“You know, you’ve been spending a lot of money lately,” Kris told me the other day. I’d just returned from yet another shopping trip to REI.
“I have?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Can’t you tell?”
Actually, I guess I can. I’ve been buying relatively expensive clothes (I’ve lost 40 pounds and need to replenish my wardrobe, but I’m not doing it with thrift-store clothes as I have in the past), purchasing travel gadgets (new suitcase, travel radio, collapsible chopsticks, more clothes), picking up books and comics, and even allowing myself to buy frivolous things like a pocketwatch.
But because I decided to stop tracking my spending earlier this year, I don’t have the numbers to show me where every penny is going. Looking at my checkbook, I know I’m not spending beyond my means — my splurges are less than my income and I’m still meeting my financial goals — but I don’t know precisely how much I’ve spent on clothes. Or comic books. Or pocketwatches.
You know what? I don’t like how this makes me feel. It seems dangerously close to the out-of-control J.D. that spent his way into debt during the 1990s. There’s nothing wrong with buying things I want and need, but I truly believe that spending needs to be done purposefully. For me, I guess that means tracking my income and expenses. I’ve decided it’s time to hit the reset switch, to get back to basics.
To that end, I’m going to make some changes to my current financial structure. I don’t intend to revert to the tight discipline I exercised while getting out of debt and working to quit my day job. But I’m going to look for a happy medium — someplace between where I am now and where I was then.
What does this mean? For starters, I’m going to make some course corrections. I’m going to:
- Adopt a spending plan. I’m not a man who can use a strict budget — and I don’t think I need one. I’ve been using the Balanced Money Formula as a broad budget framework, and I think it’s great. But I’m also going to implement a sort of spending plan — a roadmap for my money. This isn’t a detailed budget, but a rough prediction of my cash flow for the next couple of years. It’ll help me see whether I can afford, for example, the trip to Argentina we want to take in 2012 or 2013.
- Track my spending. Yes, yes, I know — earlier this year, I wrote about why I no longer track every penny I spend. Those reasons are still valid, I suppose, but the truth is that after several months of not tracking my money, I don’t like the feeling that comes from having a financial “black box”. I don’t like the mystery. I want to know how much I’m spending on comics and clothes and Crossfit. I want to see it all in black and white. So, I’m going to get the new version of Quicken and start from scratch.
- Give myself an adult allowance. A couple of years ago, I adopted the adult allowance. Every month, I’d withdraw $200 in cash, which was my “goofing around” money. This is the money I’d use when playing laser tag with the guys, or buying books, or walking to lunch at the nearby Hawaiian restaurant. Like many people, I loved having this finite cash reserve. I always knew how much I could spend on indulgences, and I never felt guilty for doing so. Somehow I got out of the habit of using the adult allowance, though, and have just been charging everything to my rewards card. Not anymore!
As I said, I’m getting back to basics. These are all steps I recommend to other folks feel like they’re starting to flounder. And let me re-iterate that I’m not in bad financial shape. Things are fine. I’m just trying to make small course corrections now so that I don’t find myself having to make larger adjustments later.
I may have to implement other steps in the weeks ahead, but I think these three tasks are a great place to start. If you can think of other small course corrections I ought to make, please let me know.
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My husband and I were having a similar conversation this past weekend. Over the past few weeks, we have been spending quite a bit. Some of it was unplanned such as a broken hot water heater and new tires for our car, and some of it was planned, like the new flooring for our family room and our kid-free, get-away weekend to Annapolis. As my husband was planning some other large purchases, I told him that our budget needed to breathe a little bit. Let’s let the dust settle, so I can make sure we are still okay. We have the money in our savings for these things, but it all happened in a one month period and we are ‘going back to basics’ too until I’m positive we didn’t overdo it last month.
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I was just thinking the same thing J.D. My wife and I are starting to become a little more lax when it comes to tracking our expenses. We have plenty at the end of the month, but just like you, I don’t know exactly where it is going. Starting soon, we are certainly getting back to the basics as well.
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Hi JD,
What I really like about the back to basics concept is that it doesn’t have to apply just to finances. It can apply to nutrition, exercise, and other self-improvement topics just as well.
That’s why I think it’s so important to analyze and journal what we’re doing when we’re operating at our best, so that whenever we go off course, we’re able to quickly get back to doing the things that are best for us.
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Collapsible chopsticks?
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Welcome to the Sam family, because you have described our post debt lifestyle.
