I can relate as spending makes me queasy. You are creating a home though and if that is important to you then the money is well spent. For me, just getting older and enduring life experiences (good and bad) changes perspective on so many things.
I can relate as spending makes me queasy. You are creating a home though and if that is important to you then the money is well spent. For me, just getting older and enduring life experiences (good and bad) changes perspective on so many things.
Keep your eye on your goal. You're setting roots with a man with whom you want to share a home. Once you're living in it and starting to settle in, perhaps the joy will grab and embrace you and the discomfort of spending will take a distant back seat.
Enjoy the journey
I just paid a $2231.29 Visa bill not due until Sept. 27 because I can't stand seeing that HUGE number over in the debit column! Plus, my credit card is such that if I pay it off in full every month at the end of the year I get interest back on January 1st. Last year it was $230 in interest I earned, so this year should be even better. It is good incentive for me. But that is not the end of charging stuff but the end of the big expenses may be a little more in sight.
Today our friend the carpenter will be finishing up the roof; he dismantled it yesterday (all the while we were praying to the gods that no monsoon rains would happen late yesterday afternoon - we lucked out)! He found some bad problems under the the metal sheeting in this one area that were not done correctly by the guy who built this house so we decided last night to give an okay for him to add/replace plywood sheeting over the insulation, then the roll of waterproof roofing stuff (I forget what it is called), and then the metal propanel stuff on top of that. Essentially, replacing the roof on the section of the house that will be our studio. So a little more added expense for all the plywood, plus another day of labor. Then the electrician gave his estimate for $680 to fix a couple of different things that need attention, plus hang a new wall light fixture I bought above the stove in the kitchen, which is horribly dim.
I have one more curtain rod to hang in the living room (I have hung seven so far)! Then the heat & light blocking curtains will be here in the next few days. Another task that I need to do before we start moving in is to put the shelf liner down inside my newly white painted (on the inside) cabinets. I can't believe how much better they look all white on the inside!
It's really starting to look homey and inviting
So looking forward to seeing the photos as it sounds like a unique spot.
As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
Right with you there on spending, SQ. No new house, but major expenditures this year for a water heater, furnace, central air conditioner, two vacations (including a cruise), some big repair bills on both cars, lots of storm damage on the big tree in our front yard,... The extent of the storm damage was a surprise but everything else was planned for and reasonable expenditures (well, the cruise is a little over the top but it's every five years with old good friends) and it still hurts to write those big checks.
I think it's just part of a person's nature. I know we're done with downstairs appliances for a good decade or longer (except for the washer and dryer, which are running on overtime), the big repair bills on the cars are still cheaper than buying newer ones, and we'll go back to road trips and/or staying with family and friends for the next five years (that's the plan, anyway). This, too, shall pass, and then we can go back to refilling the tanks all this money came out of. In the meantime, we can enjoy the fruits of our labors and know that we won't be paying for it for years to come, like so many people we know.
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington
G, I am curious where you immigrated from? Do you think it contributed to your frugality? My DIL from Poland is frugal.
The Netherlands. I asked Dad why we came. He said: "We couldn't have been any poorer". I had no idea we were poor until I was an adult. There was always a meal on the table x3/d. There were always school clothes and shoes with no holes in them. There was always a new dress and shoes for Easter (that were then school clothes the next year). I had a bicycle. The car was never broken down-that I knew of anyway.
When I moved out at 19, I realized my Mom could make a dollar stretch a mile and I couldn't. Hubby and I went through our "buy everything to keep up" phase but it lasted only 7years and I flipped out. We hunkered down and I channeled the Mom example by thinking about the way I was raised and what we didn't have, knowing it didn't matter.
My mom’s grandfather came illegally from Germany because he was in the army in winter with holes in his boots and inadequate supplies. That was in the 1800’s.
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