Technically speaking we have decided not to take any more vacations because we are moving in six months. Don't know where we are moving, but still moving is expensive. We are going to have to buy a new couch, a new car, buy a house etc. We are expecting that moving will cost us a lot of money. The military pays to move our stuff and our airfare etc, still it will cost us quite a bit of out of our own pocket money. The smart prudent thing to do is expect that we will need money and therefore save some money in advance so as not to get into any trouble. Jeff is the one in our family who is good with money. He is very prudent.
Yet, Jeff is the one who brought home a brochure from our travel agent about a trip to Australia over Thanksgiving. Doesn't that sound lovely? It is a trip to Cairns, five nights. Surfing and snorkeling over Thanksgiving instead of shoveling snow. The trip is very expensive. I want to go. Now Jeff is not so sure.
I am not great with money. I tend to manage money with my heart. I decide if I should buy an item based on how much I want it instead of based on how much I can afford the item. I like to have nice things because I am a good person and deserve nice things. I am not extravagant but I have a hard time making money decisions based on the how that purchase will effect my financial well being instead of how much I want to go to Australia.
I does turn out that traveling all the way from America to Australia is actually cheaper than going from middle of no where Misawa, Japan to Australia, much cheaper. I do believe that one last trip would be lovely. We can add another continent to our list of accomplishments.
What about you, how do you make your big purchase decisions? A new car? A new computer? Is it based on how much you desire the item or how much you can afford to buy the item? You should have seen my debt when I got married, it was ugly. Jeff doesn't believe in debt, we even pay for our college as we go or we don’t go, imagine that.
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I Think I May Have A Screw Loose
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I saw my podiatrist yesterday. One part of my foot is still hurting (it's
been almost two months since the surgery). He thinks it may be one of the
screws ...
4 comments:
I try to be prudent... but I have a soft spot of cooking and crafting stuff.
We haven't been on a real vacation since our honeymoon six years ago, and I'm starting to get twitty about it.
I am like Jeff, we don't have car or house payments because i HATE owing money to anyone. When we first were together, we did have a mortgage on our house, but i paid that off as soon as i could. Now that we have more $, i enjoy spending it on things that we like, but don't need, but i could never do that if i had other debt.
Having said that, i hope you can go to Australia, because that would be so cool.
Stick with Jeff, he is the wise one. Ine the days when we had a lot of money coming into our home, because of my working, money was not a major issue. We saved, we had no debt and we enjoyed many materialistic things. But now that there is only one income, a MSGT income, money is a major issue. The money I am getting from the little day care is little, very little. I consider it pocket change. So I say although Australia is a wonderful dream to have, save it for a rainy day. It is very expensive returning to the states. A house alone is costly even if you don't have to put anything down...there are closing costs and then things you will need for the house. Cars are not cheap either. It adds up very quickly. After 10 days in billeting it comes out of your pocket, but you do start to get housing money then. I could go on, but do not want to stress you out to much! ;-) I would love to be back to the old days of not worrying so much about money, but I choose to stay home so I have to accept the sacrifices we have to make to try to keep us out of debt. Very hard. But worth it right now. :-)
I suck with money so while B and I discuss big purchases, he's the one who really knows whether we can afford something or not. We don't have any debt at all so our system seems to be working.
And this is why I've been banned from buying more yarn until I get my stash knitted down.
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