What is money for?

The boys are staying with me this week, and saw a listing for a rock concert that will be coming to town.

Do you want to go? 

Of course, Dad, what kind of a question is that?  But it's probably sold out already ... it's just three weeks away.

Well, let me check it out.

Turns out there were a few seats left.  Not many, but I got three together up in the nosebleed section.  This also meant rearranging the custody schedule with Wife just a bit, but she seemed willing to go for it.

But I found myself thinking ... isn't it a little strange that I am buying these, when in so many other ways I try to economize?  Is it just to pamper the boys?  Well maybe, but then I haven't gotten an Internet connection in my apartment yet; and I've restricted going out to eat to maybe once a week, even if they aren't all that thrilled with the stuff I cook.  (It depends on the night.)  So it's not just pampering them .... 

What it is instead is that for a while now I have been formulating a list in my own mind of what money is for.  Some parts of this list reach back years, I think ... or at any rate I don't remember how far back I started thinking along these lines.  Anyway, it goes something like this.

Money is for spending on things you need and things you want.  Another way to describe these two categories is "Things you buy because you are forced to" (the realm of Necessity) and "Things you buy because you want to" (the realm of Value). 

Now, there's no joy in being forced to something out of bitter necessity; so for that reason, I'm willing to do whatever I've gotta do but I'd rather not do more than that.  I'll spend on Necessities, but I'd really rather economize on them whenever possible.

But being surrounded by things of value does bring joy: that's more or less the definition of the word value.  So I'm happy to spend on Values, subject only to a little basic prudence that remembers to save for bigger long-term Values rather than squandering everything on smaller short-term Values.  But if it is possible to squeeze a bit of both out of the same budget, ... then let's go for it.

What do these categories contain, in my way of thinking?

Necessities:

• shelter
• clothing
• transportation
• food (most of the time)
• medical care

And so I rent a tiny apartment, I drive a twenty-six-year-old car, my shirts are all fraying at the cuffs, and I comparison shop for peanut butter and beans.

Values:

• education
• art (includes the plastic arts, the performing arts, and occasionally food)
• travel

And so I gladly pay for the boys' private educations; I buy paintings, and go to concerts and movies and live theater; I took Son 2 to Peru last February; ... and so on.

Looked at this way, it makes perfect sense.  I'm not even terribly unclear about these priorities in my own mind.  As I say, I've been thinking along these lines for a long time.  (It should be obvious that this is not at all the way Wife thinks about the same topic.)

But I do realize that most people who travel the world, or buy original art, or send their kids to expensive private schools ... most of these people don't have old, rusting cars and shirts with frayed cuffs.  So it may be a minority perspective ....