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tuyop posted:The discussion isn't which laptop I should get, or need, or whether I need a laptop at all, it's really about whether I should buy something that I want. Imagine that this is instead a vacation to Hawaii for a week and we're getting a sick deal and only spending 1200 bucks. Or I'm just setting the money on fire or something. You can't afford a MBA and you don't need one. You can't afford a sick deal vacation to Hawaii, and you don't need one. You can't afford to set $1200 on fire and you don't need to. tuyop posted:The object of my purchase is inconsequential. What you just said, here, is "I just want to spend money for the sake of spending money." This is a bad idea. It is a stupid idea. As much as you harp about Mr. Money Mustache or financial independence or what have you, "the object of my purchase is inconsequential" shows a critical flaw in the way you approach spending. Spending isn't an end unto itself, it's a mean, or rather a necessary evil, to acquire stuff you need or want. Try wanting less expensive things.
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Aug 21, 2013 18:48
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I don't care if you buy a MBA or visit your families for christmas but I would very honestly pick only one of those things. Being financially responsible in the middle class is about picking what big purchases to make and which ones to skip. Either buy the laptop and skype with your families or see your families and buy a $200 used laptop on kijijijijijijijiiii or whatever you northern-folk use when your netbook shits out on you.
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Aug 21, 2013 19:15
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tuyop posted:Wow, you guys really sperg out about laptops. We've been through it, again, I don't need a laptop at all. ...The object of my purchase is inconsequential. Want vs need is only half of the battle. If you're not interested in hearing about other laptops that are cheaper and will work just fine for you, then you're looking to plonk ~$1000 on whatever it is that you think a Macbook Air will do for you (get you laid by your wife even more when she's overcome with hipster lust?). We take issue with that. Not because you want to spend money on a thing, but because we're incredulous that you can afford to spend that kind of money on a thing while simultaneously planning a wedding and paying down what remains a shitload of debt. We would call you out for spending on a vacation too under these circumstances. If it fits in your budget and doesn't compromise any of your savings goals and debt repayment goals, then go crazy. But aside from laptop sperging, you're not the least bit phased that in a thread full of people trying to help you be more financially prudent the consensus seems to be "Bad idea, Tuyop" but you want to do it anyway?
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Aug 21, 2013 20:09
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I hear a lot of laptop recommendations that I don't really want. If I buy a laptop, I know which one I'm getting. It doesn't matter if it costs 800 versus 1250, poo poo is small potatoes to get stressed about. Saving a few hundred bucks on a laptop every five years is not a "big win". It's also kind of strange that you guys are flipping out over this as if I'm about to go buy it right now and plunge myself into some kind of spending spree. I'm not buying poo poo for a little while. We kind of have to focus on our wedding on Saturday and then we'll figure out our priorities and move on from there.
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Aug 21, 2013 21:37
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tuyop posted:I hear a lot of laptop recommendations that I don't really want. If I buy a laptop, I know which one I'm getting. It doesn't matter if it costs 800 versus 1250, poo poo is small potatoes to get stressed about. Saving a few hundred bucks on a laptop every five years is not a "big win".  FINANCIAL HEALTH IS ABOUT THE SMALL POTATOES.It's not about the big win of "Hey I didn't buy a brand new car on credit this week!" it's about the daily grind of "hey stuck to the budget today!" "Packed a lunch today!" and that kind of poo poo. If it was about the big things, it would be easy. Instant gratification. It's a few hundred bucks on a laptop, yes. Also a few dozen bucks on brake repairs, a couple of bucks on coffee, a few... Goddamn weren't you on a frugal living kick recently? How do you reconcile that with "I just want THIS LAPTOP! I want it so bad! LOOK PRETTY?" It absolutely is about those small loving potatoes. Remember a few months back when you were looking at your total lifetime income vs. your actual net worth? A ton - and I mean a loving metric shittgodton - of that money went on small potatoes.
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Aug 21, 2013 21:50
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tuyop posted:It's also kind of strange that you guys are flipping out over this as if I'm about to go buy it right now and plunge myself into some kind of spending spree. Tuyop you are not allowed to say things like this anymore. Given your history of putting surprise information in your update posts of "Oh, hey, went and bought this unnecessary thing!" you don't get to complain about goon reaction to you proposing yet more unnecessary spending. Also, I thought you said you didn't need a laptop at all, so why is it now "If I buy a laptop"?
