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posted by Avistew on - last edited - Viewed by 384 users

Is money an inappropriate subject?



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  • I'm a saver myself. Somehow by being open about my economy to friends I've managed give them the illusion of being this loaded mofo. Very annoying to say the least, becuase they'll allways come to me whenever they need money. The fact is that I've got a 60 000 NOK car loan and three years of school with no steady income ahead of me. And on top of that I just payed 30 000 NOK for my drivers license.

    Just to give you an idea, 30 000 NOK equals about 3761,8 euros. My monthly salary is about 12 000 .. NOK that is.

    I only hope that I'll be able to keep my car trough three years of school .. I love my car.

    But just like avistew put it, I like to be a little bit in control with my economy. One of my best buddies is really annoying in this matter. He just bought himself a new desktop just to be able to play Battlefield BC2, we've got two concerts and a vacation planned for the summer and on top of that he suggests that we go to the roskilde festival as well. This is coming from a guy without a job who owes me 2000 NOK and intends to pay me back when he gets back on his feet.

    I don't really care how people prioritize their money but I really hate it when you have to be the one to remind him of his own debts. He won't see another penny from me, that's for sure.

  • I easily get around, I am a small spender.

    I am jobless, but from my financial aid from the government I can easily get around, something others have issues with... somehow.

    I am not sure how they would pull that off, since I get 400 euro's per month more than I spend.

    So I am not really that bothered actually to find a job and earn more... I guess that's rather bad though in the eyes of most people...

  • My family never really been financially well off. My dad worked down in a mine for 30 years (up to about 10 years ago) and my mum worked full time as soon as I was old enough to go to school. From what I can remember they earned enough for us to live in a semi comfortable environment but there wasn't much spent on luxuries like holidays abroad and stuff. Actually I think it's a testament to my parents how little they allowed their financial situation effect my brother & I. I mean, we were always treated at Christmas & on birthdays. If we needed some money we got it, and that's still true to this day even though they are worse off now than they used to be. Sure, I didn't get much pocket money nor did we go on fancy holidays abroad (though we did go to northern France once, via hovercraft - that's about the only trip abroad we took until 1999/2000).

    Things changed when my grandmother won around £1 million on the national lottery in later 1998 (or early 1999). Suddenly we had a comfortable amount of money and it gave us new opportunities. But it all wasn't plain sailing. My grandmother was given financial advice by a bank which, in hindsight, wasn't very good. She lost a lot of money due to bad advice (the economic effect of the September 11th attacks didn't help either - she had a fair bit of money invested in various stocks and stuff). Still there was and is enough left to give her a comfortable life, though she can't lavish it on her family any more.

    My parents moved to Cyprus about 7 to 8 years ago, having set up a business consisting of a pub and a restaurant here in England a few years prior. The pub was a success, but the restaurant didn't do so well. In the end they had to sell them both at a loss. Still they wanted to stay in Cyprus, in a semi-retired state with just my dad working as a pool cleaner. Recent economic events have made it harder to maintain a constant source of income as most of my dad's customers are English people who've retired to Cyprus and the global recession a lot of them became unwilling to pay to have their pools cleaned all year round. So my dad's winter income shrank a lot (that's the problem with a seasonal jobs, too bad bills aren't seasonal as well) and there were a few who just went home so he lost out in the summer months too. So that combined with their general health (my dad's vision has been getting steadily worse over the past few years and now he needs an operation) they've decided to come home to England where they can at least get some benefit from the Government (which was another problem working in Cyprus - they weren't technically legal to work there, and to be legal as a foreigner you had to pay a lot (possibly around €500-€600 per month, whether you were earning or not - can't remember exact figure)).

    Now I'm relying on student loans and grants to get me financially through university. I do this because I need to take the responsibility of my life and education as an adult. I know if I asked my parents for money that they would give me as much as they can. But I can't put the burden of my lifestyle on their slim income. So I've known a life with and without money, and I've learned a lot in the process. I've made mistakes but I think I'm getting it right now. I hope anyway, only time will tell.

    Damn, I didn't mean to write so much.

  • I currently have no idea about my financial situation. We've done some extensive renovations in the house and there are several bills still underway, and we don't know how high they'll be exactly. Usually I keep track of how much we earn and spend each month, but because we've been spending so much on the house, the whole balance is out of wack. It'll be at least until next month before we can see a "normal" month with "normal" costs.

    Last year I think we saved about 10% of our income each month. I keep track of grocery and fuel costs (needs), clothes bought (combination of needs and wants), as well as luxury items (wants) as books, dvd's and games.

