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Today’s question requires everyone to be honest with themselves. When you are using someone else’s money, do you treat it the same way as your own? For example, do you try to get something more expensive to eat if someone is treating you dinner? How about your spending on business trips when you know you can expense it? I notice many people spend much more on their meals when they are on business trips than they do normally, but not many people will probably voice out and say they actually do this publicly. Hopefully, everyone can be honest in this poll because it is completely anonymous!
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For me, the answer is clear - when I use other people’s money I’m naturally and somewhat unavoidably less stingy about spending.
Just look at how I spent my parent’s money when I was back in college. It wasn’t until I started working and saving money that my personal frugality sense finally kicked in.
It’s natural to spend more on other people’s money. Depends on who the person is though. For me, if the person is very close to me, like a family member or a very good friend, I tend to spend their money like my own.
Unfortunately I’ve been spending other people’s money… Like credit card companies, the mortgage company and others.
But your post deals more like in the case of using your companies money. I try to spend their money like my money when traveling and taking meals. I sometimes get water for a drink in order to get dessert. The sacrifices we make sometimes.
Interesting post! I always spend more than usual during the business trip. As long as we don’t over spend (e.g. 1 person meal becomes 5 person meal), I think it is reasonable. The company is not going to reward you anyway if you spend less.