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Aug 21, 2013 21:51
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tuyop posted:I hear a lot of laptop recommendations that I don't really want. If I buy a laptop, I know which one I'm getting. It doesn't matter if it costs 800 versus 1250, poo poo is small potatoes to get stressed about. Saving a few hundred bucks on a laptop every five years is not a "big win". It's also kind of strange that you guys are flipping out over this as if I'm about to go buy it right now and plunge myself into some kind of spending spree. I'm not buying poo poo for a little while. Whatever laptop you buy aside, you've basically just said 'I want to to spend $7500 by the end of the year!". Between the wedding, and a trip to family, and the laptop. I don't think anyone is *really* giving-a-poo poo about you buying an Air you'll use for five years or a $199 Acer that'll be a pile of poo poo 3 minutes after you take it home as much the line of thought behind "I want this, and this and this and this, and I have money so YAY ME STUFF!" The whole end goal of being financially independent (and trust me on this one, it's the hard part) is NOT buying everything you want, doing everything you want, going everywhere you want - EVEN IF YOU ARE PAYING CASH FOR IT. Having money for something doesn't mean it's a good idea to do it, even if in the long run it's fairly insignificant. The problem is that line of thought leads to wonder hangers, engraved M&Ms, and college funds for other people's children. Because it's really easy to fall back into the 'Well, I have the cash, so whatever.' thought process behind things, and you'll find that your debt has been sitting still because you've been spending all your surpluses on things you want. The reason everyone's having a spergfit about this is that you're ALMOST to the point of having fixed everything, and way too close to suddenly decide you need a $1500 laptop and $3000 trip and and and. Edit: holy rapid dogpile, batman.
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Aug 21, 2013 21:52
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[quote="tuyop" post="418656684"] Wow, you guys really sperg out about laptops. We've been through it, again, I don't need a laptop at all. Somehow people got higher educations for hundreds of years without laptops, and I have access to all the free computers and a desktop and laptop already. The discussion isn't which laptop I should get, or need, or whether I need a laptop at all, it's really about whether I should buy something that I want. Imagine that this is instead a vacation to Hawaii for a week and we're getting a sick deal and only spending 1200 bucks. Or I'm just setting the money on fire or something. The object of my purchase is inconsequential. [quote] Well, why do you want a Macbook Air in particular and not just any old laptop? Just because it's not something you absolutely need doesn't mean you get to completely turn off your fiscal discipline for the duration of that purchase, nor does it mean you can just randomly buy anything you want based on the justification of "well, I want it" without considering need, usefulness, and most importantly, whether you can get something equivalent somewhere else for cheaper. It's fine to buy things that you want, sometimes, but it's still your responsibility to minimize the cost of the thing you want, taking advantage of sales and not overspending just for the fun of it. If you want a laptop, that's fine, go ahead and buy a laptop, but you're going to have to justify buying a $1200 laptop instead of $700. It's not like you've set aside money for it in your budget or anything, either, unless you're draining your combined fun budget for three months Your net worth is 0. Zero. Your net worth is nil, nada, nothing. That means that, before you buy the sexy popular laptop, you have to come up with a reason why you don't want something that does all the same poo poo but costs half as much. Why are you spending $200 for a 250GB upgrade when you can get a 250GB external drive for fifty bucks or less?
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Aug 21, 2013 22:17
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cstine posted:The reason everyone's having a spergfit about this is that you're ALMOST to the point of having fixed everything, and way too close to suddenly decide you need a $1500 laptop and $3000 trip and and and. Yeah, we want all sorts of things, but we can't spend 7500 by the end of the year. We probably can't spend anything by the end of the year because the most important thing on our little wishlist is moving. So next month we have to make sure we have the safety deposit for a place that's probably going to cost 1200/month in rent. I mean, I've said this a couple of times and you guys just keep yelling about how I'm going to spend $10000 on gold-plated poodles tomorrow evening or something. I think we should focus on things like WHERE to put our savings. Toeshoes has like 15k in unused RRSP contribution room. We both have full TFSA allowances. We can potentially save 3100 a month. We'd like to use some of it for a downpayment in the next ten years, should we use the TFSA for that at all?
