Picking Up Your Parnter's Habits | My Financial Recovery

Picking Up Your Parnter’s Habits

Posted on: February 14, 2009 by Matt

Lately I have been noticing that my spending habits have been changing rather drastically. I seem to have less money to transfer into savings or pay down a bit of extra debt with. I am sure that a number of people out there have also experienced changes to their financial habits when moving into a new relationship (especially those with kids). I have noticed that I seem to pick up a number of easier to follow “bad” habits when in a relationship.

The habits may not necessarily be “bad” but they most definitely require less effort. In my case I have noticed several items on the financial front. I budget less, spend more and end up back in the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck. Perhaps I am just impressionable but I am also starting to fall into the “there is always something” mindset that my girlfriend expresses her frustration with. She has noted in the past that every time it seems she is about to get ahead that an unexpected expense comes up.

The current list of fairly unexpected expenses includes:

Replacing a dead coffee maker with a fancy new one. We already did get the fancy coffee maker largely because we drink a couple of pots a day. I probably would have been happy with a less expensive model but she has wanted a nice new coffee maker for a long time. Plus I have to admit that it does look nice and work well (we opted for a thermal carafe as well).
A new vacuum cleaner: the one we have now is old and starting to break frequently. Still have not made the purchase but the thought has been planted for me.
A new cat litter box. Small but still these items add up.

All said in done – my mindset appears to have changed over the past couple months and it seems I am falling into some fairly common pitfalls of personal finance. I have been overextending myself and not saving, budgeting or keeping up any of my “good” habits.

Over the next few days I hope to further examine some of the areas I have slacked off and see what I can do to get back on track.

Share and Enjoy: