"Oh! But he was a tightfisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge, a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out a generous fire: secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." ~ A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Dickens' immortal tale of Ebeneezer Scrooge, he of cruel avarice and glorious re-birth into the warmth of friendship and generosity, has thrilled generations. Due to his covetous accumulation of wealth, Mr Scrooge had money to give. Where is the line between being frugal and being cheap in the face of retiring debt and necessary savings?
I'm staring down the barrel of turning 36 in less than two months. I have stashed money into a 401K since age 22. Late last year, I sat down with a financial advisor from Edward Jones, to take stock of where I am and where I want to be in another 30 years.
The news was good....and bad. For someone my age (the responsible, upstanding Generation X), I've accumulated a significant amount. Looking at where I want to be (worth $2.5-3 million by age 65), I'm a bit behind.
Couple that with impending law school tuition and the debt I'm still trying to overcome. Yep! Money is tight.
Financially, I'm working it out. I'm on a budget and executing a stepwise plan to retire the debt and put aside money for school.
As far as retirement, my budget includes diversion to a 401K, Roth IRA, and cash savings. Does that mean I'm now a miser, or need to become one? Oh dear!
In showing my home, I realized that while I absolutely adore my pink dining room, other people probably do not. I decided to repaint.
I bought quality paint, and after taping off the edges, got to work. Suddenly, I had the bright idea to add water to my paint. After all, I wasn't going to live here. What did it matter if it was a bit patchy? A softer neutral on the living room walls would be nice. Then I could paint two rooms-for the price of one!
Bad idea. The added water made the paint incredibly runny, leaving me to quickly wipe up the copious drips and splatters. Preliminary results? The pink was bleeding through badly. The watered down paint looked like Desitin smeared on a bad diaper rash.
I quickly changed course, covering the walls with full strength paint. It looked lovely, even if it was now beige. The pink underneath was not apparent.
I had opted to paint the room myself and used Behr paint (best paint for the money per Consumer Reports). That was frugal. Adding water to thin and stretch the paint was cheap!
In her article for MSN Money, "When Frugality Goes Too Far", Donna Freedman expounds upon the difference between frugal and cheap.
"Cheapness is clinging to every cent. Frugality is spending money in the smartest possible ways...Cutting your food bill might be frugal, if you choose the right foods. Eating nothing but oatmeal and ramen would be cheap - and counterproductive since your health could suffer."
This month I have had some unexpected expenses (what month doesn't). I needed to buy things for the house and I needed more money for gas. I accidentally went over my data limit on my iPhone: the bill was $10 higher than I had planned. Eddie's special food was unavailable in the $20 4-pound bags. I had to buy a 17-pound bag for $60.
At moments like this, I wonder if I have failed. Can I really make my budget work? Or am I destined to only be "stupid" with money? I am relying on money I will make this month to carry me through August. I respond thus, covetously clinging to every cent. I will put off filling prescriptions that I need, refuse to go to the doctor if I'm sick or work an unhealthy schedule (21 days straight). Wow! Great plan, huh?
Freedman also emphasized the importance of self care.
"Some people skip health insurance to save money. Really bad idea. Regular dental and medical exams can catch small problems before they turn into serious problems, or fatal ones."
Like my splatters and "diaper-rash" paint job, I am only creating more issues. A bump in the road and I'm panicking. Inside my head I hear screaming: you'll deplete your savings! You'll have to use your cards again! You'll never have money for school! No one wants to lease your house! Just quit now, you're going to end up homeless! I become frantic, trying to "fix it" by not letting go of a red cent.
What on earth? Not two years ago I was splurging myself out of house and home. Now I had developed a fear of spending?
In an article for Mint.com, "What Does Fear of Spending Really Mean?", Kelly Anderson delves into chrometophobia: an irrational fear of money.
A fear of money can take many forms, but what it usually boils down to is this: an unwillingness to face the facts when it comes to spending and saving habits...why people worry about spending their money is that they fear they will spend so much, they won't have money to pay for the things they really need."
Anderson recommends overcoming a fear of spending money by viewing smart or necessary transactions as celebrations of hard work.
A celebration of hard work, huh? Now that was an interesting angle.
A little over a year ago I could barely make the minimum payments on my unsecured debt. I had knuckled under, worked some exhausting hours and maintained a spartan budget. My credit scores were climbing, enabling me to consolidate both my credit cards and student loans. Everything was neatly being paid off in seven years. I was saving again.
After working hard as a graduate nurse practitioner, my resume and recommendations had landed me a job with a generous salary and benefits, right?
I was purchasing things I needed. The money was in the account, I wasn't charging the plastic. That was worth celebrating! Not with a $60 bottle of ice-wine but maybe with a pat on the back.
