Ye gods, I hate money
Nov. 21st, 2008 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ailbheLife was so much simpler when I was poor. Now I have enough money to worry about money, it's far more complicated.
We need to budget for our leisure expenditure. This is because we have an expectation of leisure expenditure. I never had this when I was poor! It's expensive! I need to think about it! And it always makes me feel guilty because I'm not spending it on the mortgage! Augh!
We need to budget for clothing, except I still haven't mentally got to grips with this, because new clothes are mentally filed as a frivolous expense (and so I resent shopping for necessary clothes and always have, as anyone who has clothes-shopped with me will know!) and I automatically assume that clothes are second-hand. This doesn't work for Rob, who is tall and thin and needs extra-long trousers and extra-long shirtsleeves, when charity shops are full of clothes worn by, as far as I can tell, old, short, fat men. So for Rob we need to do real clothes-shopping, which means spending more time and more money and far, far more temper. Rob likes clothes-shopping so much he's inclined to buy the first pair of trousers which doesn't fall off, leading to great hilarity.
We need to budget for insurance, because we live a lifestyle so affluent that the state couldn't fund it if anything happened to our income. When I was poor, living on benefits would have increased my available money.
Ah, the troubles of rich folk!
(We had three very expensive holidays this year, though - the Discworld Convention, which we planned to attend in 2006, and my sister's wedding, which we planned to attend in 2007, and going to Ireland for Christmas, which I just massively under-budgeted for. Sadly, the other very expensive holiday we had planned was wiped out by illness, which also ate the money we saved by not going on the holiday. I think we need to work on having family come to us a bit more - though obviously that doesn't work for weddings).
We need to budget for our leisure expenditure. This is because we have an expectation of leisure expenditure. I never had this when I was poor! It's expensive! I need to think about it! And it always makes me feel guilty because I'm not spending it on the mortgage! Augh!
We need to budget for clothing, except I still haven't mentally got to grips with this, because new clothes are mentally filed as a frivolous expense (and so I resent shopping for necessary clothes and always have, as anyone who has clothes-shopped with me will know!) and I automatically assume that clothes are second-hand. This doesn't work for Rob, who is tall and thin and needs extra-long trousers and extra-long shirtsleeves, when charity shops are full of clothes worn by, as far as I can tell, old, short, fat men. So for Rob we need to do real clothes-shopping, which means spending more time and more money and far, far more temper. Rob likes clothes-shopping so much he's inclined to buy the first pair of trousers which doesn't fall off, leading to great hilarity.
We need to budget for insurance, because we live a lifestyle so affluent that the state couldn't fund it if anything happened to our income. When I was poor, living on benefits would have increased my available money.
Ah, the troubles of rich folk!
(We had three very expensive holidays this year, though - the Discworld Convention, which we planned to attend in 2006, and my sister's wedding, which we planned to attend in 2007, and going to Ireland for Christmas, which I just massively under-budgeted for. Sadly, the other very expensive holiday we had planned was wiped out by illness, which also ate the money we saved by not going on the holiday. I think we need to work on having family come to us a bit more - though obviously that doesn't work for weddings).
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-22 12:34 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-22 10:52 am (UTC)But about 80% of the clothes we get are for women, so decent mens' clothes make up only 25% of 20%.