Thinking about how to approach numbers that are formatted as fancy strings but saved as numbers

body_view.js

window.app.views.BodyView = Backbone.View.extend({
  el: $("body"),
  events: {
    "click #app-submit":  "save",
  },
  save: function () {
    var lineItem = $('#line-item').val()
    this.model.saveWithFormat(lineItem)
  }
});

line_item.js

app.models.LineItem = Backbone.Model.extend({
  saveWithFormat: function(val){
    // in the real version you do work here
    this.set('lineItem' val);
    return this // I like to always return myself when it makes sense for chaining
  },

  getFormatted: function(){
    var number = this.get('lineItem');
    // in the real version you do work here
    return number;
  }
});