My realtor texted me. A potential tenant was interested in my home.
"Steady as she goes, girlfriend!" I told myself. "It'll be alright. The wind is high, but it's pushing the sails."
I'm staring down the barrel of turning 36 in less than two months. I have stashed money into a 401K since age 22. Late last year, I sat down with a financial advisor from Edward Jones, to take stock of where I am and where I want to be in another 30 years.
The news was good....and bad. For someone my age (the responsible, upstanding Generation X), I've accumulated a significant amount. Looking at where I want to be (worth $2.5-3 million by age 65), I'm a bit behind.
Couple that with impending law school tuition and the debt I'm still trying to overcome. Yep! Money is tight.
Financially, I'm working it out. I'm on a budget and executing a stepwise plan to retire the debt and put aside money for school.
As far as retirement, my budget includes diversion to a 401K, Roth IRA, and cash savings. Does that mean I'm now a miser, or need to become one? Oh dear!
In showing my home, I realized that while I absolutely adore my pink dining room, other people probably do not. I decided to repaint.
I bought quality paint, and after taping off the edges, got to work. Suddenly, I had the bright idea to add water to my paint. After all, I wasn't going to live here. What did it matter if it was a bit patchy? A softer neutral on the living room walls would be nice. Then I could paint two rooms-for the price of one!
Bad idea. The added water made the paint incredibly runny, leaving me to quickly wipe up the copious drips and splatters. Preliminary results? The pink was bleeding through badly. The watered down paint looked like Desitin smeared on a bad diaper rash.
I quickly changed course, covering the walls with full strength paint. It looked lovely, even if it was now beige. The pink underneath was not apparent.
I had opted to paint the room myself and used Behr paint (best paint for the money per Consumer Reports). That was frugal. Adding water to thin and stretch the paint was cheap!
In her article for MSN Money, "When Frugality Goes Too Far", Donna Freedman expounds upon the difference between frugal and cheap.
"Cheapness is clinging to every cent. Frugality is spending money in the smartest possible ways...Cutting your food bill might be frugal, if you choose the right foods. Eating nothing but oatmeal and ramen would be cheap - and counterproductive since your health could suffer."
This month I have had some unexpected expenses (what month doesn't). I needed to buy things for the house and I needed more money for gas. I accidentally went over my data limit on my iPhone: the bill was $10 higher than I had planned. Eddie's special food was unavailable in the $20 4-pound bags. I had to buy a 17-pound bag for $60.
At moments like this, I wonder if I have failed. Can I really make my budget work? Or am I destined to only be "stupid" with money? I am relying on money I will make this month to carry me through August. I respond thus, covetously clinging to every cent. I will put off filling prescriptions that I need, refuse to go to the doctor if I'm sick or work an unhealthy schedule (21 days straight). Wow! Great plan, huh?
Freedman also emphasized the importance of self care.
"Some people skip health insurance to save money. Really bad idea. Regular dental and medical exams can catch small problems before they turn into serious problems, or fatal ones."
Like my splatters and "diaper-rash" paint job, I am only creating more issues. A bump in the road and I'm panicking. Inside my head I hear screaming: you'll deplete your savings! You'll have to use your cards again! You'll never have money for school! No one wants to lease your house! Just quit now, you're going to end up homeless! I become frantic, trying to "fix it" by not letting go of a red cent.
What on earth? Not two years ago I was splurging myself out of house and home. Now I had developed a fear of spending?
In an article for Mint.com, "What Does Fear of Spending Really Mean?", Kelly Anderson delves into chrometophobia: an irrational fear of money.
A fear of money can take many forms, but what it usually boils down to is this: an unwillingness to face the facts when it comes to spending and saving habits...why people worry about spending their money is that they fear they will spend so much, they won't have money to pay for the things they really need."
Anderson recommends overcoming a fear of spending money by viewing smart or necessary transactions as celebrations of hard work.
A celebration of hard work, huh? Now that was an interesting angle.
A little over a year ago I could barely make the minimum payments on my unsecured debt. I had knuckled under, worked some exhausting hours and maintained a spartan budget. My credit scores were climbing, enabling me to consolidate both my credit cards and student loans. Everything was neatly being paid off in seven years. I was saving again.
After working hard as a graduate nurse practitioner, my resume and recommendations had landed me a job with a generous salary and benefits, right?
I was purchasing things I needed. The money was in the account, I wasn't charging the plastic. That was worth celebrating! Not with a $60 bottle of ice-wine but maybe with a pat on the back.
My realtor texted me. A potential tenant was interested in my home.
"Steady as she goes, girlfriend!" I told myself. "It'll be alright. The wind is high, but it's pushing the sails."
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