Hope is not an Effective Financial Strategy

Karmacat

shangaijimmy wrote: »

Ooooh I like that analogy! And more to the point DS1 will. Mrs SJ less so, as she is a conspiracy theorist...or maybe conspiracy considerator...

I have sympathy with that too - I think NASA made a huge mistake in refusing to explain the reasons for seeming discrepancies in photos etc that led to the conspiracies taking on a life of their own. There was a very good Mythbusters episode about a few of the conspiracies that really helped.

I on the other hand love the thought of space.

Me too! I went to see a shuttle launch back in the day (STS85) and stayed with a science fiction buddy who worked with the astronauts at McDonnell Douglas. And I was in the Mars Society for years.

I have to confess that I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to travel and visiting places. If I'm honest I just don't care too much. Don't get me wrong I'd enjoy the grand canyons but once you've seen them...well you've seen them and I'd wanna be home again! As for New York, Vegas, Paris...I'm just not that bothered. When conversations head towards "I love to go there, there, there"...the only place I say is space. That's it! Then when I'm really pushed I say I'd like to see the Northern Lights...is that still a space kind of theme though??

You're right :j Northern Lights are absolutely space related :j mind you, have you seen how much geological research is funded by NASA? Earth-based research is totally necessary to provide some sort of base line to use when they come across weird stuff like Io and Europa. Though I don't think they put much research money into New York and Vegas

Anyway I'm sat in the garden with a cold beer enjoying the last few hours of my break as when tomorrow kicks in I have a relentless 12 days ahead of me!

Sounds great to me - hope tomorrow isn't too rough.

CathT

12 day stretch in work sounds grim, should help with the spends/current account though?

Days off together used to be expensive for us and even now we seem to haemorrhage money if we leave the house together!

Suffolk_lass

Same as CathT here - back in the day, we used to say it would cost us a grand every time we went shopping together - not unreasonable when we were buying big appliances and stuff for our first place together in the late eighties (think loadsamoney, Harry Enfield scene) when there was prestige associated with how much you spent. How I wish I had been frugal then!

We also love space and the highlight of the one-and-only post-11+ trip to Florida was our two days at the Cape Canaveral Kennedy Space Centre (this was the one and only time we took our DS out of school to double the May half-term holiday in his final Junior School year)

• It's in the middle of a wildlife area and we saw eagles and armadillos in the wild!
• We were able to pore over the control room and the Saturn 5 replica of Apollo 11
• We went back three days later to stand on cocoa beach and watch the Mars Rocket launch (3 miles from the launch)

While Universal Studios and Disney World were way beyond our expectations, the Mars launch was the real highlight of our trip - DS wrote a report that the school put on their web-site for about four years!

Karmacat

I forgot about the wildlife! Yes, on the coach tour of Cape Kennedy, alligators and eagles plus the building that housed the rockets being so big that it genuinely had its own weather inside

shangaijimmy

CathT wrote: »

Days off together used to be expensive for us and even now we seem to haemorrhage money if we leave the house together!

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Same as CathT here - back in the day, we used to say it would cost us a grand every time we went shopping together

Funnily enough we spend significantly less when we are together. When its just Mrs SJ, or worse Mrs SJ with her mum, then the bank card starts steaming! Mrs SJ doesn't work on a Friday and I have to watch my tone when I ask "How much has gone on cards today?"...:D At present Home Bargains is my enemy! And especially as they've built a new super sized one!

debtfreeoneday

We had one of those expensive days out, where every little thing we bought didn't seem that much and then woah, the bank account updated and we were like how did we spent THAT much!

Liking the sound of the new plans, plus it gives me a fighting chance to beat you again at MF-ness!!!:rotfl:

shangaijimmy

Karmacat wrote: »

I forgot about the wildlife! Yes, on the coach tour of Cape Kennedy, alligators and eagles plus the building that housed the rockets being so big that it genuinely had its own weather inside

All this talk is now making me rethink my previous stance on sightseeing...!

shangaijimmy

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

We had one of those expensive days out, where every little thing we bought didn't seem that much and then woah, the bank account updated and we were like how did we spent THAT much!

Liking the sound of the new plans, plus it gives me a fighting chance to beat you again at MF-ness!!!:rotfl:

Thank you debtfree. Our new plans have settled in well with the grey matter. I've played with a few spreadsheet scenarios and although I'm not overly keen on how i've added another 60 lines for months payments onto it, I am at peace with it...for now...!

I suppose we'll see how it feels at the end of the year when our balance hasn't fallen quite as fast as we've accustomed to over the past 4yrs. We'll need to adjust our celebratory takeaways to each £5k bracket rather than every £10k. Unless I can steal a spreadsheet (with charts/graphs) where I can record mortgage falling, pension rising, and investments rising...hmmm...

Karmacat

shangaijimmy wrote: »

All this talk is now making me rethink my previous stance on sightseeing...!

Sorry :rotfl: I stayed with a friend for part of that trip, and I stayed at hostels for other parts. I'm vegetarian, so food doesn't cost the earth (and you can take supermarket food back to hostels, then go sit on the seafront and admire the ocean in the evening) ... there's a lot of living history even in Florida (because it used to be so poor, they just didn't knock it down, told to me by Floridans, I promise you!).

shangaijimmy

Moving on from all talk of travel and space... I can finally say that DS2's room is complete! I managed to mount his tv this evening, after previously having forgotten to buy a bracket, and then working 11hrs on Weds so had no chance then. Thankfully it was a 15min job an without any major complications. The mount even had the rarity of allowing enough space to get my hand and arm behind it to tighten it all up with relative ease.

An interesting thought rose from my parents (who'd popped round to see his new room) when they observed that the TV was 10yrs old and had been handed down etc... It was quite logical to them that a decorated room should have had a new TV in it. Now I don't recall that type of buy for the sake of it attitude from my parents growing up, and it seems interesting to me now. Our house is definitely not a must have stuff type of house and I'm quite proud of that.

Its got me wondering tonight whether society is slowly changing? There are regular reports of shops sales falling for example, and this can't purely be down to people having less money. I appreciate that its all a complex situation and not a simple answer, but it does get me wondering...?? Or is it just a financial responsible attitude that I identify more with?

6 days to payday...and that starts the whole routine of automated money shuffles, spreadsheet updates and accounts posting! After a busy weekend last week I'm hoping for a calmer one (other than work) where I can sit in the garden with a couple of leisurely beers in the warmth!