Discretionary vs. Non-Discretionary Spending

[Rianne]

I've been keeping "total spend" records since 2015.

2015 - $63,109.34
2016 - $58,006.05
2017 - $61,532.33
2018 - $59,134.15
2019 - $57,946.83 (bought a new car, that in a different category)
I have not separated "discretionary" from "non discretionary" because IMHO all spending are moving parts. Weather changes utilities, eating habits change groceries, home maintenance changes year to year. My bottom line is year end spending. It shows our spending somewhat stable over the years but we've made drastic changes from year to year in both D and non D spending.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We have our basic budget and then our discretionary spending. This includes travel, clothes, furniture, eating out, entertainment and our second car. I did quit having the cleaners when we semi retired and moved to 1400 sq ft. Only times in my life when I have turned down the heat in some rooms when I went to bed was the times we had electric baseboard heat which costs a fortune. I never bothered when we had gas heat.

 

[Dtail]

I've been keeping "total spend" records since 2015.

2015 - $63,109.34
2016 - $58,006.05
2017 - $61,532.33
2018 - $59,134.15
2019 - $57,946.83 (bought a new car, that in a different category)
I have not separated "discretionary" from "non discretionary" because IMHO all spending are moving parts. Weather changes utilities, eating habits change groceries, home maintenance changes year to year. My bottom line is year end spending. It shows our spending somewhat stable over the years but we've made drastic changes from year to year in both D and non D spending.

We have only been retired for 2.5 years and our yearly totals from each year are similar to the other year.
Thus I would think even with moving parts as you mentioned, there would be something of a budget guiding your spending.
The reason I mention this aspect is that for us, the budget drives the guideline for actual spending.
So far, we have been under budget for the 2 years, but if we were going to be way over budget with an uncomfortable WR%, then I would make adjustments to the discretionary categories during the year.
Lastly, we also purchased a car in 2019, which is also extracted from a separate category which is not part of the Investment Assets, although part of NW.

 

[HFWR]

I know fairly accurately what my recurring, bare-bones costs are. I don’t track the minutiae, like “bought mustard”, and don’t track discretionary beyond “restaurants”, since Visa makes it easy to track. But I know about how much I can afford to spend each year above discretionary, and one look at my savings account tells me how much is left for the year. Then it’s “ready, set, spend”!

 

[Rianne]

Thus I would think even with moving parts as you mentioned, there would be something of a budget guiding your spending.

I can look at the history and immediately know in 2015 our HC premiums were $6000 for the year (premiums alone). This made me think why not go for the Bronze plan, pay $8/month with a $6000 deductible? We've been healthy and if we hit the deductible, it's the same as spending $500/month for the silver plan. Then, another year, we spent 3 weeks in Italy, so it was up a bit. Then, one year we had a really warm winter, thus utilities down.

I guess the budget is in our heads, rather than on paper. Somehow things adjust and the give and take evens out.