We work an annual and monthly spending plan. I keep meaning to move to a more precise budget but I like the flexibility of a spending plan rather than having narrow categories. The spending plan includes our bills, our debt paydown efforts (only mortgage at this point) and our savings goals for the year (short, mid and long term). Then we work it on a monthly or really a biweekly system.
We track our spending via Quicken which is super easy in that we use our debit cards for 95% of our spending and we can download our debit history directly into Quicken.
And we use the allowance system for our day to day spending. We each have the same amount, we don’t have to report to each other although sometimes Mr. Sam will complain that the groceries came out of his allownace and that means the dry cleaning has to come out of mine. Our allowance system includes more than just indulgances it includes all discretionary spending for a two week period. But since we know, since we track our spending, how much we spend on more mandatory discretionary spending (groceries, gas, etc.) our allowance is designed to cover both discretionary necessities and indulgances.
If one is smart with one’s allowance, i.e. bringing lunch each day and avoiding take out, one can hoard her allowance for expensive shoes.
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Quicken: start from scratch!?!? As one who has 20 years of data…stock purchases, etc. in Quicken, I’ve got to ask…. how on earth do you “start again”???
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Smart move. With the holidays approaching, it’s probably a good idea for all of us to plan, track and get put on an allowance.
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Good for you! The adult allowance works very well with my DH. I don’t really have as natural spending tendencies.
We (I) review our spending retrospectively. Every month I look at the credit card bills and how much we have left in the bank account and make (mostly food spending) corrections for the next month. We have enough extra income over our spending to make that doable. If we were spending closer to our income we’d have to track our spending earlier and adopt a more rigid form of money management.
Rebuilding a new wardrobe is expensive, but hopefully you won’t ever need to buy bigger clothing again!
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I think it is great that you are re-evaluating some of the basics you used to get out of debt. I am sure it is very easy to start drifting back toward old habits and not even realize it. Good for Kris to notice it. Had she not said anything, do you think you would have realized it yourself?
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J.D., I have a lot of respect for you and your mission here. But if you’ve put yourself in a place where you can spend without worrying about putting yourself in financial trouble, what is the motivation for making things more difficult for yourself?
Look, you and your whole audience all know that out-of-control spending and financial trouble causes terrible stress, hurts relationships, and can ruin lives. But you seem to have conquered your demons: you can spend without thinking about where the dollars are coming from or going to and still live within your means and meet all your financial goals.
Don’t make the mistake of becoming a “stress junkie” just because you don’t feel adequately uncomfortable with your low-awareness purchases. You put a lot of hard work into earning your financial freedom; if you can live without worrying about every purchase you make, you should embrace the fruits of your labors.
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I wonder if there’s a value in “mindfulness” about all aspects of life; it sounds as if it’s not the actual money at all, its the idea of spending without much thought involved, in the same way that one can start eating without thinking about what one is eating, or mindlessly spending time wandering around the internet from link to link…
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Good for you JD. My husband and I each keep our blow money and that’s what it is. We maintain our goals every month because we don’t use the debit card for purchases that are not household related. I understand that you have maintained your goals also so that’s good. What worries me is that it took Kris to point it out to you to make you stop and look. Seems like that’s a recurring theme in your relationship so thank goodness for Kris, huh? We’re still hypersensitive to our spending though because our renter’s are two months behind AND we have a huge goal of paying off our mortgage in the next four years.
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@Lou (#4)
Collapsible chopsticks! They’re an awesome travel tool. (Though I didn’t pay $35 for mine.)
@Chris (#10)
Great question. I do like that I’ve built a life where I can spend without worrying. But I want to keep it that way, you know? I want to be able to continue spending on the things I want. The steps I’m suggesting are small, easy ways to make sure this happens. They don’t impose hard limits on my current lifestyle, but instead give it structure and then watch to make sure that structure doesn’t collapse. In a way, I think of these steps as helping me maintain my current lifestyle without getting out of control.
What I’m looking for is a middle ground: Something between the regimented financial life of my get-out-of-debt years and the completely unreigned finances of the past few months. I guess I grew accustomed to tracking my spending, etc. and doing so actually makes me feel more comfortable, not less.
And, of course, I may find that these changes do cramp my style. If they’re a net negative instead of a net positive, I’ll certainly try something else.
Each of our personal finance lives is in flux, right? Mine too!
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I’ve been thinking about adopting a spending plan for some time now, but always decided against it. I often have unplanned expenses and staying within a certain framework would not be very easy. I tell myself that I don’t need one since I never had a “spending problem”. Hopefully this will not change in future.
