Heidi Hammel

I don't think I could advocate for increasing NASA's budget by a factor of two or ten, because I want us to have good roads in our country. I want us to have good education in our country. And NASA's budget is part of a discretionary budget, and we can't make that bigger without taking away other things.

American Scientist

Maria Bartiromo

If you or me go to the gas station to fill up our car and it costs us much more than we expected, it will zap our discretionary income. We won't have the extra money to buy that washing machine or new winter coat-all big ticket items that are important to economic growth.

American Journalist

Robert Zubrin

Trillions of dollars in out-of-control entitlement spending cannot be remedied by cuts in NASA, or even in the entire discretionary budget, defense included. Rather, the financial bleeding needs to be staunched where the hole is and nowhere else.

Steve Hanke

There is always the potential for a central bank to engage in discretionary monetary policy and to break the one-to-one link between changes in foreign reserves and changes in the money supply.

American Economist

Gary Ross

Family entertainment is really very necessary in our culture. Look how profitable they are. It's almost not discretionary. You need to take your family to the movies.

American Actor

Larry Gagosian

Naturally, liquidity is a big factor in any market that seems to be a lot of money in the world, and there's a lot of discretionary money.

American Businessman

Nicola Sturgeon

The U.K. government sets a cap on how much can be spent on discretionary housing payments.

Scottish Politician

Alexa Von Tobel

Know the difference between your necessary and discretionary expenses.

American Businesswoman

Michael Hintze

My giving is discretionary, but keeping the business going is not.

British Businessman

Robert M. Gates

Defense is not like other discretionary spending.

American Politician

Use 'discretionary' when highlighting a choice depends on someone's own decision.

Personal Choice

'Discretionary' implies someone in power has flexibility to decide differently in each case.

Authority's Decision

'Discretionary' means actions are not set by rules, but by individual judgment.

Not Automatic

'Discretionary' in finance means expenses that are not fixed and can be altered.

Financial Flexibility

Use 'discretionary' when talking about parts of a budget that can change.

Budget Adjustments

'Discretionary' often refers to things you can stop spending on without major consequence.

Potential Cuts

In legal contexts, 'discretionary' signals a choice based on a judge's personal evaluation.

Legal Judgment

'Discretionary' in law means the judge evaluates each case on its own merits.

Case-by-case Basis

In legal terms, 'discretionary' is opposite to mandatory or compulsory actions.

 but the time you save will be worth every penny. By making these small changes to your discretionary spending, you can not only spend less but actually get more happiness and satisfaction from your spending. It can mean a life with fewer guilty pleasures and less regret. Now who wouldn't want that?