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The Best $100 Monthly Payment Ever

We waste a lot of money each month. Whether it’s at restaurants or on video games or on impulse purchases, we do it all the time. Rent, food, and gas are all needs, but other than that, I recently committed to a monthly payment that I consider to be the best of my life.

With all the great features smartphones have and with all the communicating we do, it’s hard to go 45 minutes without someone trying to contact you by phone or email. Even worse, it’s hard not to want to check to see if someone is trying to get in touch with you.

Lauren and I are used to texting constantly and it turns out that it’s a lot harder not to text and drive than it sounds. We have a big problem not picking up the phone when someone texts and when you’re sitting in traffic, it’s hard not to reach for the phone.

We’ve agreed not to text, but it wasn’t a foolproof plan. We still succumbed to the pressure occasionally, and even though we knew how unsafe it was, we couldn’t help it.

I decided we needed to take drastic action, so while the fear of death enough, apparently $100 is. I told Lauren that each month she doesn’t text and drive, she can have $100 in cash to spend on anything she wants, whether it’s clothing, charity, presents for me, or saving (wouldn’t it be great for her to save that $100 each month for years and surprise me with $50,000 that she’s saved up for 20 years?).

This is above and beyond our normal budget. And she gets it in cash so that I don’t go tracking her purchases and asking her why she’s wasting money. Obviously, Lauren’s safety is more than worth the money and I don’t care what she does with that $100.

Of course, this wouldn’t work for me because I’d be inclined to just save that $100 so we’ll have to think of another way to keep me motivated not to text and drive. Maybe a special steak dinner for me once a month?

We put in this agreement so that we don’t have to get letters like this. The best $100 recurring bill I’ve ever committed to.

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12 COMMENTS

  1. Oh, wow. I mean, whatever gets you to not text and drive. That is incredibly dangerous and I’ve heard that adults do it even more than teens. You probably won’t need to keep this up forever as technology advances quickly – hopefully we won’t even be driving ourselves in the near future!

  2. This sounds like an excellent idea. Safety is well worth the $1,200 payment. Plus, she’ll be buying (or saving) stuff with that $1,200 so it’s not really going to waste at all. Anything that keeps people from not texting and driving is a great idea. I give you props for coming up with something innovative to stay safe.

  3. Wow, talk about an incentive to not text and drive. Not to mention the focus on being safe. I think I’d be leaving my phone in the glove box or something to make sure I get that money. :) I think the saving route would be a great way to build up a nice little source of cash.

  4. I think that is a good idea if it works for you. The only time I pick up my phone is when I am stopped at a stop light. I will leave the texts for another time. Luckily, I don’t get many, so this is easy for me.

  5. Haha that’s awesome! I think that the fine in certain states for texting and driving if caught is around 100$, So technically you and Lauren could also be saving for that rainy traffic day when you text and get caught!

  6. Very true that safety takes precedence over any monetary amount. Sounds like a great idea!

  7. While I think it’s a perfectly reasonable idea as you have the finances to accompany such a deal, it makes your wife seem a bit immature that she requires a reward to not do something that a smart person would deem risky and common sense. Would you give her another $100 each month to have her wear her seatbelt? No because smart people wear seatbelts. The same should apply for texting.

  8. Nice post, but you sound very patronising when it comes to telling your wife your what you’ll pay her, and what she can spend it on. Im sure this isnt intentional?

    • @mark, I made a very specific point not to say that I’m paying her (if you read the site, you’ll know that all accounts are shared and we share all assets and debts), rather she withdraws the money and can do whatever she wants with it (the examples I listed are simply examples, if she wants to go skydiving, she can).

      We have similar financial goals, which is why we have to make a point to add extra money to the budget to account for this.

  9. That’s a good idea. Hope she gets motivated. I heard a lot of texting and driving accidents so maybe you don’t have to pay me money to do that. But hey, that would be an extra motivation. :)

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