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Great post. I’d gotten a little like that — and I’m not even out of debt, or close. I think it was ‘financial fatigue,’ as I call it. Tired of thinking about it, tired of tracking it. Doing a little free-living spending made me feel good. But I have to know where it is all going, especially during the holidays. I am back to my financial notebook and check register. But it was nice while it lasted.
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I have had no formal system in place for many years now. I moved out of my parent’s home when I started university and had to budget down to the last penny to make ends meet.
I now have a very instinctive (and amazingly accurate) feel for what I can spend in a month while still meeting my savings goals. I buy coffee and lunch every work day, I buy several items of clothing each month, I spulge on toys or clothing for my daughter, buy all the family groceries, and I still have never gone over my “limit” of spending that I have artificially imposed on myself.
I think that some people have good insticts for what they spend and never need to account in a formal way. Other people don’t have these instincts, and need a more formal system as a check. It’s just like overeating – some people eat until they are full and then just stop. Others need to count calories, or remind themselves to only eat one plate full, or use other tricks to make sure they don’t overeat. It’s an innate ability.
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I’m a big fan of “fun money” or pocket money you describe. My husband and I do $75 biweekly (or approx $150/month). It goes directly into our account and we can do whatever we want with it (save for gifts, eat out etc). This works for us particularly because all our other accounts are merged, which works for us.
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J.D., one of things I like best about your blog is that you’re human.
Kudos!
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We keep a budget, and have been doing so for years. Every January we talk about discontinuing the work it takes, saying how it may not make much of a difference. But then we do it all over again. I’m already a pretty frugal person, but my partner is not, and I think setting some guidelines at the start of the year really helps him think twice about certain purchases.
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Ann:
Where you’ve been doesn’t matter as much as where you are going. Quicken is a planning tool. Looking at history is useful when creating a new plan. But ask yourself, in the context of a spending plan, what does 20 years of data do for you that the six months you can download from most financial providers can’t?
For me, the way I spent money 10 years ago (let alone 20) bears no resemblance to how I spend money today. The majority of your current spending habits, at least the ones that you want to audit or control, will be contained in that six months of data. Fill in a few extra details about hard assets like car value, home value, etc… and I have a pretty good picture of my net worth and how I have spent my money in the immediate past. I would say the majority of people could get to this point in about one afternoon’s work. At least, that’s what it took me when I did it a couple years ago.
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You’ve fallen off the wagon – LOL! It’s easy to do. My husband and I are a success story – we’ve gotten debt free except the mortgage, have a 10 month emergency fund, fully funded retirements funds and still have ample cash left at the end of the month. But it is easy to just start spending again – especially this time of year. You are right to have goofing off money and to track your spending – it will make you aware, quickly, of your spending and should bring you back to Earth.
Just make sure extraneous spending is done for quality items. Our house is ten years old and hasn’t had much done to it. I’ve been spending money on paint and a few things to spruce it up. In my opinion this is money well spent. I’ll likely enjoy it another 10 years and it makes me feel good to walk into a comfortable, nice home. For you it may be something else. But if you aren’t spending money haphazardly you will enjoy the things more that you do decide to spend money on.
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Maybe I’m weird actually liking to track my spending, but oh well! I think when I (or you) stop doing what I did to get me out of debt, it becomes too easy to sink back into old habits. Just because you can afford a lot of things now doesn’t mean they are a need or should be bought. Tracking spending helps to bring reflection on past purchases so when the desire to purchase more arises you can be more aware of what is happening.
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We are still in debt repayment mode. As the family money manager, my goal is to always make sure our spending is consistent with our stated goals. I rely on a number of tools to make sure that happens. I do a skeletal budget every pay period, which includes our fixed obligations, with enough money left over to address variable and discretionary spending. I do a quarterly analysis and put together quarterly goals. I also do an annual analysis. Sometimes I calculate the percentage of our income that goes toward debt to make sure that our sacrifices are not in vain – like living in a 520 sqft apartment, rarely buying clothes, keeping our old sagging couch. The quarterly analysis really highlights areas where our budget is hemorrhaging. All of these tools promote mindfulness. As far as debt, we put one thing on our radar, while maintaining everything else and saving a modest amount. We’ve suspended our retirement for now. The singular focus motivates us and reinvigorates us to cover ground much faster. As the debt continues to falls away, I imagine I will still use these same tools, but who knows? So tools may become dated and ineffectual, is so I will change them as needed as I reassess our needs.
