Sunday, March 9, 2008

The weekend's over...and I'm a lot poorer..

When my older daughters come home, I always seem to "spoil" them. Emotional spending is my thing. Well, my oldest will be graduating from college in May, and she will be working as a substitute teacher all spring on her free days at school. She does not have anything really to wear except jeans. But to be "fair", I asked my other college age daughter if she would like to go shopping too. So, on Saturday afternoon we all went shopping. The damage of the shopping trip and the whole weekend for that matter is outlined on my other blog site My Daily Bread. Now I know I should budget a head of time for clothing purchases, but this was a last minute decision. All week we had spent more money than I would normally spend to give them a nice Spring break. Nothing extravagant, but family bowling, a movie, Chinese food and then clothes shopping. I did not have all of this cash in my checking account, so I had to pull some cash from my savings. I noticed that I didn't enjoy myself as much as I felt I should have. I was spending wonderful time with my daughters, but all I could think of was the fact that I would have to use some savings. Why was I so upset over this? Grace from GRACEful Retirement posted a bit about this idea of being obsessed with spending or not spending and not really living. Why can't I just enjoy spending some money on my children, especially for items that are needed AND be okay with it? I just thought I'd have some breathing room since I've paid off so much debt, but I guess it will take some time to figure all of this money stuff out.


Bottom line is that I had the money. I did not go further into debt. I spent on my daughters, not frivolously, but a bit more than I felt comfortable with. I guess I will have to think out my weekly spending a little more carefully, stick to cash, or plan ahead for major spending so that I feel comfortable after spending it.

3 comments:

CT Mom said...

Hi Sharon - I know what you mean when you say that you should be comfortable spending money when you've just paid off so much debt and actually have some breathing room. I'm going to be in the same position in about a week, and I've been thinking about how that will feel. Initially, it's exhilirating, but then I start to feel anxious. And I figured out that the anxious feeling is still there because I've lived with it for so many years, that it's almost like an old friend or bad habit that I have to get rid of but I'm so used to having it around. It's a change in mindset and getting used to not have the anxiety. So when you consider how long you've lived a certain way, it will be an adjustment and it doesn't happen overnight. The reality is that you didn't completely derail your financial situation by taking care of your family, you just need to get used to thinking of it that way.

I'm glad you had a good time with your daughters, and I'm sure they appreciate everything you do.

Noel Larson said...

Nothing wrong with tending to wants and desires everyonce in awhile!

Just try to budget for them, or try not to add to debt!

It is the Ice Cream rule...Once a month, OK...Once a day...not so much :)

Canadian Saver said...

I always say time spent like that is priceless! In a few years, they will be out on their own and won't be coming home for breaks, just for holidays... it's too bad though that most fun things cost money!! (eating out, bowling, etc).