Treat Yourself

Last Christmas we were at dinner with some friends and they were talking about starting a treat yourself fund.  Idea is to put in a small amount of money regularly into an account then at the end of the year you get a lump sum of guilt free spending money you can treat yourself to anything with.  We thought it was a great idea.

For us it’s great in two ways.  First, we would be able to spend money on something we would normally feel guilty spending it on.  Second, we would stop ourselves from buying something expensive during the year and instead defer it to when we can spend our treat yourself fund.

It works.  Here is an example.  We were at Cash Converters selling more electronics we no longer need or want to keep.  As always I drop by the jewelry counter.  There was a black Chanel ceramic watch priced at $2000 (Buying new would cost ~$6000).  It was in amazing condition.  I loved it.  But I just could not justify paying this much for a watch.  K offered to buy it for me.  His justification was that I rarely see something I love, and I love a good deal.  I declined because I still feel guilty about how much money it is.  He insisted.  But I told him I couldn’t enjoy it even if he did.  Then we remember the treat yourself fund.

Our solution: I would buy a watch using my treat yourself fund.  If it’s a little short, Beau will supplement it with his treat yourself fund (but I don’t think I will do that).
This is even better.  Because now I can get months of enjoyment looking at watches (and jewelry) and deciding what I want to buy.  I made it jewelry in general because I just remembered my mom wanted to give me a Tissot that she got as a gift but never wore.  It’s not Chanel.  But it is also a nice watch for free.