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I’m with you on tracking spending. It is just too easy to enter a state of denial when the figures aren’t there in black and white. If it is apparent that there is a tendency to overspend anyway, then NOT having some sort of tracking system only encourages that wayward part of the brain to take over!
Personally, I need to track my spending. I MUST track my spending because I have found it to be an excellent way of curbing my own inclination to spend too much. When those figures are on the screen in front of you, it’s difficult to deny what’s going on with your income. For example, this month I have arrived at the final realization that I need to scale back both my cell phone plan and expenses that my college kids are incurring. December will see us working on bringing in an extra roommate and encouraging the students to work harder at finding part time work to help support themselves. Were it not for my spreadsheet, my expenses wouldn’t be so obvious and we’d continue another 6 months as we are. It’s all about utilizing what you have to your best advantage isn’t it? Non-documenting makes it all too easy to lose track.
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We have the same “allowance’ as you. Only debt was early in the marriage (we hit 28 this year).
“Do I want this so much I won’t want something else later?” Yes, you have more than plenty now- but that day in retirement when you want to go see Peru might be worth thinking about. I wish I had thought that seven years ago when we were rolling in the $$ and bought without thinking much. We had plenty well after savings. I would love to have some of that money now just to blow on a stack of wood for the woodshop! We have plenty- but now those indulgences would be terrific.
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This sort of slip is one reason my previous debt reduction plans failed–once I’d cleared the balance sheets, I felt like I could just relax. I never planned for how to move forward in a healthy direction, so once I started spending again, I went right back down the ol’ slippery slope.
My current plan includes a tiny amount of “fun money”, so that I get used to budgeting for wants as well as needs. I could pay down my debt quicker by eliminating all wants, but I wouldn’t develop any healthy spending habits. In my current budget, I can buy fun things, but I make sure I account for them in my budget and that I’m still fully funding the important stuff, such as my savings account and paying down the debt. I’m also practicing delayed gratification. If I decide I want something, my next step is to figure out how to save up the $$ for it out of my fun money account without impacting my regular monthly funds. I don’t purchase something unless I know exactly how it will be paid.
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I’ve got to admit, I’m a little confused, JD. In many ways, what you’ve described sounds a lot like my own household. However, you describe things like clothing, comic books, and pocketwatches as items to be tracked in your budget. Yet at the same time, you referenced a $200 monthly allowance of “blow money.”
My wife and I also adhere to the practice of a monthly allowance for each of us. However, things like the items you described would all fall under that blow money (and thus, wouldn’t be tracked).
Are you saying that personal and frivilous things like pocketwatches and comic books are purchased OUTSIDE of your monthly “blow money?” If so, then I have to wonder what the heck you spend your blow money on? REALLY frivilous things?
And finally, if your budget includes categories like “clothes for JD” and “pocketwatches for JD,” then I hope there are corresponding (and equally funded) categories for Kris (“makeup for Kris,” and “manicures for Kris”).
Maybe you meant you actually track the things you spend your $200 “blow” money on? If so, that’s where my confusion lies. My wife and I don’t bother tracking that money. It’s in our wallets as cash, and when it’s gone, it’s gone.
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I still don’t understand.
You are not in any type of financial trouble. You have a good handle on your finances.
Why the worry?
And why budget or track or anything. Money doesn’t leave your account without your knowledge or permission right? There is no one stealing from you right?
That means all of your spending is conscious. So if you need something, buy it. If not, don’t.
I don’t get the pre spending attention. I also don’t get the post spending attention.
What about the time of spending attention. Because the time to pay attention to what you are spending is when you are spending it. Not before or after. Before or after is for people who don’t spend consciously. And not spending consciously is the problem, not the plan or the budget. Those are crutches.
Simply pay attention to what you buy when you buy it, and nothing else is needed.
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It is interesting that part of the buying is for vacation stuff. I’m always guilty of spending too much for vacation prep. It’s a good thing I don’t take vacations often.
But I’ve noticed you have a good number on your calendar. I’d be interested to know how this falls into your spending patterns. Is it the result of not wasting money in other areas?
Is it that your wife finally can do what SHE wants with you because you finally got your finances in order.
Because no matter how well you plan, you have to be spending a good amount of money on your travel plans. I’m curious because most people I know travel A GOOD DEAL more than I do. I’ve always found it too expensive to do much more than every few years. But my friends go to Vegas and New York for small trips and on larger vacations quite regularly. I make a good income. I suppose I could go on these trips, but it always seemed like a lot of money for a week or weekend of fun. Too much to do every year (or even multiple times a year).