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Aug 21, 2013 22:23
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Tuyop, you're spending to your bank balance, not to your budget. You're already taking a hit on savings for this, and you repeatedly lowball what it will cost. Upgrades, taxes, Applecare... This will be close to $2k for something you don't need in the slightest. For me, at least, savings is non-negotiable. I put at least 25% of income into long-term savings every month, and that's final. I don't get to decide that I want something this month, so I save less. I either take it out of other discretionary spending, or I plan ahead and put money aside for a few months. "Oh well, less savings this month," is a HUGE red flag. I don't know why you're here if you're ignoring absolutely everybody on this. It's not about the laptop per se, so stop defending the laptop. It's about the horrible attitude behind this decision. If you don't change that, you'll never get out. E. jebus, you want to spend this while you're scrambling to find money to move? Really? Old Fart fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 22:27
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tuyop posted:I think we should focus on things like WHERE to put our savings. Toeshoes has like 15k in unused RRSP contribution room. We both have full TFSA allowances. We can potentially save 3100 a month. We'd like to use some of it for a downpayment in the next ten years, should we use the TFSA for that at all? Possibly. TFSA are post-tax income, while RSRPs are pre-tax. Your tax burden is probably not high at the moment, you're probably better off using TFSA (I don't know what Toeshoes' finances look like; if she has deductions or whatnot.) That being said, you can use 25k per person from your RSRP for a down payment on your first house, but you have to pay yourself back. It may or may not be advantageous, again depending on your tax burden at the time of contribution and that sort of things.
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Aug 21, 2013 22:31
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"I don't care what's a good decision or a better product, I just want what I want without thinking." (I know it's paraphrased, but that's what you're saying.) Another problem you seem to have is that you're incapable of weighing the immediate consequences with the future consequences. Next time you want something, I want you to take three days and write up a list of positives and negatives of buying said thing and post it, because you need to get used to thinking and not just acting. Hell, even just take one day to make the list.
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Aug 21, 2013 22:35
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tuyop posted:I hear a lot of laptop recommendations that I don't really want. If I buy a laptop, I know which one I'm getting. It doesn't matter if it costs 800 versus 1250, poo poo is small potatoes to get stressed about. Saving a few hundred bucks on a laptop every five years is not a "big win". It's also kind of strange that you guys are flipping out over this as if I'm about to go buy it right now and plunge myself into some kind of spending spree. I'm not buying poo poo for a little while. How can you be so dumb as to still not get it after all this time? Being sensible with money is about small increments. Saving $300 may not seem like a lot but multiply it by the next 5 big items you buy and it starts to look like it. Just like how saving $1 a day on lunch soon adds up. Of course I realise that you do know this. It's just that spending money is your hobby.
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Aug 21, 2013 23:40
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pfafulous posted:Tuyop, you're spending to your bank balance, not to your budget. I understand the feeling you're going through. My wife and I hit a landmark in our savings this month and I've been saving for a new mountain bike. It would have been very easy to walk out of the Trek store with a $4,000 bike because we can easily afford it. However, I've been putting aside a couple hundred bucks every month since April so my budget was around $800. I will admit that I stretched the budget an extra $40 to get a bike with some nicer features, but I planned and saved for it. I cut back on spending for other things for almost 5 months to afford it. As I handed over my debit card to the cashier I had a small twinge of buyer's remorse over the amount I was spending. If buying an expensive item doesn't make your stomach churn just a little bit, you probably do not have a good grasp on how a budget works. Nocheez fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Aug 22, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 23:43
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Nocheez posted:Re-read this again, Tuyop. And a third time. I've been doing the same thing. I fell in love with a $450 handbag. I know exactly how impractical that is - I can go to Target and get a purse for $25 that will hold all my stuff. But what I've been doing is putting $100 or so every month in my personal savings out of my "allowance", and not going out for lunch, or splurging on other things that I usually buy. It's been 4 months and I am juuuuust about there. Why don't you & Toeshoes have separate accounts for your own spending? And why not save up to buy whatever the gently caress you want out of that, instead of taking household money for something splurge-y?
