Comments on: Buying Outside Your Budget or Spending More for Convenience

By: Ryan McLean

Ryan McLean — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:18:03 +0000

Finding a balance is so important. Without balance you swing too far one way or the other. Neither will make your life better. Being in the middle is the best.
Having fun with your money now, while still saving for your future is the correct balance

By: Todd

Todd — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:43:50 +0000

If you have a budget perhaps you (and your spouse) should allocate a small “fun-money” category, so you won’t even have to feel guilty about such a purchase (or explain it to anyone, if that’s what you and your spouse agree to). This concept helped my wife out quite a bit when we first were married, because it took a while for her to feel like it was “our” money rather than hers and mine. And my desire to keep records of what we spent started to foster a feeling of “asking a parent” for permission to spend money. Something I definitely didn’t want to foster.

The other thought I had is that, for me, I like to use these types of situations to develop my own self-discipline. I think it’s value for those of us who have made major money mistakes (o.k., everyone really) to learn to DELAY GRATIFICATION. I tend to do this with books, by waiting to get it from the library even if I’m “# 29 of 31″ in the request queue like I currently am for “Spend Til’ The End”. Small opportunities to build self discipline will allow me to strengthen my delay gratification muscles and hopefully help me when I struggle with more larger decisions, like wanting to buy too much house or car.

By: Frugal Vet Tech

Frugal Vet Tech — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:09:54 +0000

You’re not weird for keeping track of yoru sick days in your head. I think it’s a good plan – it’s much better to know how many sick days you’ve taken and how many you have left (if you get sick days) then to be caught surprised sometime.

I have trouble paying more for convenience a lot of times. My husband is good at helping me overcome that when necessary. Sometimes it’s just worth it to pay a bit more for the convenience (though I hate doing so), like if we’re super-busy or really tired and don’t have the time or energy to do whatever it is on our own. Sometimes spending a bit of extra money for your mental health and well-being is worth it.

We have all our bills, etc. budgeted, but after that’s all said and done, we have “extra” money so if we do go over in a budget category, it’s not a huge deal (that’s not a great way to do it, but that’s the reality of our budget right now). We’re still trying to find the right balance between what we would like to spend in a given category in a month versus what we actually spend. Yes, it would be nice to buy minimally processed food and food in bulk to prepare our meals from scratch, but it’s not practical for us right now. When we allocate our income, we try and account for some of that “convenience spending” in our numbers (but not so much that we just convenience spend all the time).

Megan: I like the “other” fund idea. Hmmm…

By: The Friday gathering - Annoying scrapers addition

The Friday gathering - Annoying scrapers addition — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:57:41 +0000

[...] Buying Outside Your Budget or Spending More for Convenience [...]

By: Glblguy

Glblguy — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:52:57 +0000

What my wife said isn’t something you hear often. She just knew I had been anticipating the books for a while. Both of us are fairly frugal nor do we buy much for ourselves. That’s why we decided to pay the extra.

Now, with that said, the $6 did bug me…that’s why I wrote the article. The question is should it?

If I did it often, absolutely. But I don’t, so I was ok with it as was she.

Thanks for the link and for continuing on with the discussion!

By: RacerX

RacerX — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:29:03 +0000

Its really a ROI thing (Return on Investment) thing. I like to use the movie example, the only difference when you see an afternoon show is the price, so why doesn’t everyone just go to the cheaper show.

It is the convenience factor! You have to figure is my time worth the difference.

For me, I would wait the 3 day in getting it from Amazon (dont forget to count shipping too!). But if I had to fix my bathroom this weekend and the book was going to help it may be worth it.

By: Megan

Megan — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:26:33 +0000

I use YNAB to plan and track my budget, so every month, I allocate some money to my “other” fund. The amount varies, depending on what else is going on that month, financially speaking, and of course, the goal is to not spend everything in the other fund, but throughout the month, if I find that there is something I really want to buy, but have not budgeted for, if the other fund will cover it, I do it. If I have already blown through my other fund, then I can’t afford it.

That forces me to truly think every time I want to spend out of budget. Do I really want to buy this right now and risk not having money for something else later. And the answer varies. Sometimes the answer is yes, I really want to buy this book right now, and sometimes the answer is no, I really don’t need that now.

And frequently, at the end of the month, if there is some extra money in the other fund, I’ll put some of it into my book fund, and hop off to the bookstore to pick up that book I postponed earlier in the month.

By: Christine

Christine — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:25:20 +0000

Whenever I get a paycheque, the first thing I do is put about 70-80% of that money into an ING account: some in my savings proper, some into my emergency fund (until I filled it a few months ago), and the rest into a “holding pen” (where it accrues interest before big expenditures, like tuition). I pay sundry expenses (like bus fare) out of chequing, and any money left in that account I consider mine to spend as I please. I’ve never spent all of it, but it’s nice to have that leeway in case something comes up.