    Mortgage included, I think our needs total somewhere between 50 and 60% of our income each month, but that's not including a lot of other "needs", like the stuff required by law (taxes, insurance, etc.), which we pay only once a year, and extra costs like car checkups, haircuts, etc. You could argue that some of those lean more toward the "wants" category, but still ... We also go out to dinner sometime; that's a "want" in my book, even if it does save groceries and the time and energy of preparing the food in your own kitchen.

    I used to buy a lot of books, games and dvd's, but I've cut down a lot. I always tried to buy them in secondhand stores or eBay, but sometimes you just have to buy a new release, you know? When it comes to books, I prefer them in English, and importing a hardback doubles the price. I'd like to get a PS3, but it seems that every time I've saved some cash, I end up having to spend it on this or that.

    I found 5 euro in the grass the other day. It really made my day.

  • I don't have a job, but I can't work either because my anxiety is really bad, so I get a government pension at the moment. It's only barely enough to live on, and was even less before I turned 21 last month, but I live with my parents, so I don't need to live on it yet, and my attention span is so bad that there isn't much I want to buy, either. I'm hoping to get well enough to be able to work eventually.

    I don't think my parents had a lot of money when I was little, but we definitely weren't poor. It's possible that they were just frugal or I that didn't know to ask for things I wanted.

  • I've been enjoying people's stories! (Not that it makes me happy when your situation is bad of course).

    Let's see, with actual numbers... My husband earns 1,400 a paycheque (that's every two weeks), which is actually pretty good, almost 3,000 a month (in Canadian dollars). (Which I guess mean we do earn over 30,000 a year?! Wow! We used to earn half that when I was the one working!)
    Of course he does work 18 hour shift, 1 PM to 7 AM the next day, which means we don't get to see much of each other, (and when we do one of us is usually asleep) and that sucks. But he loves his job (he works with the mentally challenged).

    Our rent is 756 including the 6 dollar fee to get a money order (which is the only way we're allowed to pay the rent), and then we have phone bills, Internet and food. I'd say all of these I count as needs although I guess the Internet might be a luxury. Altogether they add up to something like 1,200.

    We save up around the same amount, (if I could I'd stash ALL the rest away but my husband won't let me), and what's left is spent on wants (games, books, eating out...) or just sits there in our main account (which comes in handy when we have an unexpected vet bill). (The savings are automated and sent to other accounts so we don't end up spending them accidentally).

    When I look at that I think "we're doing pretty good", but then I keep worrying, thinking we need to save up for retirement for two people on only one income, that we don't have an emergency fund yet, etc.
    I'm sure a lot of people are much worse-off of course, but I tend to think worst-case scenario, you know?

    On the other hand, never in our lives have we been able to save that much (we used to live in Paris when 750 dollars a months wouldn't even be enough for renting a studio, plus it's bigger so we had transportation fees while here we walk everywhere, etc) so I'm feeling relaxed about it.

    I do wish he didn't work that much though :S Wouldn't want him to wear himself out.

    Oh, and something that annoys me a lot. An ex-roommate of my husband's, who earned about 4 times what my husband does, would keep "borrowing" money that he wouldn't pay back, and complain that he wished he was as rich as we were.
    ...That just annoys me. It's not like he had huge debts he needed to pay back and had no money left. He's the one who spent it on stuff all the time. Good for him, but don't go telling people who make a quarter of what you do that you wish you were as rich as them. It doesn't make you look good.
    (We stopped lending him money a while ago. It felt like we were encouraging a destructive habit, you know?)

    Here, you've got details and everything, specific numbers and such. Sorry if I sound like I'm complaining when I'm actually in a pretty sweet situation. Complaining is just what I do, you see :P

  • @avistew said: It felt like we were encouraging a destructive habit, you know?)

    Exactly! I guess it's just a matter of learning how to dodge it. A great argument in any case is to ask them why they bought the 50 inch tv, the iphone or other pricy possessions if they're in such a dire need of money :D

    The worst kind in my opinion are the ones who catch you off guard. The ones who would stand in line with you at the supermarket and ask as they're about to pay if they can borrow some money, even if they were fully aware of it the whole time.

  • Between my wife and I and our 2 kids, our needs are basically 90% or more of our income. We rarely have enough for wants. It's nice when we do, though.

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    puzzlebox Telltale Staff

    I really want to add to this discussion, but every time I try I start writing pages and pages and then give up. I just don't know how to write about my life without coming across as a complete prat. :P

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