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Aug 22, 2013 00:14
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April posted:I've been doing the same thing. I fell in love with a $450 handbag. I know exactly how impractical that is - I can go to Target and get a purse for $25 that will hold all my stuff. But what I've been doing is putting $100 or so every month in my personal savings out of my "allowance", and not going out for lunch, or splurging on other things that I usually buy. It's been 4 months and I am juuuuust about there. How pissed are you going to be when you go to buy it and its out of stock?  MacBook Air doesn't have that problem
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Aug 22, 2013 00:49
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HooKars posted:How pissed are you going to be when you go to buy it and its out of stock? I have it on my Amazon wish list, and gaze longingly at it every few days....
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Aug 22, 2013 00:52
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HooKars posted:How pissed are you going to be when you go to buy it and its out of stock? But MacBook Airs have more than enough problems to compensate for not ever being sold out.
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Aug 22, 2013 01:05
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tuyop posted:We can potentially save 3100 a month. The problem here is that you won't. You won't save 3100 a month. You know you won't. No matter what you say in this thread, you know how you are with money better than anyone, and you know that you won't. You know it in your head and you won't admit it. That's the whole crux of this thread! You keep getting little influxes of money, and it gets pissed away. Little purchases here and there. They add up. Your defense is always "But we're JUST doing this ONE THING this ONE TIME" but the problem is, it happens every time you get a little more money than you thought you would. It's going to continue to happen every month. Do you really think you're going to see a + $3100 balance in your checking account and just put it into savings? You don't have to justify anything to the people in this thread, we're just faceless internet people. You have to be honest with yourself. Do you really, honestly, truly, believe you can save that much every month? Think about it, don't post here about it. Be honest about yourself and what kind of person you really are. You're a spender and you'll never live a simple life.
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Aug 22, 2013 04:42
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I have a bunch of fun student loans and a credit card balance left over from grad school that I'm slowly paying down rather than quickly paying down because I am far too indulgent when it comes to spending. For most people, I manage pretty well. But people in this forum aren't most people, because most people (definitely me) are too lenient when it comes to getting things now and paying later. I could have dropped the credit card debt years ago if I had just not bought a bunch of stuff in the first place (including, ironically, a laptop that's now long dead) or been willing to go without a lot of non-emergency spending. Tuyop, you came in here because your spending was out of control even for most people, and even for most people you had some odd ideas about money. You're getting better and your situation has stabilized for the next year or two, but you've still only pulled yourself up to the level of "most people." And the thing is, "most people" are in debt, buy things on credit, and then pay them off over time. If that's as far as you want to get, well...nobody here is going to give you the advice that dropping money that could go into your (currently small) emergency savings on a luxury computer that will be obsolete in a few years is A-OK in the same way that no one's going to tell me that spending money on boots when it could go towards an extra credit card payment is a financially sound idea. Because it isn't. If you do it anyway, don't try to rationalize it as a good choice. It's an indulgence by someone who likes indulgences, and you're getting indignant that people in a forum known for frugality and rational, not emotional, spending are harping on you about it. Buying a MacBook doesn't make you a villain, but it does make you someone who is knowingly slowing down their plan to escape debt because they want an expensive toy and can't wait. Own it. It's like you get fixated on some new idea, don't research it very well, but must have it - I mean, who buys a bike that's the wrong frame size but already has all kinds of plans about how they'll commute on it in the winter? Look at your history and think about the patterns a little more before you get all "You guys are so mean, everybody needs a little something extra once in a while and I've been good..." You don't tend to make small financial mistakes any more, but you unfortunately still seem to make large ones - and you seem to think that the large ones are justified because of the savings on the small ones. If you buy it, just acknowledge that this is setting back the goals you said you wanted to achieve and be fully honest about how much. Also, with all the flux in your life since you started this thread, maybe a little less counting chickens is in order. It's like you still think everything will be the same tomorrow as it is today (a lesson I could stand to learn, too). Oh, and if you buy it, you will be very sorry if you don't insure it and get Apple Care. My Mac products are provided by work (hooray!) so I don't have to pay to maintain them. If I had, I can't even tell you how much I would have shelled out in replacements for frayed power cords (two), bad batteries (two), a dead disc drive, two dead hard drives and associated file recovery...yikes. Macs are great to use and pretty to look at but they have their tics, and they are expensive to keep up. Totally fixable (I'm heading into year five on mine and it runs and looks like new even after all that), but you will swap a lot of parts out along the way. Plus: budget for travel. The holiday expense is never going to not be there, and if you aren't willing to say no you need to plan for it instead of treating it like a surprise.
