Articles with purchases

Chainsaw Replacement: Should I Upgrade?

Man, with school out, there has been so much going on around here. The kids are home full time, so that hinders me doing a lot out in the yard, but we’ve been having a lot of fun hanging out, playing, and hitting up the pool, museums, and zoo so far! However, I have still been able to do yard work, just not as much. Today, I have someone outside cutting down trees for me! First time since we’ve moved I paid someone to cut down some of the 100+ trees I’ve cut down so far. Granted, most are under 6” diameter, but there have been a fair amount of 6”+ trees for sure. When I found out the guy that hauls stuff off charges the same whether they cut the trees or I do, I scheduled him and went and bought flagging tape to mark trees. That leads to today’s topic. When equipment breaks should you replace it with same quality, better quality or lesser quality equipment? I’m talking about my chainsaw, but it applies to anything. My BIL used to tell me he was raised to be “frugal” and even though he knows if he buys the “cheap” version, he’ll have to buy 2-3 of them when they break each time, he still buys the cheap version instead of a pricier quality version.  I was struggling with this yesterday when my 25 yr+ old chainsaw died. RIP chainsaw.

Goodbye old friend. Thanks for the work!
Is Bigger Better?

I currently have a 16” chainsaw meaning it can cut 16” deep into a tree. My first question was, do I need 18” or 20” chainsaw? They could be nice having the extra bar/chain to slice thru trees, but is it overkill? I’m 80% of the way done cutting down trees, and haven’t had a problem with the chainsaw I have now. The bonus of the 18” and 20” is a bigger engine and better cutting power. So while mine may have been fine the newer bigger saw wouldn’t get bogged down when dealing with the few big trees I’ve felled and still need to cut down.

Hopefully, they come down better than this one…

With Bigger comes more weight. Do I really want to lug around 12-14 lbs of chainsaw all day? I know my arms get tired after 6-8 hrs of cutting trees, limbs, and hauling and stacking stuff, so how would it be with and extra 2-4 lbs added to it? Maybe just replace with same size is the better option.

I Could Buy Cheaper

I also was bummed when it died (the fuel tank cracked at the corner and isn’t replaceable) because I knew it would be $200-$400 to replace. UNLESS!! I went with a “lesser” brand like Blue Max or Remington or Ryobi, then I could replace it with a bigger bar, engine, and similar weight for $150! So what if I end up buying another one in a year or 2, I should be done with cutting trees by then and would just need it for maintenance, storm cleanup, etc… The big key is how cranky do those things get after a while? I hate finicky yard equipment and it sucks starting the day with a tired arm because it took 60+ pulls to get something started. Ugh, no thanks, I’d pay double for something to start quickly and run well.

The big kicker is that those “lesser” brands have 4 star reviews with over 700 reviews! That swayed me a bit to getting one of those and going the cheap route. Again, I didn’t trust that they wouldn’t be finicky by mid-summer or fall when I get back into the yard more. The biggest complaints were them breaking due to using lesser quality materials, but man, the people that love them, really love them! It’s a lot to think about especially for me who could stand in an aisle for 20 minutes not moving staring at chainsaws debating chainsaw length of life, finicky-ness, reliability, replacement cost, usage, replacement costs for chain, bar, etc… (all more the bigger it is) and more just to make sure I get the best thing for me.

What About Replace with Same

I could also just replace it with the same thing I had been using. It worked well, the engine is big enough, and everything else has been big enough, so why debate it, just get another one. They’re $260 and I already have a replacement blade, sharpener, etc… with files for a 16” and this blade. I wouldn’t have to mess with that. I’m familiar with it, and except for some finicky-ness starting, #asexpected, it worked fine. Actually, it was a bitch to work with. I’m debating why I’d want to replace it with the same thing and not a different brand? Mainly because I think a 20+ yr old Honda doesn’t compare to a 2019 Honda, and am expecting if I got a 2019 chainsaw, it would perform like that, for better or worse. I think replace with same is my best bet financially and for peace of mind.

Should I Upgrade?

