A friend of mine loves to golf. But the expense of it is concerning to his wife so my friend won’t tell his wife when he goes and even leaves his golf clubs with his friend permanently, just so his wife doesn’t see them missing for a day.
I use this example of golfing because it is so common. It isn’t just the expense, but the time away from work. It takes me four hours to play a round of golf. Since my friend is in sales, when he golfs he loses four hours he could have been earning money he can bring home to the family to help get their financial situation under control.
What about a client of mine who loves to get her nails done? She pays to have her nails decorated to match the seasons of the year and will spend as much as $35 for “themed” nails for Halloween and Christmas. And of course she lies to her husband about the cost by saying her friend paints her nails so there’s no cost.
But is golfing bad or going to the salon such a terrible thing? Of course not! We all need to relax at times and to pay for items that make us feel good about ourselves. The problem is when we have not planned for such expenses. By building a spending plan that includes Emotional Savings you can have the things you want as well as the money you need for necessary expenses. On top of that, you won’t have to lie about these things to your partner!
Along with long-term savings for retirement and emergency savings, build into your spending plan extra “mad money” if you 
will. It is inevitable that you will spend this kind of money sometimes, so why not have a plan for it? And be sure to build in this mad money for your spouse as well, not just yourself, even consider doing it for children. In my experience we all need some fun money, regardless of age. We need to know that after all the hard work we do, there will be some kind of reward waiting for us. When you build this kind of money into your spending plan, you will be less likely to go into debt for such items, and will stay on track to save for the future more successfully.
Best of all, this kind of planning makes it possible to have open, honest relationships with the ones you love. You can hold a weekly “Money Huddle” where you discuss finances with your partner without fear or embarrassment and this helps build relationships and brings you closer together. In such meetings you can talk about how the golf game went, for example, or what kind of colors you want to put on your next nail painting. Can you see how this eliminates all the drama? Emotional spending and weekly money huddles can go a long way to solving financial problems. For help in creating a spending plan with emotional savings built into it visit www.moneymastery.com today.
