The Bank Doesn’t Care How You Spend Your Money

My wife has an annoying habit of justifying any overspending by simply pronouncing, “I didn’t spend it on me.” she is not, per se, a shopper or a big spender, but she is frequently over the generous household budget I provide.

It was, take your pick:

• for the house
• the horses
• the dogs
• the car
• the kids
• the property tax
• the washing machine
• to finish the decorating
• the garden was looking sad
• to keep the house looking nice “for when we sell it”

I tell her, “The bank doesn’t care how you spend your money.” Neither does American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Discover, or the rest of the universe.

Money out is money out; money in is money in!

You can always find a way to justify an expense, and my wife is a pro, even though all of the things I just mentioned should be adequately provided for in the household budget.

I can, of course, do the same thing when I want stuff, but if you have a household budget — and you should have one — you need to stick to it, or you will find an excuse every month. But as my kids used to say…