Financial Freak Show

At what point do you feel mental pain as a result of a purchase (or in the case of married folk physical pain?) How much money can you blow before you feel you need permission so your other half won’t “bring the pain?” If you’re single at what dollar amount do you feel guilty for buying something?

 Since my wife and I are trying to reach some specific financial goals we are kind of strict about any money that we blow. The dollar amount that would trigger my wives fury while we were trying to eliminate our personal debts (I know this may sound insanely low to many of you) was around $25. Do remember though that my wife is a saver by nature and I’m the one that liked to spend. Also remember that I’m talking about spending money that wasn’t in our spending plan – I’m not talking about things like food, gas, needed things around the house, car maintenance etc. – I’m talking about things we hadn’t planned for like a cool $52 sweatshirt, or a $175 replacement for the broken cell phone – you know that sort of stuff.

Now that our debts have been cleared (with help from some learned behaviors like this one) our spending threshold has now been adjusted accordingly. We’re now closer to the $80-$100 range for “free” spending. Now that we’ve worked so hard to always discuss and share our finances we usually talk about most things over $50 anyway (note that we talk about it…not fight about it). Hopefully one day with enough hard work and discipline when I surprise my wife with the new Cadillac she wants and the only discussion we’ll have will be where we’re taking it for dinner that night and who gets to drive – now there’s the spending threshold I’m shooting for!

Agreed upon spending limits is where a couple’s shared finances can really help a couple succeed over the long term due to the unavoidable accountability. How’s the saying go? “At some point he’ll have to come home!”

What dollar amount do you feel you should have agreement with your spouse before buying something as to avoid your home turning into a bad Jerry Springer episode?  If you’re single at what dollar amount do you feel you’ve let yourself down buy spending too much?

Sunday evening I was thinking I needed to get to work on another post. While jumping around the internet looking up some info for a future post I stumbled across a Netflix popup. I was now officially distracted. Once I wa sin my Netflix account I found myself plugging my laptop into my TV a pressing play on a “Watch Instantly” program called Cocaine Cowboys and threw myself onto the couch to become immersed for the next two hours in the life of Miami’s 1980’s big time, big money, real life cocaine dealers.

Two hours later the lady I live with (aka. my wife) came home and with a smirk asked how my writing was going.  I then told her how I had killed two full hours just hanging out on the couch. That’s when it hit me…my evening sounded like that Kenny Chesney song

 So I’ll just sit right here, have another beer in Mexico do my best to waste another day

-Kenny Chesney

I realized I wasted an entire evening when I should have been writing. Looking back it seem this happened because I began something without a reasonable plan in place. I was easily distracted since I started without any direction right from the beginning. This is what many people do financially everyday. Normal people rarely move forward financially with any real plan, strategy or focus. They look up and realize they’re in debt with no emergency fund and no viable strategy for anything different in the future. As a FinancialFreak you should devise and follow a plan to win financially, which is sadly not the norm (thats why were freaks – we’re not normal). True there will be many corrections and adjustments to the plan along the way but at least your not just along for the ride your instead driving the bus.

 So next time you get the urge to sit on the couch waiting to see what low fat recipe Oprah’s pimping this week or which stars can’t dance or who’s getting thrown off the island. Here are a couple ideas of things you could do instead….

Evaluate your financial position – create a personal balance sheet (what you have minus what you owe – third grade math I think even you can pull that off!)

Create a monthly spending plan for you household (again third grade math)

Write down you financial goals; 1yr, 5yr, 20yr etc.

Devise a plan to realistically accomplish your goals  

Maybe even take a few minutes to discuss your thoughts about the household finances with your significant other

Read something - improve some aspect of your life you feel needs attention (work, relationship, or maybe visit some older post on this site – you just might learn something….or not)

Then again maybe I’ll just sit right here and have another beer….

What advice do you have for those that struggle to keep their focus for the long-haul? What do you do to keep yourself on task?