I just received $120 from an old friend of Mom’s for my graduation. I don’t know the old gentleman (OG) very well, although my biggest impression of him is how independent he is, as a ninetysomething. Definitely inspirational.
Anyhow, the money will go into my big pool of money (well, or not so big, depending on how you look at it). I feel the need to put the entire amount into my Emergency Fund. Even though money is money – all interchangeable here – I still feel some sort of obligation to use gift money, especially from the elderly, wisely.
I came really close to buying a $50 sweatshirt today, but finally decided that because I can find equally nice and quality pieces for half the price, I really shouldn’t spend so much money (especially not OG’s gift money) on an over-priced sweatshirt.
It’s not the most rational of feelings (I doubt that OG will descend upon my front door with a disapproving frown if I used the $120 for a big sushi blowout), but I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way.
Well Heeled Blog 
I share your feelings about saving gift money. It is a bit hard to do this with cash or a check because it does find its way into a larger pool of money and over time the gift amount just mergers with the saving amount.
When I was young the accepted gift to a child within the family was saving bonds. Birth of a child, christening, birthday, first communion, confirmation (being from a large Catholic family did have some financial rewards!) graduation, etc. Most of my early mile markers were greeted with floods of well-wishing cards containing saving bonds. As each card and bond arrived my Mother would group them with a paperclip and take them to the safety deposit box to rest with the others.
When it came time for me to leave for college my Mother took me to the bank with her and for the first time I saw the mysterious safety deposit box. In that quiet and private little room the bank officer had ushered us into my Mother opened the box and started pulling out bundles of cards – sorting to find my stracks and passing them to me.
I will never forget the experience of opening those cards and re-reading (and for the earliest ones reading for the first time) the notes and well-wishes of family and friends – some long-gone by that time. As I read each card and pulled out the bond, the small denominations started to accumulate. Most had a face value of $20, some $50, but they all started to amount to hundreds of dollars.
As we left the little room to head to the teller window I was feeling excited by the number of bonds and thinking that this amount was sure to provide for some much needed spending money my first semester. But the teller did not hand me a few hundred dollars in exchange for my bonds, she gave me a couple of THOUSAND dollars. All of those small $20 bonds sent to me as an infant and young child had appreciate far beyond the face value. The value had compounded and compounded at the high interst rates bonds had been locked into at that time.
I used that money to buy my books at college. I figured that would have been something my relatives would have approved of. I still have all of those cards with the well-wishing notes.
I think earmarking that $120 toward a Roth IRA contribution for 2007 could be a great way to honor the spirit of OG gift to you.
In the past, gift money meant well…that I should spend it all on buying myself a gift dammit! lol
But lately, I’ve come to think more like you, so that I use it much more wisely.
Congrats on your graduation!
I’m glad you feel the same way about gift money. I keep hearing “but it’s not like it’s YOUR money, it doesn’t matter if you get a good deal!” That logic never really made any sense to me: money is money, and if you save or stretch it out, that means you’ve got more to save or spend later.
Congrats!
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Where do you get sweatshirts for $25?