What if I upgraded to a better brand, like Stihl where you know you’re getting a reliable workhorse. Those start at $350 and then go up from there… Yipes! I don’t know if that’s overkill for my situation or not. I love my Stihl brushcutter, starts by the 2nd pull each time, and I’ve used it a LOT. Is it worth it for $400? Normally, I’d say hell yeah!! Go big or go home!! Wait, I don’t say that. Anymore… I would like something that reliable and strong, but do I need a Lexus, if a Jetta would do the trick? JMoney, you don’t get to answer. Yeah a Lexus is nice, but is it overkill for my situation? Probably not, but after getting hit with $13k of door and window replacements, $2500 for more brush hauloff and a $5k IRS bill from some stocks not loading into TurboTax correctly 2 years ago… Seriously, it loaded every other stock sold on that same day from that same account, but not that one?! WTF, Turbotax, WTF?! Rant over…

It’s nice to think about and I’d probably not have to buy another one, ever, but I just can’t get myself to pay for that chainsaw right now.

Applicability to Life?

I find myself in this same situation with all sorts of things. I ask myself should I upgrade, stay the same, or cheap out and just get something to work right now? It’s a tough question because it depends on what is getting replaced. Like with our windows, the guy said, ~10% of your home worth is what you should use as a rule of thumb for replacing windows in your house. Spend more and you’re overbuying, spend way less and you know it’ll be cheap and may not be what you want, but in that range of 10% is close to where you want to be.

If only everything had a good rule of thumb for buying. I look at what I’m replacing and go from there. If it’s my phone for instance, I cap it at $300. That limits my decision, and if it’s over $300, I’ll pay out of pocket from my allowance, so I ask myself, is it worth $100, $200, $400? An extra $100 sure if it’s a significant upgrade, but $400, no way… Haven’t found that phone yet.

You have to do the same and ask what is good for you. Is it worth it to upgrade, what about just replacing with the same? Do you need to upgrade? Did you overbuy last time? I try not to overbuy but can get stuck in the trap sometimes.

I find that asking these questions helps when debating replacing something that has died.

Summary

I ended up just replacing with the same for $281 out the door. Although the chain snapped 3 branches in and sliced my leather glove, seriously, it was razor sharp, I’m so bummed… I’m so far happy with it. It made sense for me as I already have an extra chain or 2 that I just swapped out and kept going, I have a file for the blade, and a sharpener, so I don’t have to get anything new for it. That reminds me. I need to finish up the 3 trees I was working on last night.

What about you? Do you have difficulty with these debates when replacing things that break on your end? Am I just overanalyzing things when I buy stuff?

When Should You Treat Yo’ Self? Guest Post by Mrs. Picky Pincher

Today I have a guest post from Mrs. Picky Pincher who runs a blog about frugality without sacrificing the good life. Something I’m a huge fan of. 🙂  If you haven’t checked it out yet head on over there for some great articles, frugal tips, and recipes. Yes, recipes! Her post today is about “when should you Treat Yo’ Self”. Spawned by Parks and Rec the “Treat Yo’ Self” Day came about when Tom and Donna celebrate one day a year to “Treat Their Selves” and essentially splurge on all the stuff they don’t buy the rest of the year. While picking one day a year to splurge on yourself may be the best idea ever, Mrs. Picky Pincher has some great ideas on how to be able to “Treat Yo’ Self” and not just limit yourself to only one day a year.  Take it away Mrs. Picky Pincher!

Read More…

September 2015 Budget Update

I can’t believe September has come and gone. It seems like only 6 months ago we were finding out Mrs. SSC may get laid off this week. We’re still waiting to find out, as they are dragging it out thru the later part of this week, maybe even into next week. Huge eyeroll… I think lack of efficiency may be a key factor in needing to have so many layoffs to begin with, but since I’m no corporate analyst, I’ll just leave that alone.

Um, it's a pie chart....
Um, it’s a pie chart….

September positives, daycare was down last month, even though it all evens out since we’re just paying “per week”. Also, health, gifts, entertainment, pets, and cash were all lower than usual. Mrs. SSC even crocheted a pair of Minion hats for a set of twins, whose birthday party our oldest was invited to. That saved us from buying any birthday presents, so YEAH for small wins!

Numbers, numbers, numbers!
Numbers, numbers, numbers!

September Negatives include utilities, which were slightly higher, probably due to that 3 weeks of 100+ degree weather in early September. Car repair/gas/tolls came in a little higher than previous months, no clue why there, maybe more toll usage? I’ll monitor that closer for next month. Groceries, though… BUST! Not sure why this jumped up so much, but we will be doing a grocery curtailing this month and monitor purchases and receipts to get it reigned in. We would analyze September’s receipts, but we don’t always keep every receipt. Looking at overall purchases from credit card statements, there doesn’t seem to be anything out of whack, so we will monitor and report back for October! SO exciting, you probably are giddy with anticipation! 🙂

Well, except for waiting for the sword of Damocles to fall later this week, there haven’t been too many changes in the SSC household. We have made multiple budget and savings scenarios, and lifestyle changes regarding this upcoming layoff cycle and we will report all that out to you as soon as we know something. I have to say, as stressful as it has been lately, it has been pretty darn encouraging to review all of our income, savings, FFLC timelines and more and realize that we are still sitting in a pretty good position. It does alleviate some stressful aspects of this situation. However, the anticipation and dragging out of this announcement and decision is just ridiculous though. Talk about adding more undo stress to an already stressful time. Aye yi yi!!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Is an $8 tomato worth it?

