So I’ve never been big into debt. I really wasn’t a huge overspender. My biggest debts have been student loans and one car loan. So it wasn’t unconscious spending that drove me into debt. Thus, I don’t see credit cards as a problem until now.
No, I’m not in debt. But this month, May, I’ve found myself very caught up with work and life in general. So caught up, that I’ve sort of lost track of our finances. I paid all our bills and have scheduled payments for all of our typical bills. But I haven’t really tracked what we’ve spent this month. For the first time in a long time, I find myself to busy to care.
I think I’m starting to understand how easy it is to get caught up with life. That it’s easy to fall into debt or even lose track of what you are spending because life gets busy and tough. I wonder if sometimes when you are following a strict regime of budgeting and spending that sometimes you just want a break? A break from the routine? And that it snowballs into spending perhaps more than you intended?
Do you ever find yourself not caring about your spending? What do you do when it happens?
7 responses so far ↓
1 JoeP // May 20, 2009 at 9:46 am
For us, once we got out of debt (with the exception of mortgage), we knew our monthly income exceeded our regular monthly expenses to the point where we have $X available after expenses. Once that happens, it is merely an issue of spending less than $X, which is actually very easy, since our spending habits have not changed.
So as far as spending goes, we don’t “care” in as much as we know not to exceed a certain dollar amount. We also don’t “care” if we spend a large amount occasionally on something special.
2 Inkstain // May 20, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I’ve never been a huge gamer, but I’ve dabbled. In certain types of online games, the model is as follows: Create a character, do stuff, gain “experience points.” When you gain enough experience points, your character gains a “level” and gets more powers/more places to go/more stuff to do. As someone who has always had a natural inclination to keep score and advance within rulesets, this is a very appealing type of game.
So one day, Mrs. Inkstain says: “Think of our finances like a game. For every $1,000 in our savings account, you’ve gained a level. When you make it to level 6, we’ve got our emergency fund fully funded. When you make it to level 20, we can start looking at houses.”
It worked and helps me stay focused.
Inkstain
(A level 4 saver)
3 LAL // May 20, 2009 at 9:56 pm
JoeP, I used to feel more like that. We could spend a lot discretionary income. With my DH’s tuition we really can’t. I had to become more careful.
Now I feel guilty because we have more give in the budget, but not that much.
Inkstain, that’s a cool way of looking at things.
4 Abigail // May 20, 2009 at 11:22 pm
I go through spells like that all the time! You just don’t have the energy to spare. Or, when you do, you’d rather be dealing with other things.
Generally, I know that it will pass and just try to cope. I have spent most of my life beating myself up over things that are clearly ingrained in me. So, now, I just try to realize that there are reasons I’m not coping well. Usually, one of them is depression. Realizing that there is a reason is, for me, half of the battle.
When these periods come on, I try to make sure the basics are covered, and then I try to be okay with letting things slide. Inevitably, when I get back to my more normal settings, there are frustrations that have arisen. But I’m learning to live with those.
The fact that we pay bills with each check (so, usually, once a week) also helps make these no-finances times a lot more workable. If I’m feeling really anxious and finance-averse, I just log on to the card sites and check to see if any due dates are nearing. Generally, since we pay so often, we’re in the clear. And I can just ride out the spell and focus on clearing up the depression.
5 LAL // May 21, 2009 at 10:59 am
I think part of the problem is that I pay bills once a month so I’m ahead, but then I don’t have to think about it if I don’t want. So it’s easy to lose track.
6 Kristy @ Master Your Card // May 21, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Yup, I recently went on a $750 shopping spree. Wrote about it and got some interesting comments from the crowd. Spending that much was out of the norm for me. But, sometimes you need a break and you have to find the balance between saving and spending. In my case, the bills were paid, the savings accounts were well-funded, and the retirement accounts had their contributions. So, I said “why not?”
I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to the point where I’ve been so busy as not to care about checking on things, though. I’m pretty meticulous about that. I try to check my accounts at least once a day to make sure I’m where I should be. Although, I have been so busy at times that I’ve gone a week without looking at the accounts. It’s during those times that I really notice my spending going a little haywire.
7 LAL // May 22, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Kristy so what did the crowd say about your spending?
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