fun stuff
My honey and I went half on a video game system. I played with the Nintendo Wii just once after Christmas and I knew from that one time that I would have to have my own, even though I’m not much of a video game player. It ran me about $250. It was nice to have the money to get something I wanted. Sheesh - you gotta enjoy yourself even throughout the journey to your goals. I got it during February, and I was still able to increase my net worth and put some money into the My Own Home account.
But now there’s something else I want. Even though I know my car is a depreciating asset, I want to make some improvements. I want keyless remote entry, remote engine start, and privacy windows in the back (and maybe even nicer hubcaps - but not too nice, I do live in the city, after all). I don’t know how much this is going to cost me, but I’ve wanted these things since I bought the car two years ago, but I’ve been putting them off so that I could take care of priorities like getting rid of revolving debt, and paying for the bar exam and its preparation. Now I don’t feel the same guilt buying nice things for myself that I felt when I had the revolving debt.
Old habits die hard, though. I want the car improvements. But I want the house. And whatever I put towards the car could just as easily help me to get to my house goal, which is more important to me. I’ve been driving the car happily for the last two years without these improvements - I can wait a little longer. But I’m still a little torn. I guess this is what it’s like for Serenity3-0 to choose between new shoes and her savings account.
What do you think I should do?
I’ll admit, shoes are more of a desire. I think for safety purposes it’s good to have a keyless remote. I mean what if you have to work late and you have to fool with keys? I think you should treat yourself to this. Now the remote engine startup? I don’t know. But I haven’t bought any shoes since I went shopping with SIngle Ma back in Nov… I’ve been a good girl.
Comment by S23 — March 13, 2008 @ 7:10 am
Do you include ‘fun money’ in your budget? I like to allot myself a certain amount of money that I can spend on anything, guilt-free. Because it’s budgeted for such, it’s not choosing between what I want and saving.
Comment by GeckoGirl — March 13, 2008 @ 10:30 am
I’m not a car person (I’m 24 and don’t even have a permit), but for stuff I really want, I try to save up out of the more flexible parts of my budget–I don’t touch my allotted savings chunks, but I might, say, work really hard to not take any taxis for awhile and put that money towards the desired thing. I mean, yes, that money COULD be going to savings, but you’d budgeted it for spending anyway, you know?
Comment by English Major — March 13, 2008 @ 11:13 am
Depends on how important the long term goal is vs the short term to you. Perhaps break down the car improvement costs and identify how far back each will set your house goal-a few days, some weeks? Then it’s easy to decide. If you’re comfortable waiting x days more for a house, then go for the car changes.
Comment by heather — March 13, 2008 @ 4:36 pm