What Does Your Paycheck and a Dixie Cup Have in Common?

Diapers, paper cups, napkins, and income.  One of these things is not like the others.  One of these things just doesn't belong.  These are things we call disposable.  Which one doesn't belong?  Well, according to Investopedia and Investorwords, they're all good.  Except maybe diapers, if you're still using the cloth ones.

Disposable Income, they call it.  What does it mean?  Investopedia.com says, "The amount of after-tax income that is available to divide between spending and personal savings."  They add, "This is also known as your take home pay."  Investorwords.com pretty much agrees, "The amount of income left to an individual after taxes have been paid, available for spending and saving."

So, it's unanimous.  Pay Uncle Sam first, the rest is disposable.  In other words, my entire paycheck is simply disposable.  Just like those plastic cameras that you buy at Rite-Aid.  Although, to be fair, those cameras are not truly disposed of, as they get recycled when you take them back to Costco for processing.

Do the words we use matter?  Of course they do.  If I look at my paycheck and think, "disposable," does it mean that I will actually throw it away?  Maybe.  Proverbially anyway.  Americans already have a savings problem, in that we don't.  In most cases, our paychecks are spent before we even see it.  Between rent or mortgage, cell phone, Internet, cable, credit card minimums, student loan payment, car payments, we have already spent our paychecks for the next several years.  It has been thrown away.  Maybe Investopedia is smarter than I am.  Maybe our take home pay is disposable.

I prefer the term discretionary income.  Ironically, it means something different.  It means the amount of money that is left over after the essentials, such as food, clothing and shelter, have been taken care of.  If any income is disposable, and I don't think any of it is, it sounds to me like the money left after covering essentials should be disposable.  What exactly does discretionary mean?  Dictionary.com tells us, "ability or power to decide responsibly."  Yea, we don't want to put that sort of burden on our money.  Let's just call it disposable and be on our way.

Dixie Cups, Pampers, and now... your paycheck.