Are we all Guilty Of this ??

I don't Mean this in the sense that If My Husband makes 10,000 More I am Going to Blow it On Vacations and Clothes ...

I mean in General...

Look at The houses you have lived in and the cars you drive ... do they get Bigger , Newer and Better with your Income?

Do you go on more vacations , spend more on clothes and Gifts Cause you have more?

This may also Pertain to when you Get a 3,000 Tax return or an unexpected Bonus , not to just an increase in salary.

Is It the american Way to have a Larger bank account and a larger life??

Is this just What we are always working towards?? Having "better" things??

Do we have a " work hard ? Play hard! " Attitude in general in America??

It does happen, but right now, any raise my husband receives goes towards covering the rising cost of gasoline, food and insurance. Even when I worked full-time, we might spend on a few splurges, but generally the raise was smaller than the inflation %.
As far as vehicles go, we had to trade up to a minivan after the 3rd child was born. We tried to make my car work (it did with just me and the kids), but after a few months of that, it was painfully (yes, I loved my car and hated to trade it) obvious that we needed something larger. We could use a larger house now, but the income isn't there for us to move up.

I think I sometimes fall under the "I spend because I can" category. If we make more, I give myself permission to spend more. It's easy to do!

In future steps for Forget the Joneses, I'm going to ask people to really clarify their goals (financial and otherwise) for the future. That way, even if you're making more you can be saving more to really help make those important things a reality.

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I think alot of times the two go hand-in-hand. We would be able to take a vacation, have extra to spend on gas/food, and be able to put more in savings to move in a few years if my dh had a larger income. It's not really the size of the home that we are concerned about, we would like to be able to purchase some land and get out of a subdivision in a few years. I don't know about anyone else, but I did spend alot more when I worked full time and had extra $$$. But then again, we didn't have a baby!

Of course we do! It is human nature! It doesn't have to be on vacations or anything just little things like eating out more and stuff.

Yes, yes and yes! It's hard to not spend any little extra we have (like my babysitting money, I'm working on not spending the cash on shopping or eating out, instead I need to pay what's left after groceries toward debt and savings) We're surrounded by commercialism in this country and unfortunately we do compare ourselves to others (and vice versa)

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Doing my best to raise a GEEK- Genuine Enthusiastic Empowered Kid!

Definitely. We have gradually but consistently upped our spending styles with each pay raise up until this last one.

I know one particular couple very near and dear to me and the dh makes $320k a year and I occasionally still hear them saying things are tight at times. Bigger mortgage, better cars, bigger investments, etc. They, also, are a couple who eat out at least once daily. I have a feeling "tight" is not the same for them as it is for the average person. However, they don't feel like they have as much money as the rest of us might think. It's all about acclimation.

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~Vicki~
Mama to Hailey, 4 and Ella, 2

I think sometimes, when we get a bonus, we reward ourselves for doing without, by spending it on something we really wanted to buy but didn't.

Sometimes an occasional slurge is good, because once it is out of our system, we can get back on track with the savings plan.

I used to be really bad at this - now not so much. I don't know if age or hitting rock bottom financially is the reason - but I have been better at moving the extra money I earn or create (with a better than budgeted deal) to the savings columns.

I always felt that the more you make the more it takes - and there was nothing you could do about it. Now I know better, I plan a budget yearly and stick to it.... anything extra at the end of the day goes towards my savings. Having long term and short term goals helps. I have a short term goal of a nice hot tub..... my long term goals are retirement, medical care fund, emergency loss of income fund, and household emergency (includes vehicle.)

Yes.. if I don't have a plan for the raises, bonuses, & unexpected windfalls then it all goes out the window.

Luckily, now I do have a plan.. for instance, I have estimated how much we will be getting back in taxes.. and dh & I have talked about where the money will be going. Now, when the $$ actually shows up I can have it divided up into the "proper categories" and instead of having $4k to blow, it will be closer to $200. Most everything else is going to pay bills or emergency savings.. with a little play $$ for a small vacation, new computer & finishing dh's darkroom (which if he can make his own prints he will start persuing B&W photography as a side job).

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-Sarah

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