Responsible Adulthood? Nah... Let's Spend Irresponsibly!

In the last two days I've had two different friends post on Facebook about balancing their checkbooks, or that they finished the month a little more in the black than normal, etc. This has led to some interesting conversations about how even as adults we still look forward to spending our money irresponsibly and not necessarily on what it *should* be spent on.

My family spent more than I'd like to admit on visiting family, having get togethers at the house and other not actual "necessities" this month. When I spent two hours this morning balancing the checkbook and paying bills I was like "hmm.... maybe we'll be eating leftovers and not going out as much this month as we have the past couple months."

As these two threads (by two people who have never met and don't even know they each exist) progressed I was amused by some of the things that were posted. I think my favorite was:

A friend of mine just got into a fight with her husband last week because she found out that he hadn't paid some bills and they had more than enough money in the bank..his intelligent response was, "there's no way I'm wasting all of our hard-earned money on bills!"

To which the original poster of the thread responded:

it reminds me of Friends...



Chandler: Rent is (this much) per month Joey: That's *every* month? Chandler: Just the ones you... actually want to live here.
 
The post on the other friend's sight reflected not only these sentiments, but also how cash is becoming obsolete.
 
I never carry cash. I use my debit card for everything. So, I have to look online and see how much $$ I have.
 
To which that was responded by:
 
internet banking = my best friend. I think I've forgotten what cash looks like in real life. :)
 
Most of the comments were humorous to me; however a few made me stop and think about how different I am now than I was just a few years ago. I used to have my hair appointments scheduled every six weeks on the dot with at least 2 appointments in advance scheduled. Now, I just go whenever the whim hits me... after all, I don't see actual people every day so who cares? I've also went from a mandatory shopping trip at least every other week on my day off to I don't even know when the last time I bought myself something full price was.
 
I think it's mostly the kids' faults. They've slowly crushed my will to spend. Which the hubs delights in - but I still plot ways to escape and spend irresponsibly... There's birthdays and back to school shopping to be done over the next month... I bet I'll figure out a way to squeeze some nonsense for myself in there somewhere! Responsible adulthood is over-rated anyway, right?