The Hindu Business Line : Spend it!

Dr Amrit Shah is a homeopathic physician and Editor at Focus Infosys, a medical transcription company in Bangalore. His wife Vandana is an administrative associate at i-flex Solutions. Their combined income is about Rs 6 lakh per annum. They have a monthly budget, which is "around Rs 20,000, plus or minus Rs 2,000. We try to stick to our budget as far as possible," says Shah. But that doesn't stop them from spending more. "That's why the planned cushion of Rs 2,000."

Similarly, Chennai-based K. Sundaresan, Business Development Manager at i7Software Asia, and his wife Namrata, senior research analyst at Frost & Sullivan (combined annual income Rs 8 lakh), too have a budget in place. "Normally our monthly budget revolves around entertainment (mainly movies and eating out), because this is where our expenses go out of control," says Sundaresan. Otherwise they budget for a year and this helps them to be prepared for contingencies. "The fact that sometimes the budget goes completely haywire is a different story," adds Namrata.

But there are other DINK (double income no kids) couples like Jagadish-Revathi and Sriganesh-Savitha who don't have any budget but use a substantial part of their income for loan repayment. Both Jagadish and Revathi work for Bangalore-based IT firms, and together earn about Rs 6 lakh per annum. "Our EMIs add up to over Rs 20,000 a month, and we spend about Rs 5,000 on non-essential items," says Revathi.

R. Sriganesh, Account Manager in 20:20 Media, and his wife Savitha, Senior Functional Analyst at iSoft India have a combined annual income of about Rs 8 lakh. "We do spend, go out shopping... but that's very rare. Maybe once in 3-4 months. But we have to go for a movie every Friday night," she says.

Dining out

All the couples appear to have one expense in common... eating out. The reason: The tough schedules and late work-hours that their jobs demand. The Shahs feel that it is practical to eat out "rather than return home and cook." Though leisure dining on weekends is almost a ritual, they don't enjoy eating at expensive restaurants, except on special occasions. "Even a simple meal like idli and dosa for Rs 50 makes us happy," says Amrit.

Namrata admits they eat out a lot too; 70 per cent out of necessity, while the rest is sheer indulgence, she adds. Sriganesh and Savitha have no guilt pangs about their eating-out habit. Out and out foodies, they have tried almost every eatery in the city, big or small. "Sometimes we eat out thrice a day," says Savitha. Jagadish and Revathi eat out occasionally on weekends.

Shopping freaks?

For most DINK couples, shopping is a weekly affair whether it's for the essentials or otherwise. "Our average monthly expenditure hovers around Rs 25,000-30,000," says Sundaresan. While Namrata is an impulsive buyer — "If I set my heart on something, I need to get it then and there" — Sundaresan has more control over himself; "He splurges too, but after giving it a thought, unlike me," says Namrata.

The Shahs spend mostly on clothes, accessories and, occasionally, on electronic gadgets. Amrit says they've spent about Rs 6,000-7,000 on clothes in the last few months. "However, we prefer the ones that come at a good bargain over expensive designer clothes. We are major discount-sale freaks."

Amrit, an impulsive shopper, says his wife "knows the fine balance between spending and splurging, and makes sure she has saved for a rainy day. Even if she buys something she has been craving for a long time, she is always in two minds if she did the right thing or not." They always have a friendly fight over what has been bought and how to put it to good use. "For example, I wanted to buy a laptop, and Vandana insisted that since I use the desktop sparingly, a laptop would be another wasteful addition," says Amrit. Vandana's impulses are limited to trinkets and cosmetics, while Amrit's include a home-theatre system, iPod and laptop among other things.

Sriganesh too has a weakness for electronic goods; he recently bought an Apple laptop with expensive accessories. "The Web-camera, for instance, cost me around Rs 5,000." Shopping for him and his wife usually centres on clothes... mostly branded ones. "I also play tennis. So I shop for my tennis gear, usually all-whites. When I started playing tennis about six months ago, I splurged a lot," says Sriganesh. Savitha admits to splurging occasionally. "I don't even window-shop. Whenever I go out for shopping, I know what I want and from where."

Travel temptations

Time rather than money is a constraint for these couples when it comes to planning for a long holiday. They try to squeeze in a couple of short breaks each year instead. Jagadish and Revathi have an outing once every two months. In a year, they spend about Rs 10,000-20,000 on travel.

The Sundaresans visit their parents once or twice a year, and club their short retreats with these visits. In all they spend about Rs 30,000 on travel alone and an equal amount on travel-related expenses. Besides visiting parents, Amrit and Vandana do not have much time for holidaying. In a year they spend about Rs 20,000 on travel. Says Amrit, "These are planned holidays, where we get a good bargain in the off-season. I guess this is good value for money."

Sriganesh and Savitha have just returned from their UK trip, which cost them about Rs 2 lakh. "We have Savitha's sister there, so our expenses were much less," says Sriganesh. The couple takes short breaks often. They also enjoy a fairly long holiday once in six months. They spend around Rs 15,000 on each trip. "A major part of our expenses goes towards buying souvenirs or small gifts for relatives and friends. For instance, we picked up tea bags and eucalyptus oil from Ooty, and home-made chocolates from Kodaikanal, during our vacation there last year."

No kids, more money!

All the couples agree that the absence of kids in their lives gives them room to splurge. "This is a period in our life where we are making the best of our reasonable financial freedom as well as lack of the responsibility of rearing children. When we were married four years ago, neither of us had the resources to spend impulsively, so we are making up for it with a vengeance now," says Vandana.

But Amrit adds that his wife's income "is crucial to our impulsive spending. Our expenses would be strictly budgeted once we have a kid."

Sriganesh wants to make sure he has all the fun that he missed out on as a child, teenager and young adult. "We are able to spend more on ourselves now, which would have otherwise been spent on the kid."

Vandana feels priorities will change once a kid arrives, while Revathi has already started limiting her household expenses to save for the future. Savitha sums it up: "We want to have fun, spend money and buy things we want before we start a family."

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

Location courtesy: Rekha's Boutique, Chennai

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