Recently the topic of a fall garden has come up around the SSC household. With the high temps starting to stay at/below 90 during the day, and night temps around 75 (time for a fire!) it got me thinking we should plant some stuff for the cooler weather. We keep talking about wanting to garden and grow more stuff as part of our Lifestyle Change, but we don’t do too much of that now. I figure now is the best time to get with it so we can iron out any bumps and what not before we go big with a garden. However, our success rate with getting anything edible from any plant isn’t exactly stellar. Is it due to our ungodly hot climate, our lack of green thumb, or possibly lack of diligence with taking care of the garden due to our schedule? I’m all for the fall garden, and have even agreed to scale it back a bit, but I’m having trouble getting Mrs. SSC on board due to our usual gardening adventures fails.

Our first “big garden” attempt down here was nothing short of a disaster. We’d decided to do a raised bed, with a garden system that made a 6’x6’ box separated into 4 squares. We then put our usual peppers in 2 squares, some squash in another square, and something else in the 4th square. The fact I can’t remember what it was should be a clue as to how successful it turned out. We were doing well with the garden even though it was as far away from the house as it could possibly be in our backyard. Then we went on vacation. Ever mindful, I set up a timer and watering system so it would get water while we were gone. I hooked up the sprinkler, ran it out to the garden, and even adjusted the flow and coverage of the sprinkler so as to be efficient. I was SO proud of myself.

When we returned home the scene looked like it was out of a plant horror movie. Some plants were dead – straight up dead, while the other plants looked droopy, wilted, and brown. Not dried up lack of water brown, but a weird brown, like a “death” brown. I thought I may have overwatered, but that couldn’t be the case. I checked the sprinkler and timer and they looked good too. Then I stepped into the spray of water and was scalded from my knee down to my flip flop covered foot!

Gah!!! Idiotic me didn’t think about how hot the water would get while it was sitting in ~50’ of garden hose stretched out across the yard, in the sun, ALL DAY, in the middle of Houston summer. Yep, I had managed to kill the garden with repeated scaldings over the course of a week. Side note – if you want to get rid of a certain patch of grass or weeds and don’t want to use chemicals this seems to be an effective method, as even the weeds were dead… We haven’t tried keeping anything alive since beyond our two pepper plants and the occasional tomato plants or herbs.

This guy's about 6' tall and flowering again!
This guy’s about 6′ tall and flowering again!

This year I got one tomato before the heat cranked up and I calculated it cost me around $8. I’ve kept that plant alive and I’m hoping for a fall crop now that it’s cooler and it’s starting to flower again.

She's a sad tomato...
She’s a sad tomato…

However, the other one got decimated by some kind of bug. I went to water it and all of its leaves were gone. There were just little leafless nubs all over it. I brought it inside to try and resuscitate it, to no avail. Our pepper plants are still cranking out peppers though, and we do have a pineapple we started from a cutting earlier this summer that’s looking quite nice.

 

 

This guy seems happy as can be!
This guy seems happy as can be!

Now that it’s cooler, I proposed the Fall Garden! However, I want to only put up 2 squares, so it’s half the size. Also, I would put it on our back porch so it’s right next to the hose and in our daily view so we won’t forget about it. Plus, the kids seem like they could get excited about it. Our oldest transplanted a bean plant he started in daycare, and it got over 6’ tall and made a decent amount of beans. He really enjoyed that.

I was thinking of planting some cauliflower, but maybe they get too big for that small of an area. Maybe plant some root vegetables like turnips, carrots, or something along those lines, and maybe something leafy like Collard Greens or Bok Choy. I even proposed to fund it from the allowance, but was reminded my allowance is a bit tight currently, Oops…

I think our gardening fails are mainly due to our busy schedule, not being diligent with the garden, and having the plants out of sight. The high summer heat doesn’t help either, but I don’t want to make too many excuses. With the weather getting nicer, we’ve been spending more time out back, so we should be able to manage it way better. I really think the kids would like gardening too since our oldest liked seeing the bean plant get big and make beans he could eat. I think it’s worth giving it a shot and hoping they want to get more involved.

