Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The Simple Side of Savings

I have a daughter with autism. Needless to say, there are many challenges that come along with this type of lifelong disability. Things that come up in life, I often put into what I call “the plus and minus column.”

Here’s an example. I have to have a certain type of schedule because my daughter can’t (as of yet) do some things on her own – the minus side. However, I don’t have to worry about my daughter begging me for the latest Hannah Montana tickets or begging me to get a belly button ring – plus.

So what, you may wonder, does this have to do with savings? My daughter is like typically developing children in that she does want and ask for some things. She doesn’t care about wearing clothes from Abercrombie or getting the latest IPOD or cell phone. She asks for Disney movies, McDonald’s ice cream every Saturday, and copy and tracing paper (she’s a big artist).

Having savings is important because the things she asks for are needs as far as I’m concerned. Other than our Saturday ice cream ritual, she doesn’t ask for DVDs for instance, every week. But I think that it is important that I get them for her, especially since I don’t have to shell out, or fight about the disposable items most youngsters ask for. It is one of my ways to make her childhood “typical.” This is the one time when financial aspects are overruled by reality. Having enough savings so that the “simple things” in life don’t sabotage your budget makes saving worthwhile.

What financial choices do you make that may go against your budget? Do you have things that you choose not to do without – even though those monies could go towards your savings goals?
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5 comments:

CelticBuffy said...

I choose to spend money on items that the kids could do with out, but I don't want them to. Items like new Halloween costumes, a treat every now and then, a book or two from the school book orders.

I also chose to spend money on a laptop for me. That's a lot of money that could've gone towards paying debt, but it's also an investment as I'll be taking classes online starting in January.

Budget Mama said...

I'm trying to set up some sort of freedom fund for those things. I do like to splurge on DS now and then with some things. I also like to take us on field trips when I can. Creating the freedom fund should be able to help me out a bit.

Anonymous said...

I spend money on food. I like to cook a lot so I will buy better ingredients for recipes and so on. I love good cheese and wine!

Anonymous said...

I hated it when I heard people with money talk about pay yourself first.

I always thought I couldn't do it with just me and the kids, but I have found resources like this blog, the Suze Orman show and a site called www.StickyAsset.com. They show you how to save without killing yourself. Little steps first. Then, you look for opportunity to do more, and you can find them. When I read stickyasset.com, I saw there were a number of things I could do to improve my emergency savings over time and get ahead.

That makes all the difference in the world!

Thank you for this site, too!

Nancy

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