2 cats.
I hope that one day you do become the “crazy cat guy!” You seem wonderful with them, and there are certainly enough cats in the world who need to be rescued from shelters and would find your home to be heaven.
Regarding giving: Make a point of practicing!! Like anything else, you have to flex your giving muscles to build them. And you have to do things repeatedly for them to become habits. I work in fundraising and think that in addition to being the “right” thing to do, becoming a donor/philanthropist is very empowering. Decades ago I started with giving in small amounts ($10-50). Then I’d force myself to write $100 checks. I felt nervous, but I also felt a little thrill and it was exciting. Then I moved up to $500-1000 checks. It’s exciting to give more than feels comfortable and to feel yourself expanding in that area. It’s also exciting to be giving enough to actually make a difference (for me that usually involves giving to the Humane Society and maybe a couple of other animal groups and a couple of women’s rights groups).
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JD,
I just purchased Quicken and bought it because they advertised it would upload information right from my bank account and allocate it into the correct catagories for easier tracking. It turns out there is a monthly fee for doing this ($10.00). That information is not printed anywhere on the software. I am trying to use the software, but I find it a bit cumbersome. If you have questions regarding how to use the software and want to call someone with the company it costs $20.00. What I bought your product, aren’t you supposed to provide some type of advice or service to the customer?
I’ll use it because I bought it, but I am not a fan of Quicken after trying to use it over the past month. I am looking forward to your entry on your experiences with Quicken.
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Kristina wrote: I hope that one day you do become the “crazy cat guy!”
HA! I can see it now. That’s my next site after GRS, and it’s going to be HUGE. I’ll take paid advertorials for Cat Chow.
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As for books, I don’t think I have spent over 3 bucks on a book in the past year. I am a fan of classics (I hated reading them in High School so I am re-reading them to find I like them) and on ebay books go for pennys. Plus, I work at a school and many times the library gets new books to replace old copies and gives the old copies away. And when a student finishes reading an assigned book, they normally just give it to the library and the library is overstocked with them so I take them
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Wow, I thought I was the only one struggling with food expenses after making the switch to working from home. That’s a big one for me right now…eating out is a much bigger deal to me than it used to be.
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Wow, not only am I impressed that you have the spending broken down to such levels but that you have it for the past 4 years. Great analysis of your spending patterns.
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We call my dad, who has six cats (two are wild and only come by for meals), the Cat Wrangler, the Cat Whisperer, and we refer to the cats as his army or his legion.
I want to get better about allowing myself to spend a bit more. Spending money gives me anxiety, even if it’s a well-researched expenditure. We spent last year hunkering down and paying off all debt, but even now that we’re debt-free and have decent savings, it’s hard to spend on things that aren’t true necessities. I think about the house we’re building, the vacation we want to take, and our other goals, and I feel guilty about spending money.
I used to spend with abandon only to be shocked when the CC bill arrived. Strangely, I’m on the other end of the spectrum, and I track every penny. I need some balance there.
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Discretionary spending is a timely topic: last night I found Discover card’s new “Spend Analyzer”. When you log into your account, it creates a pie chart of your spending categories in snapshots ranging from 1 to 24 months. When you click on a wedge, it accesses the specific transactions. I am loving this thing! It’s like Quicken without the confusing BS.
As far as people chastising about charitable giving, not only is that uncalled for, but so many folks overlook the value of charitable giving of TIME. Some places need your back more than your greenbacks.
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These are good numbers, J.D. To put them into context, it would help to know how these numbers (and the percentage of your income they represent) compare to what you’re saving. Your discretionary spending may have increased overall, but how does the rate of increase compare to the rate of increase in your income?
I can relate to the food, wine, and dining-out expenses, but these for me are partly a hobby. Like you, I’d rather have a few dozen high quality restaurant meals per year than several dozen or hundreds of forgettable restaurant meals.
In any event, you’re a good example of someone who’s careful and reasonably frugal yet not miserly and ascetic.
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I have never used Quicken, but I know some people are happy with it. As an alternative to Quicken, you might try Mint.com. I’m not sure it’s as good…but it’s free and it’s easy to use.
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@Kristina – what litter are you using?
@Krystal – it’s not at all strange that your kitty is happier with someone to boss around! It’s better for most animals to have a companion animal, and a dog will do if you don’t have another cat. Contrary to a lot of “expert” opinions, most cats prefer company … on their terms. Yes, certainly, there are single-cat households where the cat does prefer to be single, but in my experience, that’s not the majority of cats. I speak from my twenty-five-plus years of experience as a Crazy Cat Lady, with LOTS of opportunity to take note of feline behaviour!
I think it’s wonderful that you’re hoping for your own Cat Crazy some day, J.D. Fair warning: It can get expensive. REALLY expensive. I remember one summer where I was at the vet’s three nights a week, with three different cats each night. That adds up really quickly when it’s coming out of a private pocket. It’s best to be the Crazy Cat Person AFTER you’ve financed your retirement, or you could find out, one day, that your entire retirement fund now says “meow”. If I had saved half – a quarter – of what I spent, I’d be a whole lot better off now. But how can I regret feeding kitties when they’re hungry, or taking them to the vet’s when they’re sick?
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Quicken charges $10 per month, just for connecting to each bank account and credit card??? Thats news to me. Are you sure thats not their Billpay service? I know it lets you download your finances once or twice without registering, but then keeps pestering you to register in order to sync up with your accounts, even if you purchase a legit copy of their website.
