Comments on: Discretionary Spending and “Forgetfulness”

By: Kate

Kate — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:45:49 +0000

valleycat:
I think that many children who have grown up with supervision about how they spend money also go through a period where they rack up discretionary purchases. The huge difference is that it is always easier to go back to good habits than to completely form new habits.

By: valleycat1

valleycat1 — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:00:51 +0000

It occurs to me that this continuing struggle many adults have with keeping discretionary spending within one’s budget supports the idea of teaching your children to save a portion of their allowance, instead of the allowance being spent on whatever, whenever.

Back in the day when my kids were small, I didn’t see the ultimate value in that, but now finally get that if you’re used to having free reign with the money you have coming in, it’s harder as a grownup not to just spend your entire paycheck & run up CCs to the limit. But if as a child you develop the better habit, it’s easier (&, I assume, more likely) to continue as an adult.

By: Emma

Emma — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:59:21 +0000

to cc
I can see a sense of humor in your post! Keep it up. Working from home might have some benefits- one doesn’t have to campare yourself with others all the time. Everybody gets influanced by the environment somehow.

By: cc

cc — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:10:24 +0000

kristine- that’s a great idea, i like mixing it in with take-out money.
15/wk for food is in addition to my husband’s grocery shopping. he buys most of the food, the 15/wk is usually lunches and snacks for me (i work from home).
also, those apple pudding cakes are just mad expensive.

By: mary m

mary m — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:56:15 +0000

Valleycat that’s a really good method!

By: krantcents

krantcents — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:47:52 +0000

Forgetfulness can be cured with a journal. If you really need to remember all your purchases.

By: kristine

kristine — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:34:50 +0000

cc- Every person in my family gets 20/wk discretionary spending. But that includes lunches. This makes all of us bring lunch from home- so we can spend that 20 on something else! I splurge 10/wk, on greasy movie popcorn and soda with a free Tuesday movie, and save up the other 10 for unexpected times out. So our allowance is similar! But…15/wk for food? That’s really tough. I feel for you. We average 100/wk for three, but that always includes canned food for a rainy day.

I do the same as Jonathon and Steve- no stores. Al purchases are planned and budgeted in advance. Once I weaned off of stores, I found them less appealing.

By: cc

cc — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:51:31 +0000

i have a sad workaround for this. i check my bank account weekly and have a pretty good idea of what’s in there at all times. unforch, if i want to buy a $15 apple pudding cake at the store, that’s like a weeks worth of provisions (and really, i’ve only got money for about 2-3 weeks of groceries right now).
so really, i’m skimming the line so closely that i just plain old can’t afford it most of the time.

i do have a separate account for my allowance, which is pitifully small (1% of my income, currently at $14.90), but i am FIERCE about that. yes i can spend $3 on a bauble, or i can continue saving and get something in the $20 range.

i find it depressing that i’m using the same style of reward system as when i was a kid- especially since the amounts are basically the same.

I DONT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY FOR A BARBIEDOLL ;_;

By: valleycat1

valleycat1 — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:15:55 +0000

I use one CC for almost all my online shopping, and have set up an automated reminder in my online CC account when I hit the limit I’ve set for my monthly charges on it. It has been particularly useful now that I have an e-reader and am ordering books throughout the month, as it’s easy for me to get carried away.

By: Steven

Steven — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:43:37 +0000

My personal habits are along the lines of those of Other Jonathan. I don’t worry much about discretionary spending since those moments are really few and far between.

What really tends to get me are the times when I splurge on gear for my hobbies (mostly rock climbing.) It’s pretty easy to drop $100, or more. Of course, this doesn’t happen regularly (every couple of months, or less) so in the scheme of things, I’d bet I spend less on occassional splurges for gear than many people do with their discretionary income.

By: Other Jonathan

Other Jonathan — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:27:09 +0000

I have a pretty good handle on my discretionary spending anyway, but one of the best ways I avoid making little 3-dollar “impulse” purchases is by not shopping. In a typical week, I may have one single instance where I’m in a retail store of some kind. Throughout the week I bring my lunch to work (so I don’t go out at lunch), I drive straight to and from work (I don’t stop anywhere on the way home), when I buy gas I pay with my card at the pump rather than go inside. It makes it a lot easier not to impulse shop.