Off Topic Christmas Spending

[Guest]

i say that i am always grateful for what i have, and give more attention to the real reason for the season.

bo

[176champion]

11 minutes ago, merc1997 said:

i say that i am always grateful for what i have, and give more attention to the real reason for the season.

bo

Amen Bo

[fishinwrench]

57 minutes ago, merc1997 said:

i say that i am always grateful for what i have, and give more attention to the real reason for the season.

bo

Now we know how you have so much time to fish.  😃

Smart man!

[Terrierman]

It's not up to me to pass judgement on how others spend their money at Christmas, or any other time for that matter.  Personally, I've always tried to live well below my means and now that its retirement time, I'm glad that I did.

[jdmidwest]

Separate accounts and split the bills works good in my family.  We both have our bank accts and we share the bills.  Splurges are on each others dime and eliminates any conflicts.

I spend within reason and spoil the crap out of my only daughter.  She has repaid me many times over with her kindness and reflection of my good raising.  Grandkids get way more than any grandparent ever spent on me in a lifetime in one year.  But I know my grandparents would have given me anything I asked for.  It is the season to be grateful for so much more than money.  Life is short and you only get it one time.

Growing up, one of my Grandpas gave me 5 silver dollars each year.  The other gave me 5 two dollar bills.  I still have some of them somewhere.  They gave me other things later on in life that shaped my future.

[Royal Blue]

18 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Just finished up outside of buying my wife an oil change for her car which is her big present.

Lady at Target in the line in front of me spent $4,200.00 and change and told the cashier that several more days of this and she would have it all done.  She had twenty, $100.00 gift cards in her poke.  Cashier asked her if she was buying for business or corporate giving and she said no just friends and family.

I always get a kick out of the car commercials as you see a Lexus or a Caddy with a bow on it and one spouse giving it to the other.  Of course they are usually in their late 20's and coming out of a million dollar house.

What say you?

Merry Christmas Honey!  I got you an $1100 a month car payment!

[MOBass]

We budget Christmas as well as everything else in the household.  Whatever the presents are they have to fit in the budget.  If it doesn't fit, it doesn't get bought.  No credit card bills after the holiday, no regrets.

[Bill Babler]

JD, we have done the same thing as you since the beginning.  When we went in 42 yrs. ago to our pre-martial classes the minister told us to always maintain separate bank accounts as it  not only held monetary disputes and misunderstandings down but gave each party a since of worth and accomplishment.  To this date we have never shared a bank or savings account and have never had any kind of a spat about money.  Of course we are on each others accounts but that is it.

I have absolutely no idea how much the  gal has, and could care less what she spends it on.  On the other hand she knows what I have as I have to give her a financial statement quarterly.

Just kidding, on the financial statement its once a month.

Minister also said there are only 2 things you should ever buy on time and that was a home and a car.  We have never deviated from that either, until the cell phones came in and they want to include the price of the phone in the monthly bill to keep  you from buying unlocked phones that you can change companies with.

At this point in our lives, thank the Lord we don't have to worry about the car payments, and I have been extremely fortunate with my guide boats as the team deals when I first started thru today have given me the ability to write a check for them.

In 1991 Smithville Marine furnished me my first guide boat.  It was a 1992 Stratos with i believe a 235 Evinrude.  I might be wrong on the HP but I think it was a 235.  Their regional sales rep was Gary Clouse.  "That name seems to ring a very big bell."  My job was to  put as many butts in the boat as possible and work 3 shows a year for Stratos, that was it.  I could use the boat and would turn it on August 1st of the next year when the new models came out.  I just had to pay to have any glass work or detailing done when I turned it in.  ie was never charged a dime.

How friggin sweet was that?  I'll tell you now there are NO deals like that out there today,  NONE.  That was back in the day that every 5th. Ranger off the line was a freebie.  This went on for about 8 yrs. and in 2000 Stratos went to a cost program for not only their guides and team guys but also the pro-staff.  We could buy the boats two ways, one was a floor plan that we ran it for one year and then purchased the boat at dealer cost and the other was we bought it outright for 17% to 20% under what the dealer had to pay for it, or manufacture cost.  You could also get them for even less if you had trolling motor, main engine, and electronic deals.  There were a ton of REALLY CHEAP engine deals as all the Pro's were getting free engines instead of cash to represent the companies.  Not any more as that put engines on the market that the dealers had to compete with.

Both Buster and I bought Johnson engines thru Guido Hibdon out of Smithville Marine that were about a 1/4 of manufacture cost.  Joanne always had engines from Denny and Guido  I absolutely could not have started my guiding career at a better time.  i was totally blessed and Gary Clouse and Joanne at SVM were pretty much the reasons.

But, I regress.

My sister was a big Christmas spender and she used to tell me she worked most of the year just to buy gifts and vacations.  Her husband had a magnificent job to run the household budget and her job was just money they used as play money.

Regardless of our individual financial situations, I thought $4,200,00 was a pretty steep one stop at Target.

Merry Christmas All

[dblades]

I can't imagine thatTarget has $4200 worth of stuff I'd  like, even if I had it to spend. I've managed to not put anything on a card this year. 👍

[kscullawl]

I agree about the $4200 being a little steep at target...but I know people with combined household yearly incomes in the $700k range...so wen you have that kind of jack...well hell...go crazy at Christmas if that is your thing. 

 

Most sane people in the world would think $70K on a 21footer with a 250 and 10k worth of electronics is a bit much

 

Just remember though...mo money often means mo problems