(no subject)
Okay, well actually it's the day after Christmas here. It doesn't feel Christmas-y at all. We haven't gotten any snow, I didn't get to see my grandparents or any of my side of the family at all, and...yeah. Just felt kind of like a cold day where we opened presents. But oh, what nice ones they were!
Spent the day at Brian's folks. I got to hang out a lot with my nephews, who are just growing by leaps and bounds. Tristan is speaking in sentences (!! I remember when he was just a baby) and has a great sense of humor. Kaden is super laid back and easy to please, and he is pretty funny as well (I held him the day he was born!!). Both of them have fabulous vocabularies and just seem so stinking smart. It's amazing how fast they are learning and growing.
Now I'm going to talk about non Christmas things.
As some of you know, Brian and I have made a conscious decision to live a debt-free life. We will borrow money for a home, when the time comes, but other than that we plan on living the rest of our lives with no debt. It's a different path than the majority of America chooses to take. We have no cable, we have a $90 a week budget for food and personal items (shampoo, cat food, cleaning supplies, etc all fall into that category) and we give ourselves an allotment every week to "blow" (aka buy junk food, clothes, shoes, whatever) with. Other than that, we pay our bills and dump the rest into savings. If we want something, we talk about it and save up for it. If we want to eat at a restraunt, it comes out of our food budget. We set an amount that we were going to spend for Christmas, and that's how much we spent.
We were hanging out with Brian's brothers and their significant others and their kids. They were talking about how their kids have so many toys that they have huge tubs filled with toys just sitting in their garage. They were talking about how they didn't know what they were going to do with all the toys their kids got for Christmas this year.
What is the point of that? Those kids have essentially 3 sets of grandparents (at least) that dote on them, buying them stuff not only on their birthdays and Christmas but also just because they "see something cute" or whatever and so they just buy it for them. Plus they have aunts and uncles and friends of their parents and whatever else that just...buy stuff for them. Lots of stuff. Too much stuff! And I think it's ridiculous. I mean, I am no grinch, and I love buying stuff for other people just as much as the next person. But if I am buying something for one of my nephews, odds are that it is going to get shoved into a box sometime in the next 6 months and forgotten about. Just seems silly.
So, I thought that maybe we should set up little trust funds for them. Then at their birthdays and Christmas we can still buy them a little something, but put the rest of the money that would have been spent on toys into a fund, earning interest, that they can have when they go to college. I know that their parents are living paycheck to paycheck and the last thing they need is more toys. Heck, one of Brian's brothers is just trying to figure out how to pay rent this month (of course, that is what happens when you don't have a job). I doubt they are saving up for their kids' college at all. And that's fine, they can do whatever they want. But if we can put $50 or $80 or $100 a year into an account for them earning a decent amount of interest, then by the time they're 18 they'll have something that will really be of benefit to them--a lot more than a toy they play with once and then forget about. Not that it will pay their way through college by any means. But it would be enough to buy a decent car if they needed one, or to buy books, or whatever they need.
So I don't know. It just seems sad that we spend so much on kids' NOW than on their future. Do you think that 2 year olds count the amount of presents they got? No. I bet he has one or two that he really likes, and the rest of them are just more stuff. Stuff that is probably worth quite a bit of money. And yeah kids need toys and whatever else, and they grow so they need ones that are more age appropriate, etc. But they don't need 15 people buying them 3 or 4 toys each at every Christmas, easter, birthday, thanksgiving, etc. They need folks that look out for the long term good, not just the short term. We plan on being able to save for our kids' college and hopefully either pay it or pay for most of it, or half of it, or whatever deal we work out with them. We won't be able to do that for all our neices and nephews, but we'll be able to help them. Hopefully they'll appreciate it. If not, too bad! We're probably still going to do it! They'll be happy when they're older. And, who knows, maybe we can be an example to them.
Anyway that's just a bit of a rant. I am angry that being in debt up to your ears is normal, and the fact that we are on a budget makes us weird. I'm frustrated that Americans spend more than they earn, and that people put more time into planning a 1-week vacation than they do planning their potentially 20+ year retirement. I'm tired of listening to people complaining about their bills and their debt when they pay $100/month cable bills and have crap all over their house that they never use and could sell and make money and put towards debt--all the while they are still using their credit cards and making VISA richer, driving brand-new cars (do you have any idea what the depreciation on those things is??), buying "big boy toys", giving their kids all they want now but telling them when they're 18 "Welp, you're an adult now, see you later! Good luck!" but not teaching their kids how important it is to work and make money and save and give. It's a dirty cycle, and I'm going to do whatever I can to break it in my family.
ANYWAY. Brian's parents gave us lots of money for Christmas. Also I got an antique candy dish and some M&M's. :) We are going to use the money to pay our first month of gym membership and the joining fee if there is one at the YMCA, then the rest will go into savings. Hooray! We are excited. I am excited about where we are heading financially. Sometimes I want to give up and just go buy a new couch, but I know if I keep waiting that things will get better. I need to be patient! It is something I am learning more and more everyday. OKAY goodnight!