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Aug 22, 2013 04:45
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Never you mind posted:::wise words:: I really really like this post.
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Aug 22, 2013 05:27
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Tuyop, may I suggest fleeing the country and heading to Canada? Oh wait... Fake-edit: We just want what's best for you; nobody (or at least I hope nobody) wants you to be unhappy (myself included).
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Aug 22, 2013 05:42
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Sassafras fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Aug 22, 2013 11:32
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Sassafras posted:Wow, lots of excessively strident critiques on the laptop thing. The build quality plus retained/resale value on Apple laptops gives them a practically equivalent net cost to a $350 piece of crap and as a bonus, you won't have to lug around the power cord and AC adapter. Try to come in under budget on entertainment due to extra web surfing time for a few months to make up for it. Nice rationalisation, but in the end a $1,200 MCA does not require as much cash as a $350 second hand notebook.
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Aug 22, 2013 11:38
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You nerds need to stop speeding about the specs and features of laptop. That is all irrelevant to the discussion. Resale value is irrelevant (Resale value for electronics, wtf?) as well, since it's not like he can write off depreciation, and there's a fair chance the laptop will get destroyed. Tuyop can't afford a 1200 dollars laptop, a wedding and a holiday flight home at the same time, that's all there is to it. Especially when trying to save up a deposit for a better apartment and when trying to pay down your debts. It's like your spending wants have no connection to your actual budget. A $500 laptop would amply meet your needs for school, the extra 700-800 is just wants, and a bad purchase. You can try to rationalize it any way you want, but you do not need a MacBook, and it will not bring you any benefits over a cheap rear end laptop. It's just not a rational purchase.
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Aug 22, 2013 12:24
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Tuyop, you aren't living like an ascetic now because of your idealistic, poop bucket goals, nor are you living this way as a sacrifice for nice things in the future (MacBook Air). You're living this way because you already spent lots of money you don't have. Bikes, and trips and the most expensive underwear known to man. You can't afford this luxury yet. You're still paying for the luxuries you already took. And the sooner you get out of the "deserve" mindset, you'll come out ahead.
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Aug 22, 2013 12:36
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Sassafras fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Aug 22, 2013 13:13
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Never you mind posted:Buying a MacBook doesn't make you a villain, but it does make you someone who is knowingly slowing down their plan to escape debt because they want an expensive toy and can't wait. Own it. Yeah the first part of your post and the part I've bolded is what I've been saying. As for the travel, we JUST moved to Edmonton, we didn't know we were moving to Edmonton until a couple of months ago. We had to save for a wedding so our Christmas savings are still budgeted just for the cost of going home from Ontario. Now that we're having the wedding, we realize that if we absolutely must go home for December, we can't really afford anything else like a nicer apartment. We're not scrimping for a new security deposit or anything, but it has to be considered when you take into account wanting other larger goods. The current plan is to not go home for December. We'll take a vacation to Cuba at some point next year instead. And I can't believe I'm defending that bike but: when it costs 125 bucks, I'll put up with a lot of problems from a bicycle, and I did! Same with my current one, it was only 250 dollars, has 160 worth of good wheels on it, and it weighs 35 pounds and has no front shifter/derailleur. Oh well, it can and does go 100km at a time! As for net worth and my "Life stage" discussions: Our net worth is actually about 53000 if you include severance and pension. FrozenVent posted:You nerds need to stop speeding about the specs and features of laptop. That is all irrelevant to the discussion. Resale value is irrelevant (Resale value for electronics, wtf?) as well, since it's not like he can write off depreciation, and there's a fair chance the laptop will get destroyed. Yup, that's what I'm saying! But do you guys want literally nothing that you can't afford right this second? How do you plan to buy things that you want in the future if you don't want them now at all? razz posted:The problem here is that you won't. You won't save 3100 a month. You know you won't. No matter what you say in this thread, you know how you are with money better than anyone, and you know that you won't. You know it in your head and you won't admit it. Replace "save" with "put on debt" and that's pretty much what we've been doing. Should be no problem to just shift that debt payment to savings and keep all else equal. The new place will even cost less and soon we'll have no car payment, so yeah!
