Big-ticket items
Jul. 22nd, 2006 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebMy basic financial plan is to spend less than regular people on transportation, housing, and clothing (and kids) so that I can afford to spend more than regular people on travel and early retirement and have a job with less than the average amount of stress.
However, I am finding that I am craving a lot of additional big-ticket items right now.
A better car. My current car has a very mediocre air conditioner, which means that Robin won't ride with me in the summer, which means that we take his gas-guzzler everywhere. That's really unacceptable. Also, I hate the seatbelts and I hate the front-door-locking mechanism. I thought I would get used to having motorized shoulder belts and a lock that you need one or two hands to lock from the outside. (You have to either lock it with the key or hold the handle up while pushing the lock down. Another strategy is to open the back door, close the front door, lock the front door, lock the back door, then pick up your big load of stuff you want to carry and close the back door with your foot.) But since I almost never drive, I don't seem to be getting used to it. I also wish I had better gas mileage.
I might want a Smart car, but they're not in the US yet and they're not old enough to be affordable yet. I'm seriously thinking of looking for an old Toyota Corolla, though.
My yard sucks. I want a landscape architect to come in a get rid of all the invasive plants and put in paths and native plants. I'll water them by hand for the first couple of years until they get established, and then they won't even need those soaker hoses. Just hand watering during the worst droughts.
I want to remodel the house. I want a screened-in porch along the back, I want a laundry room (ideally with space for a washer, a dryer, a drying rack and ironing board), and I want a dishwasher. I want a place to park two cars off the street where you can get to either car without moving the other one out of the way first. I also want a more efficient energy system. My A/C is probably 12 years old and my water heater is maybe 20 years old. I would like more shade on the house (a back porch would do this.)
Officially I have been budgeting for this kind of stuff. Officially I have $2772 saved up for my next car already, but I also have -$1494 saved up for expenses. My current car is still worth about $1750, especially if I don't try to sell it in 100-degree weather. So, this could happen.
For the house and yard, I officially have $7637 saved up. That's enough for some significant stuff, but I don't think it's enough for everything I want, no matter how frugal I can be about it.
Unfortunately, most of these savings are in places I don't want to touch right now. Stocks are down, and I'll never get I-bonds as good as the ones I have now again. Also, all of these things require research, effort, estimates, test driving, time, etc. Which I'm not in the mood for. Whine, whine, whine.
I also want to move someplace between MoPac and I-35, perhaps along 183, where I can actually get to and from my house. (Okay, that's all with the whining.)
I need to just pick one of these goals and get started with it already. It's amazing what you can do when you just decide to do it and start doing it.
However, I am finding that I am craving a lot of additional big-ticket items right now.
A better car. My current car has a very mediocre air conditioner, which means that Robin won't ride with me in the summer, which means that we take his gas-guzzler everywhere. That's really unacceptable. Also, I hate the seatbelts and I hate the front-door-locking mechanism. I thought I would get used to having motorized shoulder belts and a lock that you need one or two hands to lock from the outside. (You have to either lock it with the key or hold the handle up while pushing the lock down. Another strategy is to open the back door, close the front door, lock the front door, lock the back door, then pick up your big load of stuff you want to carry and close the back door with your foot.) But since I almost never drive, I don't seem to be getting used to it. I also wish I had better gas mileage.
I might want a Smart car, but they're not in the US yet and they're not old enough to be affordable yet. I'm seriously thinking of looking for an old Toyota Corolla, though.
My yard sucks. I want a landscape architect to come in a get rid of all the invasive plants and put in paths and native plants. I'll water them by hand for the first couple of years until they get established, and then they won't even need those soaker hoses. Just hand watering during the worst droughts.
I want to remodel the house. I want a screened-in porch along the back, I want a laundry room (ideally with space for a washer, a dryer, a drying rack and ironing board), and I want a dishwasher. I want a place to park two cars off the street where you can get to either car without moving the other one out of the way first. I also want a more efficient energy system. My A/C is probably 12 years old and my water heater is maybe 20 years old. I would like more shade on the house (a back porch would do this.)
Officially I have been budgeting for this kind of stuff. Officially I have $2772 saved up for my next car already, but I also have -$1494 saved up for expenses. My current car is still worth about $1750, especially if I don't try to sell it in 100-degree weather. So, this could happen.
For the house and yard, I officially have $7637 saved up. That's enough for some significant stuff, but I don't think it's enough for everything I want, no matter how frugal I can be about it.
Unfortunately, most of these savings are in places I don't want to touch right now. Stocks are down, and I'll never get I-bonds as good as the ones I have now again. Also, all of these things require research, effort, estimates, test driving, time, etc. Which I'm not in the mood for. Whine, whine, whine.
I also want to move someplace between MoPac and I-35, perhaps along 183, where I can actually get to and from my house. (Okay, that's all with the whining.)
I need to just pick one of these goals and get started with it already. It's amazing what you can do when you just decide to do it and start doing it.
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no subject
on 2006-07-22 07:07 pm (UTC)Aren't I helpful? ;-)
no subject
on 2006-07-27 04:27 am (UTC)I'd always thought I'd keep my current house if I moved, and just rent out this place to students. That's what I haven't budgeted for.
Selling it and using the money to buy another place is also an option. Unfortunately, the houses I'd want probably cost twice what I could get for my current house. Hmm, but if I got a duplex (which tend to cost only slightly more than houses) ...
no subject
on 2006-07-27 04:05 pm (UTC)Some days I hate the world and want to be a hermit, other days I love the world and want to totally immerse myself in it. And still other days I think I might like a garden. Good luck with your own debate!
I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that we can even HAVE the internal debate, right?
no subject
on 2006-08-06 04:48 am (UTC)Do some gardening in some large pots on your patio. If you don't feel like gardening for a while, then your plants die, but you don't have to mow and your patio still mostly looks decorated by large pots.
This plan works unless you like to throw big parties. It's hard to have lots of people over when you live in a tiny condo with no parking, although you could still have intimate dinner parties and movie parties, as we've seen from some of those amazing apartment therapy entries.