Spent the day at Brian's folks. I got to hang out a lot with my nephews, who are just growing by leaps and bounds. Tristan is speaking in sentences (!! I remember when he was just a baby) and has a great sense of humor. Kaden is super laid back and easy to please, and he is pretty funny as well (I held him the day he was born!!). Both of them have fabulous vocabularies and just seem so stinking smart. It's amazing how fast they are learning and growing.
Now I'm going to talk about non Christmas things.
As some of you know, Brian and I have made a conscious decision to live a debt-free life. We will borrow money for a home, when the time comes, but other than that we plan on living the rest of our lives with no debt. It's a different path than the majority of America chooses to take. We have no cable, we have a $90 a week budget for food and personal items (shampoo, cat food, cleaning supplies, etc all fall into that category) and we give ourselves an allotment every week to "blow" (aka buy junk food, clothes, shoes, whatever) with. Other than that, we pay our bills and dump the rest into savings. If we want something, we talk about it and save up for it. If we want to eat at a restraunt, it comes out of our food budget. We set an amount that we were going to spend for Christmas, and that's how much we spent.
We were hanging out with Brian's brothers and their significant others and their kids. They were talking about how their kids have so many toys that they have huge tubs filled with toys just sitting in their garage. They were talking about how they didn't know what they were going to do with all the toys their kids got for Christmas this year.
What is the point of that? Those kids have essentially 3 sets of grandparents (at least) that dote on them, buying them stuff not only on their birthdays and Christmas but also just because they "see something cute" or whatever and so they just buy it for them. Plus they have aunts and uncles and friends of their parents and whatever else that just...buy stuff for them. Lots of stuff. Too much stuff! And I think it's ridiculous. I mean, I am no grinch, and I love buying stuff for other people just as much as the next person. But if I am buying something for one of my nephews, odds are that it is going to get shoved into a box sometime in the next 6 months and forgotten about. Just seems silly.
So, I thought that maybe we should set up little trust funds for them. Then at their birthdays and Christmas we can still buy them a little something, but put the rest of the money that would have been spent on toys into a fund, earning interest, that they can have when they go to college. I know that their parents are living paycheck to paycheck and the last thing they need is more toys. Heck, one of Brian's brothers is just trying to figure out how to pay rent this month (of course, that is what happens when you don't have a job). I doubt they are saving up for their kids' college at all. And that's fine, they can do whatever they want. But if we can put $50 or $80 or $100 a year into an account for them earning a decent amount of interest, then by the time they're 18 they'll have something that will really be of benefit to them--a lot more than a toy they play with once and then forget about. Not that it will pay their way through college by any means. But it would be enough to buy a decent car if they needed one, or to buy books, or whatever they need.
So I don't know. It just seems sad that we spend so much on kids' NOW than on their future. Do you think that 2 year olds count the amount of presents they got? No. I bet he has one or two that he really likes, and the rest of them are just more stuff. Stuff that is probably worth quite a bit of money. And yeah kids need toys and whatever else, and they grow so they need ones that are more age appropriate, etc. But they don't need 15 people buying them 3 or 4 toys each at every Christmas, easter, birthday, thanksgiving, etc. They need folks that look out for the long term good, not just the short term. We plan on being able to save for our kids' college and hopefully either pay it or pay for most of it, or half of it, or whatever deal we work out with them. We won't be able to do that for all our neices and nephews, but we'll be able to help them. Hopefully they'll appreciate it. If not, too bad! We're probably still going to do it! They'll be happy when they're older. And, who knows, maybe we can be an example to them.
Anyway that's just a bit of a rant. I am angry that being in debt up to your ears is normal, and the fact that we are on a budget makes us weird. I'm frustrated that Americans spend more than they earn, and that people put more time into planning a 1-week vacation than they do planning their potentially 20+ year retirement. I'm tired of listening to people complaining about their bills and their debt when they pay $100/month cable bills and have crap all over their house that they never use and could sell and make money and put towards debt--all the while they are still using their credit cards and making VISA richer, driving brand-new cars (do you have any idea what the depreciation on those things is??), buying "big boy toys", giving their kids all they want now but telling them when they're 18 "Welp, you're an adult now, see you later! Good luck!" but not teaching their kids how important it is to work and make money and save and give. It's a dirty cycle, and I'm going to do whatever I can to break it in my family.
ANYWAY. Brian's parents gave us lots of money for Christmas. Also I got an antique candy dish and some M&M's. :) We are going to use the money to pay our first month of gym membership and the joining fee if there is one at the YMCA, then the rest will go into savings. Hooray! We are excited. I am excited about where we are heading financially. Sometimes I want to give up and just go buy a new couch, but I know if I keep waiting that things will get better. I need to be patient! It is something I am learning more and more everyday. OKAY goodnight!