What are your thoughts? Should we start a fall garden? Thoughts on what we should try to grow – any advice is welcomed. Do you want to hear about more gardening fails? I have plenty!

Kaboom, went the budget!! June 2015 Update

Man, was this a rough month for the budget in the SSC household. As I’d teased last month, we were expecting a few overages due to the A/C repairs, new tires, new greyhound adoption and the like, but I wasn’t expecting the hits to keep rolling. Fortunately, there haven’t been any breakdowns, repairs, or otherwise costly expenses that have cropped up yet this month, and we’re almost a third of the way through it. A quick glance at the bar chart shows June (appropriately orange) topping the charts in almost every category except the stable ones like mortgage, car note, and home utilities. How did this all happen and where did the money go you wonder? Since we don’t have the usual “numbers” chart for this month (it will return in the July update and you can peruse it then) I’ll just tell you.

Ouch, June hurt!
Ouch, June hurt!

Phone, tv, internet got hit with a $65/month increase due to 2 years’ worth of discounts finally running out. I called ATT, asking about any other ways to reduce our bill, and besides getting a 3 month $40 discount applied to our account, it was just lip service. I shopped around and 2 days later have our service switched and added bonus, NFL Sunday package is included for free this year! I count that as a win, since I’ll probably have to pony up for that one from my discretionary funds if we continue it in the future. Increased daycare costs – no clue. I’m guessing it’s a combo of short month in May, little longer month in June, and the difference was made up in June. Groceries were okay, trending a little higher than usual, but we’ve been on a “grocery spend watch” just to see if we can keep it steady.

Home repairs… Oh, home repairs…. Besides the A/C drip line getting clogged up (~$450), we also got 2 solar screens made for the bathroom windows (~$140) and it is now cool as can be in there, and not sauna like every day. We also had our wall mount A/C controller go out, so there was some added cost there. When we looked at replacing it with the same unit, we realized we could try the Nest for a little less (~$250). So far it’s been working great! The garage door springs also broke in this month, and that was another $440 to get them replaced. The car needed new tires, so I went a middle of the road option for that, but it was still ~$650 we didn’t want to spend.

The kids had their birthdays this past week, and we had a party. No, no, not some thousand dollar extravaganza with entertainers, balloon animals, and bounce houses. Oh wait, there was a bounce house, but upside, it was paid for over a year ago, and overall, not that pricey. Essentially we just had friends over and did snacks, drinks, and appetizer sort of food, beyond the cake and ice cream.

Both cakes came out nice!
Both cakes came out nice!

I designed and decorated James’ cake, and Mrs. SSC did Marie’s.

James wanted a construction cake, so I built this one.
James wanted a construction cake, so I built this one.

With the food and extra drinks, juice boxes and gifts (For our kids not those give away bags for the party, I just don’t get those) it was still ~$200 or so for entertaining.

The bigger kicker of the month was our shower in the master bathroom. The metal for the hinge on the door fatigued and split. When this happened the pin that rests on this tubular metal hinge now sat about ½” lower and started hanging up on the lower part of the door. Imagine any door you use dropping a half inch and you get the idea. After hours of scouring the internet and talking to 4 different shower companies, we found out that they don’t make replacement parts for the style of enclosure we had. Seriously, what a racket! None, no parts. They have to be connected to the mob somehow, but no, they just expect you to replace the WHOLE thing if something like a tubular hinge fatigues and splits. So, after getting 3 quotes all within $50 of each other, we got our shower replaced to the tune of $1350….. Ridiculous! Now you understand where the comment about fixing all the “custom everything” on the Living Big Sky show came from, as it was playing the night after we’d ordered our standard shower door replacement. Ugh…

Finally, we got the newest member of the family our new greyhound, Coffee!! Kidding, we went with Lola instead of her racing name “Rusteze”. She’s been great, but the adoption fee of $250 and the $200 vet checkup/heartworm and tick/flea medicine and some other costs added up to just over $500.

Happy and relaxing
Happy and relaxing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sound asleep!
Sound asleep!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So to recap, we’re about $3600 over budget this month. Fingers crossed that we don’t have the same string of spending in the next few months, but I see it trending back downward again.

How was your month?

Did you get any crazy unexpected bills,repairs, or new pets that threw your budget for a loop?

