Responsibility, feh.
September 24, 2007
Earning a sticker for each no-spend day thing is simply not working for me. I love stickering the planner, but simply haven’t matched up the sticker and the behavior at all. It turns out that simple withholding of spending privileges is more effective reinforcement than is the reward of a pretty Pochaco sticker for every day I don’t spend money. Somehow I’m spending more, and more frequently, than I anticipated.
That’s weird. I used to respond quite well to my dad’s incentive plan of 1 Slurpee for each 10 “good job” stickers earned at school; what’s changed since kindergarten? Well, I guess getting a sticker on the planner doesn’t actually mean anything in my everyday life; it’s not tangible the way saving money is. That’s what happens when you choose a method of reinforcement that doesn’t actually correlate well with your goal: it doesn’t work!
In the interest of full disclosure: I spent over a hundred dollars *cringe* at Forever 21 before the conference. I got two nice basic slightly ruched tank tops for only $3 each, a lovely kimono dress, a kimono style shirt, a black and white chain-design strapless top, and a lusciously silky gorgeous handkerchief style dress that looked almost exactly like a $300 version that my friend had bought last year. It was expensive for the store ($40), but oh so irresistible! I can only find the picture of the kimono dress to post, so you’ll have to trust me on the irresistibility of the other dress.
The two tops were necessities because I didn’t have any nice tops for a couple business casual dinners, t-shirts simply wouldn’t do, and the dresses were lucky finds that’ll be used at a later date. I hate panic shopping like I often have to before an event, so I now have two nice dresses for work-related events and won’t have to scramble for either the X-mas party or whatever else comes up.
Since my return, I’ve spent money on breakfast and lunch foods because I still haven’t gotten myself to the grocery store. Bad Ms. M! Bad!
And then … the (work) girls sent me to eyeslipsface.com whereupon I spent $12 on 3 lip glosses, nail polish remover, and some experimental makeup pieces that I’ve never tried on my own before: eyeliner, eyeshadow, and a tube of skin color correction stuff. I’m pretty sure that I’m going to try them once, freak out because I just don’t DO makeup, and then try to find a happy, healthier home for them. It’s ok. Almost everything’s a dollar there, and using the coupon code “Carolina” we got another $10 off the total purchase. We three combined our order to save on shipping (6.95) and will receive 23 pieces of makeup and 3 makeup bags for a total of $42. We’re pretty impressed with the bargain prices. Even if I’m packing my bags for a guilt trip ….
Hee, BoyDucky was genuinely confused:
“So, how did you buy make-up … at work? And … but .. you don’t wear make-up!”
“Yes … yes I know. It just looked so pretty! All the colors looked so pretty. And they say they smell good. I’m a sucker for minty things.”
Why not pay yourself $1 dollar for everyday you dont spend any money =) Then after you save $50 you can go and spend it! or better invest it! hehe..
I like that idea millionster…
Me, my incentive is just staring at how much I can throw into my debt to see it go down and get paid off even sooner.. There’s something forbidden and delicious about seeing my payments decrease by month on my spreadsheet.
~Millionster~ That’s not a bad idea … I usually have everything budgeted to a dime though, so I’m not sure where my “allowance” would come from. At the end of the day, though, I bet the greatest satisfaction is watching the bank account grow fat.
~Fab~ That’s the best motivation! Seeing the balances in the bank account match the debt amounts and knowing that I’ll be going head-on into real savings soon is usually the best feeling ever.
I’ve just lost steam, a bit, I think.