Every time the subject of free personnel finance software comes up, which you have access to from anywhere…just keep in mind that the company providing the software for free will read and analyze your private data, and there is also the possibility of stolen financial data too. If its installed software on your standalone machine which you paid the $40 for, the software developer doesn’t see anything. Quicken premier does have an online backup service (not sure if you pay for it or not), and I highly recommend not using it for the same reasons. If you need to make backups, just copy the files in your My Documents onto a standalone CD or DVD and place it in a safe place….thats it.
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As far as entertainment is concerned-have you tried hulu.com for some of your television and movie interests? hulu.com provides “free” mainstream TV and movies (at the cost of your internet connection which for you is presumably a business expense anyway) online (very high quality programming, closed captioning, etc.. I urge you to check it out if you haven’t already. Personally, I’ve started to really cut back on TV and movies as I’ve observed how much they can waste my valuable time! That isn’t to say I don’t go to the local dollar theater or rent the occasional movie-I’ve simply taken more personable responsibility and self direction for this kind of entertainment. I also do a lot reading because it is both relaxing, inspiring, and edifying (definitely worth my time). Other good free online resources include pandora.com (free online radio which uses your requests to program songs) and songza.com which will play any song you request on the spot! Enjoy!
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La BellaDonna: There are 3 brands that I like and recommend…
World’s Best Cat Litter
Swheat Scoop
Space (I believe it’s sold exclusively at Trader Joes)
World’s Best is corn-based and Swheat is wheat-based. They are so natural that squirrels would have an occasional snack when I had the litter box on my balcony! This way, your cats aren’t breathing in harmful chemicals that many other litters have. They are also much better for the environment than clay litters. When I had a balcony, I found that I could even throw the clumps over the balcony (or bury it in a hole outside) and it would quickly compost. Since it’s not clay, you can also flush both of these litters (though I’ve recently heard that this is bad for sea animals and is part of the reason that seal populations are suffering in California — something about micro-organisms in cat feces).
I used World’s Best and Swheat when I had the litter box on my balcony or in the bathroom. I recently moved and had to put the litter box in a coat closet (sort of gross, I know). I switched to Space, which is silica based, because it seemed a little less dusty and it didn’t lead to quite as many little bits outside the box.
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Sure enough, just as I had discussed cutting back in one category (dining) to pay for another (pets), my dog, about 2 hours ago, cut his paw open on a walk, and is now coming out of sedation after being stitched up by the vet (it was a BIG gash!). I am reviewing my budget to see where to cut to pay for this unexpected expenditure (I am not debt-free yet, and I work my budget hard every month to pay off my credit card debt). Turns out, I have enough in non-emergency fund savings (this is an account I use, hooked with my checking, and I accrue a couple hundred every so often to stash in my emergency fund or toward my credit card payments). Looks like I will be paying off less than I expected on those cards this month! (An argument for saving WHILE you are paying off debt!)
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Although I am the world’s greatest tightwad, it makes me sad to see so many people talk about not spending on books!
Also, this may be too personal, but it would be interesting to see your totals if you combined, say, food and pet costs, with the totals of your spouse. That would indicate what these areas cost in total for your household. Another also, following Warren et al, sharing what percentage of income various areas constitute.
thanks for an interesting post!
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As the cost of living has a tendency to trend upwards over time. It becomes increasingly more difficult to spend less in some categories. My wife and I began using the “Envelope System” espoused by Dave Ramsey, about ten years ago. Each pay period, we allocated money to our different desired spending categories. When the money ran out, we were done spending, until the next pay period. For us, it created a forced discipline. Our dicretionary expenses are indeed higher today than they were then. But, by developing a budget and allocating our money towards what was important to us, we became debt-free, accept for the house. Because our bills have been eliminated, we have been enabled to spend our money on what is Really important to us. While reducing consumption can be a meaningful goal, ridding oneself from the shackels of debt, too, can be a most satisfying experience.
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“Many personal finance writers view pets as an unnecessary expense.”
Do they also view children as such? They are optional, after all. Pets are MUCH cheaper and many people find the benefits are greater.
We also had a huge and un-planned-for vet bill last week. I have the money to pay for it; it wasn’t what I WANTED to use that money for, but I’m glad it’s there. And the way she greeted me when I got home yesterday after a bad day made it all worth it.
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I understand the difficulty of giving – even though I think it is important. I am married to a huge spender and am constantly either trying to come up with an extra $300 or worried that if it was alright this month he will slip and it will be twice as bad next month. He brings home junk which I move and it only comes out of it’s packaging so he can look at it and be pleased and then it is stacked with the rest of junk. He also would give to anyone, however, the reactionary effect is that I become cheap and want to clench tightly to every penny – sometimes quite literally. I am looking forward to the day that I can make some of those choices about giving because it is an important way to support causes you care about. In the meantime I volunteer when I can – I may not have a lot of time, but that doesn’t cause overdrafts and over the limit fees.
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Hi JD and the Comment Cloud, I recently discovered this blog and am loving it. I am always looking for reinforcement, rather than tips, since I am pretty careful with money but it does get hard sometimes to stay focused. Specifically on the topic of books: I consider my collection part of my retirement fund. I have an Amazon “budget” of $50 per paycheck (that’s about 3% of my net), and part of it goes for music which I need for the business I’m starting (dance teacher), but most goes for books or DVDs. I can happily re-read or re-view multiple times with anything I consider a “keeper.” When I retire – 30 years from now – if my income goes down, I’ll have that collection to keep me entertained.
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