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[side_show]

Oh, I posted a while back about how I was thinking of buying a really nice desktop and a cheap laptop (and specifically about how I don't need/want an expensive laptop).  This was in relation to planning for my trip to Indonesia.  But then, something happened financially and I could only afford the new desktop.  I can't remember what.  Our new desktop is lovely, though.  I know nothing about technology though.

So I could go this route and put the rest in savings. 

Or I could just fuck it and be immature and buy what I really want.  But my plan for the past two years has been to "find a way to win a Vespa" and I've been entering contests related to this and just sort of believing I will one day own one.  It's an insane and immature desire to own a Vespa because of where I live and the fact I could only ride it for about 6 mnths out of the year.  And buying one right at the end of the season would be especially silly.  But I walk past the dealership almost every day and I waaaaaant one.  But this is a frivolous, frivolous desire.  In about 18 mnths I will have finalized the deal for the world premier of my big play, and perhaps some of the royalties will go toward something like this though.

Or I could go super practical and hire a really reputable company to paint the interior of our house, since it really fuckin needs it.  We've still got the original builder's white in every room and with only that fine layer of paint, the dry wall is exposed with the slightest scratch.  I know the SO and I could do it ourselves, but I really, really hate painting.

Or a new couch.  Our current couch and love seat are hand me downs from my parents and are ugly late 80's faux country style shit.  They're still comfy though.

I've already saved enough for a nice trip the SO and I will be taking to an all inclusive in Mexico this winter, but otherwise this would be on the top of our list too.

There's about a million other ideas I could come up with.

Anyway - sweet.  It's nice to go from only money for necessities to "slightly comfortable."  Yay magical money fairy!



 

 

[Carlos del Vaca]

10% to investments.  I recommend direct stock purchase plans with full dividend reinvestment.

[wombat]

Or I could go super practical and hire a really reputable company to paint the interior of our house, since it really fuckin needs it.  We've still got the original builder's white in every room and with only that fine layer of paint, the dry wall is exposed with the slightest scratch.  I know the SO and I could do it ourselves, but I really, really hate painting.

Oh, that is so not magical, but if you do it, let me know how it goes. Most of our house hasn't been painted inside since some unknown time before we moved in oh... ten or fifteen years ago?  It really needs it, it's all stained and grimy and horrible, but all I have to do is think about:

A. Taking everything out of the built in bookshelves, and
B.  What do I and the dogs and the cats do while it's being done?

And I want to cry.

I was just reading that you can buy incredibly expensive paint that dries fast and doesn't have bad fumes, which moved the project slightly more into the realm of possibility, since those fumes make me really ill. I think it costs about three times as much though.

[jay-ell]

Oh man, if you get new furniture I will  be envious.  The only major piece of furniture I own that I selected and purchased myself is my son's crib.  My goal is to have at least one room furnished in a method of my choosing before I am thirty.  This is looking grim. 

[side_show]

Ah yes.  The SO and I were recently out looking at vacuums and complaining that we're clearly adults as we compaired models, and then I pointed out "at least we've never been in a furniture store!"    When I need furniture, I generally take a look at the used places, but I don't like the idea of buying anything upholstered used.  Who knows what it's absorbed, or what lives in it?

I have the same reservations about painting, especially since our entire main floor is just one big open concept room, but when our drywall warranty came up, the builders sent a guy who had his own small company to do the patch work, and he was the most lovely French guy.  I seriously could have hung out with him even if he wasn't working, and made sure to take his card just in case.

[AlohaDawg]

Oh man, if you get new furniture I will  be envious.  The only major piece of furniture I own that I selected and purchased myself is my son's crib.  My goal is to have at least one room furnished in a method of my choosing before I am thirty.  This is looking grim. 

I'm 40 and don't own a house.

Shut up already.

(all harsh tone in this response is directed at the guy who posted it. He feels badly that he forced his family to Hawaii and can afford NOTHING)

[wombat]

Not owning a house doesn't make you a bad person.

[Nabubrush]

What has that got to do with it? I'm not that into hammers either, but if I have to stick a nail into something there's no better tool.

That reminds me - I totally need a new hammer.

[jay-ell]

I'm 40 and don't own a house.

Shut up already.

(all harsh tone in this response is directed at the guy who posted it. He feels badly that he forced his family to Hawaii and can afford NOTHING)

If it's any consolation, I'd be in a much better position financially if I hadn't bought my first house when I was 22.  We sold it six years later for $1000 less than what we paid for it.  Not including taxes, interest, maintenance, and improvements -- including $1500 worth of new carpet we installed six months ago -- so we'd have lost considerably less on the deal if we'd just paid rent for six years.  And we wouldn't have had to suffer through almost three years of living in a home we could be thrown out of at a moment's notice because somebody's mother decides they want to check the place out for the third time this week, just for kicks. 

(In my state, the seller's not supposed to be home during a showing.  So I had to pick up my kid and leave in the middle of the day, several times a week, as well as keeping the place looking like nobody lived here despite having an active toddler.  Highly stressful.) 

Also, you got to live in Hawaii for -- what, ten years?  That is a cool thing for your kids.  Way cooler than living in a house with a yard, which you then have to mow, which IMHO is overrated. 

[jay-ell]

Yeah, pretty much.  When it didn't sell, we took it off the market for two months and replaced the carpet, repainted everything, and rearranged the furniture to make the bedrooms look larger.  I think we also had it off the market for a few months when my son was a newborn?  But we're finally out as of Monday, and we couldn't be more thrilled. 

We're renting this time.  Until we can afford a house we're going to stay in for ten years, minimum.  I'm not doing this $#!+ again. 

[Lister]

My current plan for being able to afford a house in San Diego is winning the lottery.  That or a gigantic real estate crash caused by house-flippers and the plethora of waiter/loan officer/real estate moguls out here.

[linnea]

JL, your story makes me feel better about renting. Yikes.

Also, Lister, that's pretty damn close to my house-buying strategy as well. I could theoretically use my Roth IRA as part of a first time homeowner thingy, but I am not sure if I wanna do that.

[Nabubrush]

That or a gigantic real estate crash caused by house-flippers and the plethora of waiter/loan officer/real estate moguls out here.

I think this plan is actually pretty realistic.

[theinevitable]

my Roth IRA

do they have that strong of connections over here? I thought it was just a northern ireland thing. Aren't you Sicilian?

[CortJstr]

That or a gigantic real estate crash caused by house-flippers and the plethora of waiter/loan officer/real estate moguls out here.

I think this plan is actually pretty realistic.

I wish it was more realistic out here. But noooo, home prices for July were up 9% over last year. Granted it was only 9% but still.