If I had a million dollars…

If I had a million dollars, I'd move here.
If I had a million dollars, I’d move here.

The other day I was working in the yard, and I had a song pop into my head that I hadn’t heard in forever. After singing through a few verses of it, I got to thinking, “Yeah, that’s not a lot of money anymore. Or is it?”

If you haven’t guessed the song by now, it’s Bare Naked Ladies’ “If I had a million dollars.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4L3ls_6UYg

The lyrics are funny and whimsical, and if you’re not familiar with it, it’s a song musing about everything that they would do if they had a million dollars. There are some of the usual things you’d think of such as, “I’d buy you a house… Some furniture for your house… A K-car, a nice Reliant automobile… a monkey, haven’t you always wanted a monkey?” Then there are the “extravagant things” that would be bought such as; “I’d buy you a fur coat, but not a real fur coat that’s cruel… A tree fort for your yard… an exotic pet, like a llama or an emu… and my personal favorite, we wouldn’t have to walk to the store; now, we’d take a limousine ‘cause it costs more…” That got me thinking, if they bought everything on this list, how far would their million dollars get them vs how far would it get the SSC family?

How far would a million dollars go if you spent it like the song suggest? Well, let’s see.

For simplicities sake, we’ll assume this is a post-tax million dollars. Where we would like to retire a house can range from ~$160k upward. We’re looking in the $200-$250k range. Let’s say they want a nicer house (they are millionaires now) and go with a newer $300k home. Then you add in some new furniture, because you don’t want any shabby digs in your new house. I’ll stay conservative and say maybe $20k, for furnishing a whole house. That should cover most of a house if you’re not shopping at Ethan Allen. Now if we look at the K-car, let’s say this is a modern day Hyundai/Kia equivalent, and go for $20k for the car, with tax, title, license. We’re at $340k spent, but our main cost of living things are covered right? Now for the fun things! Llama is about $400-800 with about $20-$30/month costs not including vet trips. In the grand scheme of things, not too much there. A monkey is about $4000 – $8000 though! Holy cow, that’s way more than a llama, and it sounds like they have way higher maintenance costs too. A tree fort for the yard, can cost as much as a house. Since they want to “take a limousine ‘cause it costs more” they’re probably not going to DIY the tree fort. Those costs range from a couple thousand on up. One of our co-workers is looking at a $5k playset for their 1 year old. Let’s just say $5k. Back to the limousine, when I had to take a car to the airport due to company policy and safety, it was about $70 each way. Let’s say that would be the average limo cost to go to the store, that would be an extra $75 a week added to the grocery budget, or $3744/year. They’ve already spent almost half of their million dollars and they still need to buy fur coats, John Merrick’s remains, some art (a Picasso or Garfunkel), a green dress, but not a real green dress, that’s cruel. Yipe, that’s a lot of spending!!

Let’s see how the SSC family would use this. Our number for FIRE is essentially a million dollars. HOWEVER, this is a million dollars NOT including our 401k’s. Oh, tricky, tricky right? Well you see, because we have been building and growing our 401k’s for a while now, we see that as money that left to grow on its own should be able to afford us the lifestyle we have now. Pushing that aside, our ER/FFLC number is roughly 1 million dollars. Maybe this is still a lot of money, even 23 years after this song was first recorded.

This should cover a mortgage outright first of all. Yes, we have equity in our house and based on the growth around our current area, we are assuming we will at least be able to sell it at a break even for what we paid for it, fees included even though we will most likely get more for it. We like to play it conservative assume break even and not count on any home sale profit. We are now down to ~$800k left over from our “million dollars” for us to live off of until we get to age 60/62 and can start drawing off of our 401k’s. I am aware of the Roth ladder and other options to draw on them earlier, but again, I’d rather plan so we didn’t have to count on that. Looking at our budgeting we have been spending roughly $56k per year. This is with about $8500 per year assumed in health costs, and $1500 per year assumed in dental. These are just ball-parked based on what we could glean from the Government health care website market options.

