Quote:
Originally Posted by Alfisti
It's brutal. Without being too specific our joint incomes have us in the top 10% of earners in Canada and we have saved nothing. i will preface that by saying we go to Australia every 18 to 24 months so that is a significant expense though lodging and food are near free if we wanted it to be. We also have a lot of points and every second trip is paid for in points.
This pandemic has proven we can live just fine without all the junk in our lives. No more toys for the second kid when it's the others birthday for example, just mindless spending. Health food and supplements we never use ($100 for a bag of some mystery shit, can't remember what it is, just sits there until it goes bad). That's all got to end.
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Oof. That would drive me up the wall. I suggest watching some of the documentaries out there for minimalism. Not saying you go full tilt and live out of a box, but spending money like it's going out of style just to get satisfaction of the rush of spending money? Instant gratification is no way to go; you get more out of the things that take time and effort (such as saving for tomorrow, or well with the way things are going, today). I think I'm such a stickler for it because my mom buys to buy. No doubt, she finds the great deals and did the couponing thing (you should have seen her the first time she came home with a pile of stuff and ended up getting PAID). But who needs eight mustard bottles? Why are there seventeen packets of cheese that goes bad before you can get to it? At least donate the crap; damn! I just don't get this fascination with buying stuff to just buy it. Take what you need and leave the rest.
My wife and I have a joint checking and a joint savings. Outside of that is investment, retirement, etc. I make about 3x - 4x what she makes depending on the year, but I give her full control - jokingly the CFO. She pays all the bills, does all the grocery shopping, orders all household goods...she takes care of everything of necessity and does a great job doing so. That said, we live well within our means and neither of us really buy "things." We're able to set aside each month, contribute to retirement, invest, and still do pretty much whatever we want within reason each month.
Aside from the necessary monthly expenses, I would say just about every single purchase is combed over.
Do we really need it?
Why do we really need it?
Compare brand X with brand Y - Best price vs best value.
Which retailer has the best price?
What coupons are available?
Etc. etc. etc....
But to the thread's point, I think we are a longggg ways off from talking about this. Sports will be done without fans in the chairs will be my guess with how much this impacted the world. I'm sure people will be itching to get out, but I think it's going to happen in one of two ways: slow, gradual process or people just finally lose it and anarchy. My estimate is come Memorial Day weekend, the "official" start of summer, people by large are going to disregard any direction and just go do the things they want.