When you have overtime or made a good investment and make more in a particular month than just your salary, do you relax your spending on "wants" or do you honestly remain as disciplined as ever?
"unexpected" earnings feel so good because they are not budgeted for. It is easy to get carried away because you belive you "deserve" to relax more when money you could not count on getting and it has not been allocated in advance.
Do you relax your spending in months when you make extra income?
September 24th, 2012 at 06:28 pm
September 24th, 2012 at 08:42 pm 1348515759
But if I've got big expenses looming that I don't want to use my EF for, I'll use extra money for that. Or, like right now I've got a goal that won't be attainable on my regular budget. So all extra money will go toward that, minus a few planned-for expenses that I'm planning to cashflow through windfalls -- my husband's 40th birthday bash, tax prep, holiday bonuses for service providers.
September 25th, 2012 at 01:02 am 1348531363
I have a l-o-n-g list of items I'd like to buy if price, personal details and need line up together. For example, I've been planning to have the Lv Rm/D Rm wall to wall carpet ripped out and hardwood installed. Need good weather because furniture from 2 rooms will need to be stored outside on unprotected patio for the whole process. Need qualified installer available for 2 - 3 consecutive days, product available and on sale, no visitors, no events like birthdays, anniversaries, awards won, celebrations that cause everyone to gather here and most important the money to pay remain in place...not nibbled for an unexpected event like beloved SIL suddenly became ill and passed away as we rushed to visit in a far off city. We stayed for nearly a week for funeral and to help. Still very upset...
This project will soon run into need to start rotation to paint rooms after 5 yrs. since previous major re-decoration... it gets complicated since DH & I accept out-of-country contracts and can be absent for several months.
September 25th, 2012 at 02:36 am 1348536997
October 1st, 2012 at 02:13 am 1349054031
October 1st, 2012 at 04:51 pm 1349106693
By investments, I mean realized gains, not investments I'm still holding.
October 1st, 2012 at 09:20 pm 1349122847