I’ve talked recently about my new American Express card. We just got the first statement and it’s interesting to see all our charges listed out in one place like that. We put everything we could on the card, including our bills, so it’s a pretty complete look at where we spend our money. Nothing I didn’t already know, but it’s weird to see it all laid out day by day.

But what does this statement say about me? If a stranger were to look at this, what would they think? First off, they would probably think that we eat out way too much. And they’d be right! But what would they infer about us as people? That we are unorganized? That were fat? (Nope, and maybe a little) If I were looking at this statement I would think that both my husband and I work full time and that we don’t take our lunch to work. That would be my first piece of advice to us, start brown bagging it! Which isn’t terrible advice. But I don’t work, and going to lunch is something I like to do with the kids to get out of the house. Yeah, there are other things to do besides eating out. But I still have to feed them, and going out kinda kills two birds with one expensive stone. There are 38 charges from restaurants. Yowza! (The cheapest being $1.72 and the most expensive being $48) A person might get the idea that we aren’t careful with our money.

This peeking stranger might also know that we own our home. ($102 charge to home depot) and they might also have an idea about how big it is based on our utility bill. Which based on the size of our house might tip them off that we have kids. That fact would probably be confirmed by all our Costco purchases. In fact, they might think we have more kids than we do.

What is kinda weird is that they would know just about exactly where we live. Since the vast majority of the charges come from our city, and our favorite pizza place puts the cross streets right on the statement.

But I think what speaks louder than what is on our statement is what isn’t on our statement. There are no movie theaters, no mini golf, no nail salons, no fancy stores (mostly Walmart and Target). Really not much of anything except bills, food, and gas. I think that in itself speaks volumes.

pic by: mlinksva