Breaking our budget down and having a floating yearly spend based on how well the market is doing, the cFiresim calculators show a 98% chance of success with our plan and investments as they are now. That’s not too bad really. This is assuming a 4% Standard Withdrawal Rate (SWR), and 7% growth, along with 4% inflation. We’ve accounted for higher inflation in healthcare at the urging of Mrs. SSC’s parents. Having survived a bout with cancer, their costs have increased dramatically. We also have a 5% cushion built in, and will most likely have a year of cash as a safety net. Yes, yes, there are better ways we could probably have that cash as a liquid asset but for now, we’re thinking cash. This is all NOT taking into account any side income, part-time or full-time jobs we may pick up. Also, not accounting for any pensions or even social security, which seems to be probably another $1-$2k per month each. Also, we account for $12k/year for our personal fun money/allowance/sanity fund, whatever you want to call it. So if things got tough, we can automatically “cut” $12k of expenses just by not using allowance type money for our hobbies and stuff. Then our yearly spend would be ~$44k assuming nothing else changed.

There are times I review these numbers and think, “Why the hell are we still working?!” Then I remember, “Oh yeah, we still have a ways to go!” We currently can just buy a house…. Then we’d have no jobs, no security money, and we would be watching the clock like a hawk to tap into our 401k’s then wake up broke and sad at 75… Booo…. So, we stick to the plan. Remember though, most of our investments will get the glorious benefit of compound interest, so it isn’t as if we will be setting aside a full $1,000,000.00. No way, man! Let that grow and earn, and grow and earn, and grow. Please for the love of God, grow!

The point I’m trying to drive home, is that you could spend a million dollars like the Bare Naked Ladies suggest, and you’d be back to broke pretty quickly.

I’m fortunate that we are in a situation to be able to plan, save, and get towards our FIRE goal but it comes through diligence with spending and saving and staying on track. We could derail it at any point by getting back into the consumer mindset, but we stay the course. Why, you ask? Well, even though I love my job and get satisfaction out of it, I have other things I’d rather be doing with my life that would fulfill me more. Who reading this now doesn’t have at least 2 other things they would rather be doing than sitting in their office at work? Who would rather have free time to fully pursue their passions and not try to cram them in with a “Go, go, go, Lifestyle?” You’ll see one raised hand at this keyboard – if you could look through the screen that is. Although then that would be a little creepy… Hopefully, you get the point.

How would you spend a million dollars?

Would you spend it or just live of the interest or dividends it brought you each month?

Our allowances cover what?!

Whatever you call it, it’s nice to have a little extra!

Even though we have found our FIRE number and our FFLC date worked out, and we track our spending fairly closely, we still allow ourselves some freedom with money. Some call it “mad money”, “rainy day fund”, “allowance”, or whatever the term; it’s essentially money we can spend and don’t have to be accountable to the other person for.

In the SSC household, we use the allowance system. Each month we each get a set amount and can use it however we want. This was originally meant to be for purchases that would only benefit one of us, or for extravagant things that the other may not agree with. Using our allowance funds circumvents those “why did you buy this?” arguments, and makes it easier to stay on budget for FIRE, since the allowances are a category that is already built into our FIRE budget. It also allows us a buffer with our FIRE calculations, since it is a cost we can immediately cut out if needed. It wasn’t always like this though, as our allowances and what they cover have evolved quite dramatically over the past 7 years.

In the beginning our allowances were less, and were intended to cover things that would only benefit one of us. For instance, beer brewing supplies, video games, and fishing stuff for Mr. SSC. And then for Mrs. SSC, well, she would let hers grow and then invest it… Seriously. Then Mrs. SSC started shopping for work clothes, and shoes, and purses more often, and more often. It got to the point that she started feeling bad about the amount that was coming out of the household budget that she decided we should put clothes into the “allowance” category. I rarely bought new clothes, but if it was a little more $$ to spend each month, then sure, I’ll vote for that! Add one more thing to the allowance list.

After a year or so, Mrs. SSC decided we were going out to eat for lunch too often. Specifically, I was going out to eat too often. Usually, we would bring our lunches and eat out at the pavilion at our work campus, but with my new team and assignment, I had started going out once a week, sometimes twice a week! Gah!!! We were also eating out at restaurants at night a bit more during this time period, so after some back and forth discussion, restaurants were put into the “allowance” category. I of course argued for more money, because, well I always argued for more money if another item was put onto the allowance list.
Although looking back I realized I could have had double the allowance and would have still spent it all because my spending habits were pretty poor. Another item that got put into the “allowance” category was gifts. Birthday presents, and Christmas especially. I resisted this one pretty hard, but lost. Mostly, it’s because Mrs. SSC has a birthday close to Christmas so for most years initially, I was in debt to the SSC bank come January, and sometimes thru February. I told you, my spending habits suck.

