Money Obedience

My wife recently wrote a post about budgeting money in which I played a role, too. I think I need to respond with my own post. One has got to set the record straight, right? And, what better way to do it than in a public post?

I know that you are all salivating for a public tit-for-tat between my wife and me, but I have to disappoint you. There will be no dirty laundry aired out in this post. For one, I can’t think of anything I would like to air out. Second, if there was something I could think of, I think common human decency would dictate that most private things should stay private. That’s why they are called “private” or “personal” and not “public”.

Ok, back to the topic. It is true that I am not a big impulse shopper myself. I don’t like going to the store to buy something and then to end up buying something else. I know too much about the various marketing ploys and sales techniques that store owners use, and I am highly suspicious of anything being pushed on me that I don’t really set out to buy. While I cannot avoid being a victim of shrewd advertising or clever positioning of certain goods, I try to fight these unknown yet effective sales techniques. That said, I am least successful in a good food or wine store. I just love tickling my taste buds with tasty things.

My wife wrote her post about an impulse buy of two little umbrellas for our little boys. True, on principle, I do not like the idea of impulse buying. I would have never bought these things! At the time we were shopping, I did not even see them, since we were looking for adult umbrellas and not kids’ umbrellas. My eyes and brains are just scanning the sales floor for adult umbrellas, nothing else. As it turns out, our little boys really enjoy these umbrellas and the little bit of money we spent on an impulse buy was well worth it. How often can you make another human that happy with an expense of only $5.99? (At this point, vilkri-she is reading this and saying to herself “What? Is he actually saying I’m right?”)

Let me relate this to our budget and personal finances now. In our household budget we actually have line items for “Miscellaneous” and “Gifts” to which we allocate monthly spending for exactly such a purchase. Thus, this purchase did not break the bank or even stretch the budget. It is part of our financial plan if you will. Not that we have such a small expense penciled into our financial plan, but we allow for such expenses generally. After all, such expenses are part of what makes life worth living. We could have never brought that much joy to our little boys had my wife not bough these umbrellas on an impulse. They truly do love to use them, and with the constant rain we’re having in the northeast U.S., they are getting a lot of enjoyment from owning and using them.