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We also have an adult allowance, but we get $100 a week each and it pays for grocery, clothes, shoes, and all the basic needs.
This is working quite well for us because if we want an expensive item we have to save up the cash for it, just like when we were a kid. I’m saving up for a 30mm sigma lens. It also give us some time to change our mind about a bigger purchases. I find that after a few weeks of saving up, many things I want is not really a necessity.
I also recommend you stop going to REI. I love REI too, but it is very expensive there.
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I enjoy tracking my spending, the pre-attention and the post-attention to me are all part of the spending consciously. Much like planning for a vacation and remembering that vacation are all part of it.
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Like some of the other commenters, I enjoy tracking my spending. I find, however, that sometimes it has become an addiction, so I tried to “cut myself off” and only update my program with receipts and emails once every two weeks. While traveling for work, I felt it was best to update my expense report once a week and I’m still on the once per week system.
I have no debt. I don’t believe in a budget either, but what I do use is a spending plan. It contains all of my bills, whether they are monthly, bimonthly, yearly, or more infrequent than that, even including passport replacement. The idea is to completely reduce surprises. I also have fairly specific line items because that’s what works for me. For example, I budgeted that I am allowed to buy N tops and X pairs of jeans per year. Being that specific actually helps me to rein in my spending. This allows me to forecast how much I can save and when my savings goals will be complete. I’ve been working on this spending model for many months now and it’s starting to become fairly accurate. Some people would say that I “spend too much money on rent”, but I am incredibly happy with my apartment and don’t plan on buying a house for many, many years, so that works fine for me.
J.D., I think something that could also help you is developing a sense to know when you’re spending a lot of money, without needing Kris to notice and comment on it to you.
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I like your honesty.
I’m realizing what you’re experiencing with money, I’m experiencing with my diet. Usually I’m faithful to eating a healthful diet, but lately I’ve let things get out of hand.
I wish I could be steady in how I eat, but I give into too many temptations.
As I did my morning walk I realized, life is like the sea, it has its ebbs and flows, it’s never perfectly calm.
So here’s to recommitting to my diet, you to your budget.
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No, it probably wouldn’t kill you if you gained it all back. Not right away, anyhow. But it would be irksome and, in the long run, potentially dangerous.
Ditto for careless spending: If money trickles away without your knowing exactly where it went, then your previous unwise spending behavior could start back up.
That might not cause fiscal ruin, but it wouldn’t be a smart use of your money — and we never really DO know what’s ahead for us financially. We don’t know if our jobs will last, if our health won’t suddenly nose-dive and require a boatload of co-pays.
That’s why I think it’s a swell idea to start tracking your spending again. But remember: Moderation in all things — including moderation.
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J.D. – I’ve always appreciated your candidness. It’s what makes your blog really stand out, as demonstrated in this post. One question: why Quicken instead of a free online tool like Mint? Just curious to know why you prefer Quicken over Mint.
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Nancy@26 hit the nail on the head, I believe. This is what gets people back in credit card debt. You just start to relax and rationalize what you’re doing. Then you stop rationalizing. Been there a million times. Just what JD describes, even if he isn’t going back to that hell himself. Leaning how to spend your money is even more important IMHO than learning how to save. Saving is relatively easy. You just don’t spend. But spending? Requires a lot more thought. Money is for managing first, then spending, that’s all there is to it for many of us I’m afraid. Otherwise it’s too easy to fall off the wagon.
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I track my spending, but I don’t put stuff in a Quicken or Excel table or add everything up. Rather, I look at all of my receipts and charges every month and ask myself if any of the spending was unnecessary or excessive, or if I could be doing something better. If it appears to be a little much, then I try to cut back. But I don’t berate myself for spending a little more on groceries one month than the next, because it’s not worth the stress. As long as I am on target for my savings and debt repayment goals, I don’t think it’s necessary to use a scalpal and a microscope on all of my spending. I honestly don’t want to know how much I spend every year on blueberries, books, or deodorant.
I should probably note that I have never been a big “spender,” and do not like spending money. Usually, it’s the opposite. I have to remind myself that it’s okay to spend money sometimes, particularly on something that will improve my quality of life (replacing my worn-out sneakers, etc.). One of the reasons I don’t track everything to the penny is that I worry I would quickly turn into a miser, since I already have a tendency not to spend.