I kept arguing that the allowances were getting out of hand because we were having to buy “everything” from our allowances. Not really, but it felt like that to me. Plus, just using the term “allowance” made me feel like a little kid whose Mommy watches over his money for him and doles out what she thinks is “appropriate”. That attitude didn’t help my thoughts that our allowances were a good idea. When I would mention them to people, the reactions were one of two: 1. That’s a great idea, we should do that in our relationship! 2. You get what?! An allowance?! What are you, 12?

Yeah, that did wonders to reinforce my negative attitude towards allowances. However, I’ve come to realize though that they are great on many levels.

First: Even though we track everything, I don’t feel hamstrung by our “frugality” and I feel like I have the freedom to buy frivolous things if I want. I can also go out to eat if I want, or take Mrs. SSC out to lunch/dinner. It works great, and avoids those arguments where one party tries to justify buying something ridiculous. Imagine yourself trying to justifying to your significant other, why a $2000 banjo is a good purchase for “the household”. That took a LOT of saving, but zero arguing.

 

Second: It now makes me question a lot of purchases prior to buying them. Instead of buying something just because I’m “bored”, I want some kind of return on my money. For instance, I just replaced my bike. Prior to doing that, I researched bikes online, went to a couple of stores for test rides and thought about it for a few weeks before I decided on which bike to get. I love my new bike and since we go on bike rides 3-5 times a week, it’s worth it to me to have a comfy, nice bike. I haven’t even looked at banjo’s lately or other music instruments because I just don’t feel the return on investment will be there, and I won’t get a new banjo before selling one.

 

Third: We have an extra buffer in our FIRE budget calculations. Sure, maybe this is a stretch, but when we quit working if things go south and our dividends aren’t doing well, or stocks have dropped, this is a “bill” that we can immediately eliminate. I mean, it’s more of a book-keeping thing, but it’s money accounted in our budget that is available for us to use, so it would be easy to cut out if it needed to go to something else for a bit.

 

For us, they work well and have for about 6 years now. It’s also something that we plan on keeping into our “post-work” life. Even though the “allowance” seems to have become a nebulous “everything comes from allowances” budgeting category, it is still easy to build up a surplus. That being said, due to some unforeseen purchases that came up, I admit, I think I’m currently at $0 or maybe even negative. Ooops…

In general though, I’m a fan of some sort of system like this. I’ve seen other bloggers that have this system, The Maroon’s for instance, use a similar allowance type of fund. I think it’s a nice way to not feel so tied down to always being frugal or feeling like you can’t spend money. I can spend it, I just have to save. That makes me buy less, scrutinize my purchases more, and ultimately be more frugal than if we didn’t have this system in place.

 

What about your family? Do you have a similar discretionary funds system?

Would referring to it as “allowance” make you feel like a kid again too?

To buy, or not to buy…. Wait, what was the question?

I’ve come to realize that being aware of our budget and savings is a double edged sword. On the one hand, it’s amazing how much we’re able to save and be able to achieve FIRE in 5-7 years, on the other hand, I now am becoming unconsciously miserly and questioning every big purchase. That’s assuming the big purchase ideas weren’t killed automatically, before they could even take root and grow into an outlay of cash. For instance, boat, truck to pull the boat, riding lawnmower, exercise equipment, newer bigger T.V., etc.. Even big purchases I support, I wrestle with “Is this the right time for that purchase, and do we really need this?”

Recently, we’ve decided to purchase a dining room table and chairs. It’s a huge investment, and one we won’t be making again in our lifetimes, barring coming across an excellent deal at a yard sale in 30 years…. Ever since we married, we have used Mrs. SSC’s kitchen table and chairs. They work fine, and are perfectly functional. “So why are you replacing these things and not investing that new table money,” most of you are probably asking yourselves right now? Well, it comes down to simple aesthetics. I hate that kitchen table. I just can’t stand it. Evidently, I can stand it, because I’ve lived with it for 6 years now, but it just makes me throw up in my mouth a little every time I see it. Okay, it’s not that bad, but I really don’t like it. Let me paint a picture for you, and see if you can get on board with me.

The year was 1968, someone somewhere just pressed a nice oval tabletop out of particle board and sawdust, and thought to themselves, “You know, this would look great covered with a top of the line wood grain laminate. Unfortunately, we’ve just got this plastic wood grain laminate, but hey, it would still really “fancy” this table up!” To really sell this beauty though, they decided to add some of the world’s most uncomfortable chairs and, Voila! Our table was born. I have no idea where it started its life, or how it came to be in Mrs. SSC’s household but she grew up with this table and has some fond memories of eating at it, doing some arts and crafts at it, and who knows what. It’s like she tells me, “This is a perfect table for the kids to do crafts on, it’s impossible to mess up.” That’s the beauty of plastic laminate, you can do everything short of burning it, and it still looks like crappy laminate. To be fair, it’s in really good shape for a 50 year old table, and it would make an excellent craft sort of table the kids can spill paint on, carve pumpkins on, decorate Easter eggs, etc… I just think it should be relegated to that duty, and not sitting in a spot where I have to look at it every day.