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Aug 22, 2013 13:47
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tuyop posted:
Well, I put a little into my personal savings every pay, and when I want something, hey, look! I have some money saved up, and I can buy it! Or, I'll have the money in a few weeks. Again, why do you not both have a personal checking/savings account, so you can buy the things you want, without blowing the household budget on toys just for you?
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Aug 22, 2013 13:59
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Just see if you can save for this without compromising other savings goals. You keep saying stuff like, "at least it's not a $10k solid gold toilet seat!" But that's the thing: IT IS. There's always something bigger you can point to and say "well, at least..." That's how rationalization works. Don't say "oh well, only $2100 in savings this month." Keep it at $3100, put OTHER money aside for the MBA. Let your new life settle for a few months before you make big purchases. And hey, I'm not judging. I've done plenty of stupid poo poo just like this and worse, some of it recently. But that doesn't change what it is.
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Aug 22, 2013 14:12
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April posted:Well, I put a little into my personal savings every pay, and when I want something, hey, look! I have some money saved up, and I can buy it! Or, I'll have the money in a few weeks. We budget by categories, not by accounts. In the past we've just discussed saving for a thing as a couple regardless of whose thing it is and then we save into that category until the balance is high enough and then we buy that thing. There's no "my money" and "her money", we just tell each other what we want and budget through it.
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Aug 22, 2013 14:30
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tuyop posted:We budget by categories, not by accounts. In the past we've just discussed saving for a thing as a couple regardless of whose thing it is and then we save into that category until the balance is high enough and then we buy that thing. There's no "my money" and "her money", we just tell each other what we want and budget through it. Ok then, why don't you have a category called "Tuyop's Toys" and budget a little towards it every month?
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Aug 22, 2013 14:33
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tuyop posted:Yup, that's what I'm saying! But do you guys want literally nothing that you can't afford right this second? How do you plan to buy things that you want in the future if you don't want them now at all? Budget for them or buy them out of your personal entertainment/fun/whatever spending? Set aside half your entertainment budget for six months and you'll have enough money for a basic standard unupgraded MBA. April posted:Ok then, why don't you have a category called "Tuyop's Toys" and budget a little towards it every month? He does. Go look at the budget he posted last page again - he puts $400 a month towards "Fun Money". He just doesn't want to use that or any other part of his budget to save money for a laptop, instead preferring to cut his debt payments for a few months (!) in order to put his income toward buying a laptop NOW NOW NOW that he only decided last month that he wanted.
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Aug 22, 2013 15:51
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Hi Tuyop, I'd like you to read these quotes and see exactly how easy it is to die by a thousand papercuts.skipdogg posted:I used to work with a lady who's husband had worked 35 years for a major phone company. She's about 20 years younger than him (mid 40's) and he turned 65 and was ready to retire. skipdogg posted:I see it all the time. Folks live their entire lives from paycheck to paycheck and then some money drops in their lap and they lose their loving minds. OK, maybe they don't lose their minds, but all common sense goes out the window. Give a 16 year old 1,000 bucks and watch what happens. Same thing basically. What's really horrifying to me is they didn't blow it on major stuff. He didn't go buy a Corvette or anything, they just pissed it away a little at a time. They bought 2 lightly used vehicles, nothing fancy, a small hybrid SUV and a base model Pontiac Solstice. They took some trips to Vegas, a Cruise or two, bought their kids a decent used car in the 5K range and helped them out with some bills. Just slowly pissed it all away. Nothing to show for it. It's you in 40 years if you don't change your attitude towards money.
