Comments on: Money and Spending

By: Planning and Spending — Personal Finance Notebook

Planning and Spending — Personal Finance Notebook — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:32:16 +0000

[...] Part One: Money and Spending [...]

By: Social Pressure and Spending — Personal Finance Notebook

Social Pressure and Spending — Personal Finance Notebook — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 19:44:05 +0000

[...] You can find part one here – Money and Spending. [...]

By: Patrenia

Patrenia — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:17:22 +0000

Same here! Learning to manage those irregular expenses has surely reduced the stress level in our home. Pay cut? That’s definitely not fun to hear. But it’s great that you guys are being proactive now instead of reactive later! Wishing you the best.

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:48:28 +0000

We are much better at handling the irregular expenses now than we were 3 years ago. Most recently, we are dealing with impending pay cut…our focus now is pad the Emergency Fund. I also started part-time second job this past week.

By: Patrenia

Patrenia — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 23:45:17 +0000

LOL! You don’t want to spend your “spontaneous” money? I understand. You just really want to be sure before making a purchase. A planned spontaneous fund is actually a great idea and helps to “relieve” the stress associated with mananging money. Thanks for commenting.

By: Nell

Nell — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:03:16 +0000

I have set up a bunch of different accounts in ING. I know this is a pretty simple solution, but when I think about buying something, I think in terms of what I have in my “Spontaneous” fund. Just taking the time to think about that and knowing that it will take about 3 business days to transfer to my “real” account, usually deters me enough to not pull the trigger.

And I know having a planned spontaneous fund is kind of funny, but I think it adds a bit of humor to the stresses of money management.

By: Patrenia

Patrenia — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:30:50 +0000

LMBO!!! Ms. Freeman that is too funny, but don’t think you are alone. I could name a few other culprits in my family that do the same. At least you came to your senses and realized that your necessities were more important.

As far as in store decisions, I may put a questionable item in my shopping cart and make a final decision by the time I reach the register. To me, this shows careful and mindful shopping. Congrats!

By: Ms. Freeman

Ms. Freeman — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:47:00 +0000

This is terrible of me to say I know, but I used to buy things and return them if another unexpected bill or expense came up. I’d get the purchase amount put back on my card and then pay that bill.

Now what I do is if I have an impulse to buy is I pick out the things I want, put them in the cart or dressing room. Then I stand there and I’ll read my email on my phone or update Facebook. Something, anything to take my mind off of shopping for about five minutes and then when I get back to my stash I look at it and realize I didn’t really want or need any of the crap I selected.