If you’re reading AFTER Magazine, you’re likely familiar with the phrase “gray-area drinking” (coined by Jolene Park in 2017). This term refers to the space where a person’s drinking hasn’t led to a crisis, but it’s also not serving them well anymore either.
There’s a monetary version of that, too. I call it “gray-area spending.”
Like gray-area drinking, gray-area spending is the space in between. You’re not in a financial crisis. Your bills are paid on time and you’re nowhere close to declaring bankruptcy. But it’s also not quite great. Maybe you’re ignoring some places where you could do better. Maybe it’s become a story you tell yourself: “I’m just not good with money.”
Gray-area spending includes the situations in between financial disarray and order: you make decent money but have no idea where it all actually goes. No matter how much you “save,” your bank account still has the same amount in it. The $6,000 balance on your credit card reappears no matter how often you pay it off.
It’s easy to get stuck in these cycles for decades with no real consequences. Like gray-area drinking, no one holds an intervention for a $6,000 credit card balance.
There’s no rock bottom and that’s exactly what makes it so easy to continue with what you’re doing.
Find Greg’s new book, 12 Steps to Financial Sobriety, wherever books are sold.