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Aug 22, 2013 16:01
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A few things: - I don't see you living in poverty at 67, but you're still trying to rationalize things as good investments when they are spending. Consumer goods are almost never investments, even if the media uses that language about them. If you are spending money on something that will eventually wear out, is not going to rise in value, and you will never see a profit from it, it's not an investment (even if you need it - everyone has to spend money on essentials, but it's still spending). Me buying a thousand-dollar purse is not an investment, even if a magazine calls it an "investment bag" and I use it until I die. It's a thousand dollars spent. Maybe it makes me happy, maybe instead of spending $50 a year on purses that wear out I use the same purse for 25 years and thus it costs less per use over time, but it's still spending, not an investment. Like you with the lamp: you could spend thirty dollars or eighty dollars, but spending thirty dollars for a lamp isn't saving fifty. It's spending thirty. Getting a deal on things you don't need isn't savings. Mentally classify it as spending. - I didn't bring up the bike because $125 is outrageous or because buying a bike is a bad idea. Buying a bike is a great idea if you use if for exercise, save on commuting, and/or have fun with it. I brought it up because it is unreasonable to go out and spend $125 on a bike that does not fit you when you could wait for one that does, especially if you aren't actually going to live with it but instead use "it doesn't fit" as a reason to buy another bike. It's not saving money to buy things that don't suit their intended purpose. - resale value on a laptop? You can't reasonably count on them being around in decent condition in a few years, even Macs. The only reason resale value should even come into this is if Tuyop knows he's going to upgrade in a year or two, or have to pawn some stuff really quick. - don't be so quick to think that putting money toward debt now means you will save exactly that when the debt is repaid. You are not a rational robot about money (few people are). You already have a kind of loose idea about the value of savings ("Why do I need an emergency fund? I won't have an emergency...oops" and "Why should I keep cash around as an emergency fund when I could just get a line of credit?" are two discussions I remember). Without the pressure of debt, will you be as inclined to put that same money aside? I know I am less inclined to save when I don't have immediate pressure - it's one reason I decided on an automatic yearly increase in my retirement contribution. You're edging toward a loosened budget already with the talk of dropping money on large expenditures now that the worst pressure is off. Again, I don't think this makes you a terrible person or means financial ruin. It just means that you are putting off your stated goals in favor of living more indulgently now. Be realistic about yourself and your spending. The picture of yourself that you seem to have as someone who lives frugally and never wants material goods except this one thing is not borne out by the guy in this thread who needed the special underwear, couldn't bear frozen vegetables, bought a car he couldn't afford, replaced furniture instead of getting it out of storage, and so on. None of these things are awful things. I don't really like frozen vegetables, either. But they don't mesh with the guy who thinks he's going to live off-grid in a yurt. Maybe your goals should be in line with who you are and how you realistically want to live now and in the future, instead of "hey guys we're going to bike everywhere and sell the car and make extra money by selling our own hydroponic crops whoops changing careers how could I anticipate that I needed $900 for tires I saved money buying that used bike I need a different bike we found a cheap apartment oh no I hate our apartment."
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Aug 22, 2013 17:27
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All of this Macbook talk is irrelevant if it's what he truly needs to follow his dream of sticking things in his butt for the webcam. THEN it's an investment. Gotta spend money to make money, you know?
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Aug 22, 2013 19:46
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April posted:Ok then, why don't you have a category called "Tuyop's Toys" and budget a little towards it every month? Because it would probably be larger than all the other categories put together.
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Aug 22, 2013 19:59
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canyoneer posted:All of this Macbook talk is irrelevant if it's what he truly needs to follow his dream of sticking things in his butt for the webcam. THEN it's an investment. Gotta spend money to make money, you know? But yeah, it's an INVESTMENT for BUSINESS! It'll PAY FOR ITSELF! Sure. I know too much about this.
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Aug 22, 2013 22:07
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tuyop posted:I have a computer and (sometimes) a camera in here. Neither of which would be replaced. What changed?
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Aug 23, 2013 03:51
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tuyop posted:The current plan is to not go home for December. We'll take a vacation to Cuba at some point next year instead. tuyop, in the very first post of the thread posted:I caused the debt by going on many, many vacations. Last year alone I took fourteen vacations. Each cost well over 1000 dollars.
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Aug 23, 2013 06:21
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