My Word's Worth: an occasional column by Marylaine Block

January 7, 2006 Permanent URL: http://marylaine.com/myword/madmoney.html

COMMON CENTS

I was astonished this past Christmas when I saw an ad suggesting that a Game Boy would make a lovely stocking stuffer.

Stocking stuffer? As in, this didn't cost enough to be a REAL gift? I know our ideas about money have changed since I was a kid, but that much? So I Googled "stocking stuffer" to see what was being offered in that guise, and while I found plenty of things like gloves and yoyos, I also found the Unofficial Apple Weblog offering suggestions for stocking stuffers in the $20-30 range.

It made me wonder what constitutes "mad money" these days -- that is, money that:

• You'd be willing to spend for a joke gift or stocking stuffer
• You don't mind spending on an unexpected lunch or drink with friends
• You're willing to take a flyer with, for something you don't really need, but what the hey, it's only $____.

  Now, Bill Gates and I are going to fill in that blank a bit differently, and folks who pay New York City prices are going to think about money differently than folks in, say, Iowa. But I wondered if there weren't broadly accepted price ranges defining "mad money." After all, TV ads for mail order products fall into three tiers: no more than $9.95, no more than $19.95, and no more than $39.95 at the far outside (anything costing more almost always advertises not the total price but monthly installments of $29.95).

  I started looking at the stuff by the cash register in stores, the stuff merchandisers think either WE might buy on impulse, or our kids might grab and throw a hissy fit if we don't buy it for them. Again, $9.99 seems to be the outside limit. Mostly there are magazines (up to $5), batteries (up to $7.99), phone cards (up to $9.99), beanie baby knock-offs ($9.95), household essentials like scissors and glue (up to $7.99). Despite a few more expensive items, retailers seemed pretty sure we weren't likely to spend much more than $10 without thinking about it.

  I asked the librarians, teachers and computer techies who subscribe to my e-zine what amount of money they considered inconsequential. Answers ranged from $5 to $25. They also pointed to the lessened value of small amounts.

  One woman said: "when kindergarten students in our area (southern Missouri) are asked to identify coins, they almost all recognize a quarter but the nickel is a great unknown, pennies are usually known (different color and plentiful), dimes are usually only known by a few."

  Another was surprised when visiting North Carolina to find "the clerks wouldn't count the change I'd given them. It happened in two different stores in an upscale mall. Amazing. Change isn't money and it doesn't matter."

  You'd think there'd be a sliding scale for mad money, depending on income, but there really wasn't. One reader who makes a handsome income said "I still pick up pennies I see in the street. Nothing excites me more than finding that someone has left $20 in the ATM." Mostly my readers said anything over $5 was a serious gift.

  Of course what we're willing to spend on unknown items depends entirely on how much we like the product: I'll spend up to $6 on a book that looks interesting, from $2-5 on used CDs by bands I never heard of before, but only $5 on tourist mementos or craft fair items. What we consider outrageously overpriced also depends on how much we want it in the first place. One man who would cheerfully pay whatever it cost for his favorite fish, "just for the halibut," (groan) wouldn't spend a dime more than usual for oranges.

  Everybody admitted their idea of inconsequential money has gone up over the last 10-20 years -- 75 cents for coffee became $3 for a double latte, for instance, and as our time became worth more than money to us, the dollar for ingredients for a packed lunch became $5 for a fast food lunch. But mad money is still not all THAT mad - the frugal folks on my mailing list were still more likely to stuff stockings with decks of cards, packs of candy, and handheld battery-operated games, than with a GameBoy or even a $29.95 WalkMan.

  In fact, when you think of all the inducements to spend - the products by the cash register that we stare at while we're waiting in line, the ads that tell us to pay no attention to cost because "I'm worth it," the pervasive sense that other people are living lots better than we are - what's amazing is that so many of us still remain so frugal.

  For many of us, $30, or even $20 or $10, is still serious money -- a hard-earned present under the tree, not a stocking stuffer.
  
  
  

  This is an updated version of an Observing US column I wrote for Fox News Online in January of 2000.

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