adventures in disaster

spending

I am startled at how much I can spend in one day. Ten years ago I was cautious and kept track of every dime. Now I have a decent job that pays pretty good and I am lazy about money.
Being poor taught me nothing about managing money. I guess because I didn't have any to manage.
I also didn't have half the bills I have now.
I have telephone, television , internet and cell phone...Back then I had one telephone and a tiny television with rabbit ears.
Today I bought animal food, the bill was more than what I used to spend for two weeks of people food.
I have a teenager that eats money, twenty dollars a day at minimum.
I have to buy gas for the car and that cost shocks me over and over again.
I need to learn how to spend...and I have an accountant now..HRBlock used to be my accountant.
My accountant cringes when I tell him I never really save, I have crappy life insurance and I didn't bother to invest in one of those education funds for the kid..hell..we were POOR, how was I to know I would get my act together?
So now, late in the game I am trying to figure out the RRSP thingie and saving real money.
My only positive is I have no debts..yeah, the accountant was shocked. But poor people can't get credit cards or mortgages so we pay cash and escape the credit disaster.
I have paid off all my student loans..it was the most painful thing I have ever done.
I think poor people shouldn't be saddled with montrous debt so they can get a decent job. It makes no sense. How can someone just out of school with no experience starting at the bottom of the pay scale be expected to hand over a quarter of their pay cheque? It keeps the poor poor though. I know I will never be in the "middle". That amazing tax bracket where everything is possible..a new car..a house. I will always be a used car and a renter kind of person and I am fine with that.
I see some nurses that work every day..overtime,overtime just so they can pay the car payment and the mortgage. They are never home long enough to enjoy the place.
I would be terrified to own my own home. What do you do when you need a new furnace? or a new roof? or the septic tank goes.
Living in the country means septic tanks and septic beds...and that always makes me laugh because septic means something entirely different to me..
I love that if something goes wrong I can pick up the phone and call for help and someone else has to pay.
Living under hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt would make me nauseated all the time.

It didn't stop me from looking at brand new trucks today though.
Forty thousand dollars for a truck..when did this happen? Oh right around the same time urban idiots thought driving a big truck around the corner to buy milk was a grand idea. These trucks are completely yuppified..leather seats for goodness sake! Our truck will be a farm truck, doing what it was built for and having leather seats is ridiculous.
I am supposed to change my work clothes every time I get in?
It is so pretty the idea of driving it through a field to pick up hay is blasphemous.
So, no new truck for me.
The salesman also tried to sell me on the idea of leasing.Why would I want to give this man all my money for years and at the end of it have nothing to show for it? I want to buy a truck so it is mine not the banks or a leasing company who I am sure would be horrified at the idea of me using the truck as an actual work vehicle.

Buying a used vehicle is like being the dance partner of a sociopath. You have no idea when he will dip or stand on your feet or just dump you on the dance floor. I accept that their goal is to make a fool out of me and steal my money. I just do the best I can in an ugly situation.

Why are used car salesman all crooks? Is it because they aren't making enough money? I don't really think so considering they are selling cars that were under water in New Orleans for top price and they bought them for ten bucks..the mark up for a vintage disaster car is huge!
I think they do it because it's possible, we as consumers don't work very hard at not getting duped, we don't even ask basic questions..my favorite being "how long have you had the car?"
They always lie but check the air in the tires, it's a dead giveaway to a car that has been sitting around for months in a lot.
Ask if it's ever been in an accident..they always lie..look under the wheel wells to see where they repainted..repainting means accident.
Ask for the work record on the car, they will look horrified but they have to give it to you. I saved myself from two near disasters on that question. There really is no happy explanation to why you put a new transmission, all new braking system and new exhaust into a car other than something bad happened but we still have a ton of money sunk into this car and we need an idiot to come take it off our hands. One guy finally admitted that and offered to give it to me at his cost...
If someone is desperate to get rid of something why would I want to have it?

So, the search still continues. I know there is a perfect truck out there waiting for me..hi truck! I am coming! Could you maybe send some smoke signals my way so I can find you? This searching thing kinda sucks..

posted by adventures in disaster @ 10:06 PM