Reply #62: Discretionary just means

[Mike03]

that if you have an allottment of money that you can choose to use any way you want, how do you use it?

It's one gauge of how the economy is doing--whether or not Americans have discretionary funds, and if they do have them, what do they do with them?

My realization this past summer is that I personally can't view myself as having any discretionary money, because the future is so uncertain, and my expenses for necessary things are growing. So I'm trying to adjust to having as little as possible, and spending as little as possible.