Comments on: Money Mistake Monday – Watching Every Last Penny Syndrome.

By: Back To Basics: 79+ Brilliant Budgeting Resources You’ll Love | My Super-Charged Life

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:06:24 +0000

[...] 63. Money Mistake Monday – Watching Every Last Penny Syndrome [...]

By: Tight Fisted Miser » Blog Archive » Tracking Every Penny and My Non Budget

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:23:13 +0000

[...] at My Two Dollars last week David wrote a post arguing against what he called “Watching Every Last Penny Syndrome.” Since I track every penny I spend and earn I have to disagree with that post. This is [...]

By: david

david — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:43:30 +0000

So true Ron, that is a good anecdote to remember!

By: Ron@TheWisdomJournal

Ron@TheWisdomJournal — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:36:32 +0000

You know, my father in law was in management for AT&T for 35 years. He once told me that you “micro-manage something until it doesn’t need to be micro-managed anymore. But knowing when to let go is an art.”

I think the same could be said of our finances, not that we should ever completely let go…

By: Working Rachel

Working Rachel — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:44:24 +0000

I find that I enjoy and appreciate treats more when I limit them. I don’t plan every specific expenditure–for instance, I might plan to eat out four times in the month of April, but I wouldn’t say, “I’ll eat out on Sunday, April 20th.” You can still retain some spontaneity while living on a budget.

And if I ever start feeling like I don’t have enough enjoyment in my life (which is surprisingly rare–most of the things that bring me significant enjoyment are free or extremely cheap), I do let myself break the budget!

By: Kelli Myers

Kelli Myers — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:34:49 +0000

Enjoying life as well as saving money for future are both very important. So the best thing is to make a balance between the two and live life the way we want to.

By: Jo

Jo — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:03:13 +0000

I disagree with the premise that people who track every last penny “taking budgeting so far that [they] stop enjoying life altogether”. I track every single last cent that leaves my wallet, and I totally enjoy my life. The tracking is a behaviour; the enjoyment is an attitude.

One could track every last penny whilst also being a spendthrift, no?

By: Wade Young

Wade Young — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:46:55 +0000

Having to think about money is a bad way to live. You are right — go light on the big things so that you have plenty of money in the budget to spend when you are out and about. That makes for a much more satisfied life.

By: Dave@debtfreeearth.com

Dave@debtfreeearth.com — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:01:42 +0000

Good article, wish I would have read it a few hours ago. I just got home from teaching “Spend Smart”, one of the 2 PF classes I teach locally in the Philadelphia area. The main part of the curriculum is teaching “reverse budgeting” (or snowflaking, as some bloggers have called it). This article would have fit right in with the class as we teach that a) budgets don’t work because you spend so much time tracking the money you spent instead of finding quick and painless ways to save money and b) how much the true cost of that flat screen TV or BMW is in the long run.

By: David

David — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:00:43 +0000

Glad I am not the only one!