It’s only taken 6 years, but I’ve finally worn down Mrs. SSC into getting a new table! Actually, I’ve come very close in recent times, only to have one little thing ruin the whole deal. There was this past Christmas season for instance, I had her decided on a table, finish, chairs, even use support from family in town for the holidays to help win her over, and we were set. Except the place we wanted to get the table from didn’t have the chairs she wanted, and she is very particular about chairs, so we never ordered it. Even though they had a very liberal, no-cost return/replacement policy, as in, we could order the chairs and if we didn’t like them, we could swap them out for different chairs at almost no cost to us (actual cost $150). But we wouldn’t be paying shipping for 6 chairs back to the store and 6 new chairs back to us (total cost ~$400). Anyway, that fell through due to stocking errors on the companies part. Then there was a few years back, and I was in a similar boat, but didn’t strike quickly enough, and that deal also fell through.

This time, I knew would be different. This time Mrs. SSC started the “Let’s go look at tables” conversation, and she hates looking at tables and chairs. We went to a store and they had about 30 chairs to try out. Even lining them up side by side so you could sit in one, and then scoot over to the other for a comparison. I didn’t get it, but they claimed it was “the best way” to try out chairs. Whatever… So we both actually found chairs that we both agreed on the style and that were actually comfortable. We also even found a table style that we both liked, and even a stain, it was all coming together so nicely. However, the cost was laughable, and while we weren’t out shopping to purchase that day, I realized I’d found my biggest hurdle, the cost. Fortunately, when we got home I researched everything online and found the exact same everything for 30% less, plus an additional 5% off due to the cost structure and order amount, and even an additional 3% off if we didn’t use a credit card, and didn’t make them (or us rather) pay the credit card service fee. This was the deal maker there, I mean almost 40% in savings, and we get the exact everything we wanted. And then Mrs. SSC went back into stall mode…

Mrs. SSC, “Well, this style is also nice, I like it too. You know, we could probably have my Dad make us a table just like this one. You know, you could make a table for us when we retire in another 5 years. Are we sure we really need a table, we don’t use this one much now anyway.” Mr. SSC “eye-roll, and slapping my palm to my forehead.”

After a few weeks of back and forth with different style choices, I had given up on it as this purchase seemed to be “tabled” again.

Then this happened out of the blue:

Mrs. SSC: “Have you ordered that table yet? I would’ve thought after all this time, you wouldn’t be waiting so long to order.”

Surprised Mr. SSC playing it cool: “Oh? I thought we were still deciding on the final style.”

Mrs. SSC: “Well, put together the choices again to review and we can decide.”

Mr. SSC: “Here is style A, B, and C…”

Mrs. SSC: “I like style B. Let’s get it!”

No less than 5 minutes later the order was sent in, and the check has been sent off. The table is ordered and soon we should be getting our new dining room set. Although to be fair, we don’t have a formal dining room setup, it’s just wasteful in our opinion, so this will be going into the kitchen area. This endeavor, while mostly complete made me think how many man-hours it took into getting this purchase approved and complete (~5 whole years). Mrs. SSC has some valid arguments, such as, “The old table is still functional, it’s a lot of money to replace something not broken, we can invest it and make more money with that money, it’s a perfectly fine table…” You could probably come up with some of your own arguments as to why we didn’t need to purchase a table. I would agree that we may not have needed to purchase the table, except for my heavily weighted dislike for this table. My thoughts are this, “Why wait until we get to FIRE and then look for a new table/chairs and start making big purchases? Why not do it now when we have incomes and can do this and not feel the hit?” I’m excited for our new table and chairs and unlike past purchases, I will be even more excited when it gets here and I can move that other table out of sight.

This is why allowances are an excellent idea. This type of debate gets avoided with most “want based” purchases by using allowance money and not general funds. This is our first long running debate over a big purchase though, and I hope will be our last. I don’t know if I have it in me for another 5 year sales job.

 

What are some big purchases you’ve made and have had to use years of convincing to get your partner to pull the trigger?