Nothing in my life speaks of high spending. Nothing.
Yes, I bought a new house two years ago, and yes it was smaller. I went from 4500 sq. ft. and six bedrooms to 2400 sq. ft. and four bedrooms. Appraised value was also about half.
I was making $160K twenty years ago because I was in a very unique situation that only lasted a couple of years. I recently got a very large raise which brought me to just over $60K. $7K is a big deal.
What kind of cars do I drive? I drive a 12-year-old pickup with 228K miles on it, W has a 2002 minivan with 78K on it, and the kids have a 2000 Chevy (Suzuki) Metro with 90K on it. The only semi-luxury is a 2003 BMW motorcycle that I bought last year to replace a ’96 BMW that I had had for eight years. The bike was a leftover, so even though it’s a 2003, it was new when I bought it in June of 2004. Since the ‘05s were about to come out (which would have made it 2 years old), I got a good deal. A really good deal. That’s the only way I could afford/justify it.
Do I have a big screen entertainment center? No. I have an 8-year-old 27” TV in the living room and an OLD 19” in my bedroom.
Do I have all the latest electronics? Nope. None in fact. My newest computer is just over a year old, but the one before that is still in use – a 533MHz Pentium 2 running Windows 98. No laptop. No PDA. I finally broke down and bought a cheap Korean DVD player from Wally World last Christmas. No iPod. The newest piece of stereo equipment I have is a pair of Techinics speakers I bought four years ago from the factory store where I was getting my turntable repaired. Like most everything I buy, they were discontinued and consequently priced well below retail.
Do my kids go to private school? Nope. Can’t afford it. Besides, I’m really happy with the public schools where we live. I can’t say that I would put them in private school even if you were paying for it.
Designer suits? What’s a suit? Oh wait, I do have one of those. I got it for my father’s funeral – 18 years ago. At J. C. Penney's. The closest I have to designer anything is a Carhartt jacket that I bought on 40%-off sale at Tractor Supply last spring.
Does W get a consistent message regarding finances and spending? Most definitely. Do I live the level of frugality to which I want her to adhere. No - I live much more frugally than I would ever ask her to live.