Even with the debt (all educational debt), I had to remind myself that it was OK to incur debt because it was a long-term investment toward my overall quality of life.
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Good for you Kris for bringing you back to your “money roots.” But you might be getting a little too far away from your target audience when you talk about $200 of fun money. I bet most would think more along the lines of $20. I would feel very guilty over “blowing” that much each month. Though, if I tracked every penny, I’d probably be saddened to know that I blow more than I think…
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You can’t manage your finances if you don’t have information. Yes, tracking spending takes time and can be tedious for some people, but it is necessary to have the information with which to manage your finances. The better the information you have, the better you can manage your finances, because you have the data with which to make better decisions.
We’ve never had so much money that we could afford to abandon tracking our spending. To achieve our goals, we needed to squeeze every nickel of savings out of our income. We had to have very detailed information to be effective at that level of saving.
The adult allowance thing is has worked well for my wife and I. We find we ration spending so that our allowance lasts the month.
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J.D., you should take your own advice: Do what works for you.
My husband and I are still at the debt-payoff stage of things, but as we get closer to finishing that, I still feel like I will want to know where the money’s going. Call it neurotic or controlling or whatever, it’s what makes me happy and lets me be at peace with our finances.
The emotional side of money is often about feeling in control of your finances and your choices. If using previous strategies helps you with that then ignore the Joneses (even the financially responsible ones!) and do it!
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Many times we need to take a step back and look at ourselves in this way. It’s good that you were able to hear it from another person because many people can’t do that!
I have the same issues, I don’t spend carelessly, but I do not do a good job of tracking my spending. Recently, I switched to just using a credit card for all my purchases, then paying it down every month. It is still a work in process, but it will allow me to track better what I am doing. I used to utilize Mint.com, but then I got lazy. Need to snap out of it. But its all about what works for YOU.
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I looked at the link…I just don’t get the value of collapsible chopsticks. But then again, I have proven unable to learn how to eat with chopsticks. Do you seriously take those with you when you travel? I have never had a problem finding an eating utensil while traveling.
Hmmmm…to each his own…
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While I think there is a LOT of value in purposeful spending where you spend on things that bring you joy and happiness and minimize the purchases you buy on impulse that later regret…I don’t like the concept of creating work for the sake of a spouse nagging which is what this sounds like to me. If I was meeting all my goals financially and saving and not spending more than I earned and my spouse said to me “You know, you’ve been spending a lot of money lately,”…
Well I would not be happy with the spouse. My take.
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Thank you for this post. I have been avoiding reading my favorite money blogs for a couple of weeks because I felt a bit out of control with my spending (even though it was doing no “harm” – I just wasn’t spending mindfully.)
This made me feel better & helped snap me back on track mentally.
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It seems to me that a simple financial application like YNAB would work wonders for you. Create some simple categories and withdraw money for cash purchases, all the while saving for your savings goals, all in one financial account (or two if you care about interest). If you disagree with this approach, it might be interesting to know why.
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Funny how it all comes back to the personal finance basics in the end, doesn’t it? It’s really easy to start thinking about big goals and things, but in the end, it’s still the daily dollars and cents that make all the difference.
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@ Golfing Girl (#38)
I don’t think $200/month of fun money is a that big of a stretch (mine’s $300 a month!) It all depends on the budget/spending plan that it’s located in, and what you’re including in that category. For me, this money covers dining out, clothing, gas (I commute via train), afternoon coffee.. basically anything that’s not a bill, groceries, or one of my savings goal. I purposefully made it a broad category because I like its flexibility. If I find the money in my pocket dwindling faster than I’d like, I bring my lunch or make coffee regularly so I can go out for pub trivia with friends. When I was first developing my spending plan a couple years ago, I pegged this category up at $400, and then as the goals I was setting became clearer and I figured what I wanted to spend my money on (more travel, more outdoor hobbies, less Stuff), I adjusted it as I saw fit. And now I’m at a number that works with my income and my lifestyle. I think because I did what worked for me, it actually WORKED, and I’ve been happily living my spending plan!
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I recommend using Mint. It tracks your credit card spending for you. Then you just put your discretionary spending on your rewards card and voila: Spending tracked without lifting a finger.
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for me, it’s just like smoking. if i relax and think i can smoke “just one or two or a few” then i am mistaken. i will eventually go back to the old pack and a half a day habit.
i don’t smoke now, and mostly don’t think about it. i know that my guard HAS to stay up though, and it is the same with my spending.
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Collapsable chop sticks? Really? LOL!
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