Since I stopped wearing makeup years ago and have never paid for manicures/pedicures, the idea of spending on those on a regular basis caused me to pause and think about where we choose to spend the money we don't "need" to spend. Some big optional spending categories for us are travel (mostly to visit family), gifts, Pilates private sessions, the Poodle Princess' expenses, and eating out. Others are technology (cable package, buying a larger tv this week and a Kindle), wine/beer, art classes, and theatre/movie tickets. I guess I should add having two cars as I no longer work and we could manage with one although it would be a pain and seriously limit my mobility as there is poor public transportation here. We don't spend much on cell phones, clothing, home furnishings, or books/magazines although we do get the local newspaper and use the library a lot. We do max out our retirement accounts which is chunk of money in itself.
Apparently from our spending patterns we value time with family, experiences, having a pet, gift giving, staying fit, and saving money. In fact we would spend a lot more on some areas such as travel if we weren't concerned about saving for retirement and didn't have such a costly house to operate. I'm hoping that we can shift the proportion of money going to savings and housing vs. travel and fun once we retire and sell this house. I don't see us having one car though unless we can manage to live in a location with great public transportation and good services within walking distance.
The only short term change planned is to stop the Pilates private sessions and use the now extra tv and existing dvd player to set up an exercise space. I'm also planning to join a gym that has Pilates classes and is a bargain because our insurance offers a discount on membership - I have to commit to a 3 month membership and will do that soon. I'll spend some of the savings on therapeutic massages as I am no longer seeing the physical therapist for my "frozen" shoulder but it is healing very slowly and still hurts. We will also soon be finished paying for my orthodonture but I'm sure some other health care expense will pop up.
Have you ever looked at your spending in terms of what it says about your values?
This post is right up my alley! A review of my budget would definitely tell someone a lot about us and our priorities. Travel is far and away our first priority, consuming some 20% of our annual budget.
ReplyDeleteAs you mention in your blog, it's interesting to compare what we do spend on against what we don't. I don't do manicures or pedicures either, because who really notices them? I do spend a good chunk on my hair, but I've simplified my haircut, and changed the color of my weave to better blend in with my quickly-going-gray/silver hair to extend the frequency of my visits.
We're preparing to trade in our foreign sports car for a more practical hybrid. Our grocery spend is low because I cook almost everything from scratch, but I budget for a house cleaner. And a gardener.
I think the key is to understand you can probably do everything you want in the long run, but just not all at the same time. Something always has to give.
Excellent points! We are trying to max out our savings because we plan to move back to S. CA in just under 5 years - assuming our sons stay there. The cost of living is higher than where we live now. Wish we had kept our house in Glendale and rented it out but we didn't so have to work with where we are starting from. I don't want to miss out on the present though because of hopes for the future. It is a balancing act.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Glendale during my teen years. :-)
DeleteThen if I say that I used to live in Montrose just one block from Honolulu Ave. you probably know where we were!
DeleteYes! I had lunch last month at the Black Cow Cafe on Honolulu Ave in fact.
DeleteI love this post! Great thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWe spend a lot on housing, maybe too much. But we spend by far the majority of our time at home -- even if we do regularly go out to restaurants and community activities, and travel a few weeks a year -- so it seems worth it to us.
ReplyDeleteIf it is worth it to you then it in not too much to spend IMO. Our housing problem is that it worked well for us when we bought it and for about 6 years afterwards. The last 7 years it has been too big with too much upkeep but we decided not to move until we leave the state. We do love our neighborhood and make good use of our home though.
DeleteI like this post! Our biggest chunks of discretionary money go to travel to see family, entertainment (events tickets), gifts and savings. We also have 2 cars. A lot like you! Our cats are cheap though!
ReplyDeleteWe used to have cats as well as a dog and they were cheap. I happened to fall in love with a rescued poodle - not a breed I had ever thought of owning partly because of the cost of grooming. She adds a lot of love and energy to our lives though.
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