ACCOUNTANT BY DAY

Recently I’ve been thinking about the concept of money and spending. Maybe this has been on my mind so much because for the first time in my life, I have a comfortable amount of discretionary income. And to describe what I mean by discretionary, I am referring to money I have in pocket after satisfying my mandatory monthly obligations, such as food, house and car payments, credit card payments, and student loan payments. I don’t really consider it completely free and clear, since technically that money would probably be better spent paying down my many and significant debts than on something I actually want. But it’s tough these days to spend all your money wisely and to convince yourself to wait on something you want a lot, especially when it feels like you’d be the only one doing it.

I noticed over on Zandria’s blog today that she has been thinking about this, too. When you’re young, it’s common for your debts to vastly outweigh both your income and your assets. And like trying to feel satisfied eating plain fruit when your friends are all having brownies and ice cream, it can be difficult to stick to your financial goals when your friends have a much different comfort level for spending. Fortunately for me, though, many of my friends are accountants and therefore are extremely financially responsible. Given a few more years, I hope for more of their stalwart self-denial to wear off on me! But it’s not all just keeping up with the Joneses. Sometimes the pressure really does come from within.

In having lost nearly 50 pounds over roughly a year, I learned a lot about self-discipline. I’ve been patient, dedicated overall, and responsible with respect to my weight loss goals. Why, then, do I still wrestle with temptation to get it now and pay later? Like many people my age, I am very susceptible to the unhealthy lures of instant gratification. “What do I have this credit card for, anyway?” I ask myself. Especially at my current income level, this is silly. In my first three months at this new job, I have managed to sock away enough to pay for the computer I bought right before Christmas. But I couldn’t stand to wait the three more weeks it would take to pay cash. So I paid with my credit card and made a gigantic series of payments on the card right afterward. And although I feel guilty about it, having the computer sooner rather than later made me very happy.

I mean, even though it’s supposed to be bad and say terrible things about our character, instant gratification is very, well, gratifying. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t truly enjoy ever single stupid gadget I’ve ever bought before I could afford it. Despite this, I know this is a habit I should work to overcome. I’ve never misjudged and gotten over my head, and I have terrific credit despite how much debt I’m in. But it’s the difference between making money work for me in the short term and having it work for me in the long term. That’s what makes it hard to give up. It’s not sinking me. It’s just a matter of how I could be doing better later.

So the new gadget I’m obsessed with is a sewing machine. I want one so badly that I’ve literally dreamt about it the past few nights. I’ve been shopping around, I have a basic beginner’s model tentatively picked out, but I haven’t bought it yet. And I want to so much that it was tough not to just go out and do it. I mean, I’ll have the cash in two months tops and it would be so easy to go charge that sucker now. But then I mentioned the whole thing casually to my coworker friend in an e-mail this weekend, and she strengthened my resolve to be good and wait on the thing (unless I’m offered a limited time only sale or interest free for a whole year, THAT’S DIFFERENT!!). Not only did she strengthen my resolve, she explained her perspective with a great metaphor, which I’ve pasted here (with permission) for your viewing pleasure:

“[It can be] a bad habit to buy things on credit - with the exceptions of houses and cars. Here is an analogy. Suppose we are both AP clerks and we each process 100 invoices per day. However, for some reason you start with a backlog of 100 invoices. At the end of each day, we have both done the same amount of work - but you still have a pile of 100 invoices left on your desk. Now let’s complicate things by saying that our boss will give anyone not done with their pile of invoices at the end of the day, 10 extra invoices to do the next day (i.e. interest). After this keeps going on, you will be frantically working on your invoices and staying late while I do less work than you and look better in the eyes of our boss. The only way to get our of this mess, is for you to get caught up by busting your butt so our boss will no longer punish you. You will only have to get caught up one time. Then you can go back to processing 100 invoices per day like me.

Money kind of works the same way. If you can just get caught up - you will be rewarded big time. By paying interest for the sewing machine now, you will end up paying more than if you wait. Then you will have less cash for the next thing you want.

On the one hand, I still feel a little guilty about planning this purchase, since I just bought a computer and have plans to also purchase a GPS this year. Even though I’m consistently paying well over the minimum on my credit card, working to get it paid off, the imaginary miniature coworker friend hanging out on my right shoulder says I should live inexpensively and refuse to rest until I’ve put a solid dent in my debts (she is not really like that, it just feels more convincing if I think WWCWFD?). Meanwhile, the generic Gen Y slacker on my left shoulder tells me it’s OK to spend money on fun things.

So I think I’ll meet in the middle. I don’t think a sewing machine is a frivolous or stupid purchase, and I’d like to learn how to make professional quality clothes and to alter clothes I already have, hopefully saving some money and having fun in the process. But it would still be wiser to delay the purchase. To this end, I’ve decided to make the sewing machine a reward for doing something difficult and good. Something more difficult and good than merely saving some money and blowing it on the reward.

So how do I make something positive out of this? My goal: Get at least 20 minutes a day of physical activity EVERY DAY for 30 days. Will I always exercise every day? Probably not. But I want to make it such a habit that getting up and working out is so normal to me that it feels unusual NOT to do it. Fitness has always been a tremendous challenge for me in the past, so by attaching it to something I really want (and making a public declaration of my intent), I think I’ll feel more motivated to actually do this thing. When I’ve finished (even if not on the first try), I’ll have two things to be happy about: having made a fitness goal and stuck to it, and having a sewing machine to play with.

Because really, the prospects of a smaller ass are not what motivates me at 5:15 when I’m sleepy and debating whether to skip my workout.