Some words sound funnier than others. Like splurge.
I just asked myself if I was a “splurger” or not?
Splurge. It sounds somewhere between a sponge, a flurry, and a wedge.
Anyway, I’m only bringing this up because today is National Splurge Day, this June 18, 2022.
I swear those National Calendar Day people have a day for everything on God’s Green Earth. Heck, there’s probably one for God’s Green Earth Day.
But back to National Splurge Day. It “encourages us to break out the rainy day funds and spend a little.” They said it. Not me.
To define it clearly, spurge is an act of spending money freely or extravagantly.
To indulge oneself in some luxury or pleasure.
I read a bit about what the founders of this day ask us to do. They say that splurging doesn’t require wiping out our savings account by any means. They also suggest that splurging should only be an occasional event.
I’m wondering out loud here. But if someone spends money extravagantly all the time, is it still called splurging or something else? It is probably called being filthy rich — OR — maxing out your credit cards.
The Splurge Day Fans go on to explain that splurging comes in many forms. From their site: “To some, it can mean saying yes to whipped cream on your latte or that bracelet you’ve been eyeing. To others, it might mean booking that vacation you’ve been dreaming about taking or replacing your clunker of a car. However you celebrate the day, savor the indulgence.”
Ahhh. The indulgence. Go out today and buy your dream Bentley or Mercedes-Benz. What? No pocket cash? Then you better go with the whipped cream in your coffee. Doh.
The Splurge Day Folks also say you might take a day off to go golfing, and if you do, you should “enjoy each moment of the 18 holes regardless of the score.”
Now that’s funny. Apparently, these Splurge Day People don’t know much about golf, or perhaps, they don’t have a competitive bone in their body. I can’t play a game of Yahtzee on my iPhone app without worrying about the gosh darn score. That’s the whole fun of it. Otherwise, you’d just be rolling dice out of a cup with no aim or purpose. The same thing goes for golfing without worrying about a score. You may as well just walk around hitting a little ball with a stick for hours.
Oh. Wait.
Back to Splurge Day. They say it is a day for celebration.
But aren’t all days that way? Shouldn’t we be celebrating our little moments of joy when we find them? Like cutting into a perfectly sweet watermelon. Or watching a squirrel scamper up a tree like a crazy little beast?
The Splurge Patrol offers some suggestions for the day. My comments follow.
• Visit your favorite restaurant. (Most people in Preble County already do this. Have you seen the line at the McDonald’s drive-thru?)
• Take an art or cooking class. (Maybe in NYC. But around here? YouTube, I suppose.)
• Update your wardrobe, at least a little. (For me, this would be a new hoodie, perhaps a different color. Okay. Maybe.)
• Take a nap. (Most people I know already do. Myself included.)
• Wash the car. (What? This is torture, not splurging!)
• Get a mani and a pedi (A good idea, this one. I like a good pedicure.)
As a final note, the day was created in 1994 by Adrienne Sioux Koopersmith. It was supposed to encourage consumers to go out and spend money with the hopes of adding a little boost to the economy.
So there it is. National Splurge Day. I will probably sit this one out because I usually only buy things when I absolutely need them. And all my hoodies are in pretty good shape.
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“Spending money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money.”
― Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money
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“You can have a Masters degree in making money, but you will still wind up broke if you have a PhD in spending it.”
― Orrin Woodward
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“Be happy when you work, thankful when you earn, cautious when you spend, shrewd when you save, and charitable when you give.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo
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The big buying. The splurge.
