Many an argument has ensued between Nicky and I since having the keys handed over to our new house last week. The most recent was last week while a friend of mine was over.
"We can't have grandmas second hand fridge! It will look crap!" Nicky complained.
"Are you kidding me? You want me to spend 1000 dollars on a chrome fridge just so that it matches the kitchen?" I piped back.
"She's right you know," Aaron Interjected. "You have such a pimpin' house dude, you can't bring this old furniture into it. Don't be such a scrooge." Aaron got up from the couch he was sitting on, and went and sat next to Nicky so they were both facing me. He wanted to make it obvious that he was on Nicky's side. He smiled and stared at me from across the room, smugly patting Tyson, my shih-tzui. Tyson lay on his back, lethargically spread out his legs pointing his oversized testicles in my direction and lapped up the attention. The whole family, even the dog, were up against me.
A few days ago, I was handed the keys to my first house. The builders had the whole thing lit up, with all of the downlights highlighting the sparkles in the granite kitchen, the soft glow of outside lights highlighting the brickwork outside. They had a couple of bottles of champagne waiting for us as we arrived, including a large platter of prawns. Our first meal in our new home.
Needless to say, the house is absolutely stunning. I will be forever grateful to the builders who did a fantastic job at an even better price.
Having such a beatiful home has led to a few problems, however. Suddenly every piece of furniture we own looks 'terrible' in comparison to the house. Previously happy with a second hand-me-down fridge that was an off-white colour, suddenly the house seems to demand a shiney new silver one. The fabric couches no longer match the walls, and the nine foot cielings in the loungeroom seem as demanding as gravity to buy a new leather couch. An old square tv against the wall sitting on a second hand cabinet? Surely a video projector or large plasma pinned to the wall is more fitting. The old cane chairs that I had the boys sit on whenever we played garage games of poker? No way! They have to go to the dump and get replaced with a brand new outdoor setting.
"You don't even have an opinion, Aaron! I'm the 26 year old that owns a house here people! Not the idiot who is still paying off his car loan and can't get a deposit together cuz he keeps spending his money on nothing."
They were not impressed. It was a personal attack. They all glared at me. All except for Tyson who just had a stupid grin on his hairy face, balls still defiantly in my direction.
"You realise that having a chrome fridge will cost us 1000 bucks more than we need to spend? That's two weeks work. Assuming that during that 2 weeks I don't eat, pay rent, or feed anyone else. Not to mention the interest I'd have to pay on it because it's not going into the homeloan. If I do eat and pay rent, and of course I will, that's like, a month worth of work to get that sort of money together, when grandma will give us her second hand one for free. I'm not going to work my guts out for over 80 hours just because you don't like the colour."
It is an ever-raging battle. The fight between living comfortably NOW, or delaying the gratification so we can use the equity to buy again, and live better LATER. Having a beautiful house is like an intoxicating current that draws you towards the retail stores. It doesn't help when your wife, best mate, and even the stupid dog disagree with you.
Tyson got fixed last monday.
So there.
Mate you are done for!
Next it will be…..but I need to buy a $1000 pram for the baby, the baby NEEDS new clothes. Etc.
Yes delay on some things but still remember to have a GOOD time. I am not saying Leer Jet good or The Wolf of Wall Street good, just remember there is still something beside money. You will quickly become the scrooge of the house and be resented by all and sundry as being Captain Bringdown (aka KRudd)
Don't blow your budget on crap but find something to reward your missues with (no a house is not reward enough) for scrimping and saving alongside you and listening to budget lectures and buying property in super lectures LOL!
I try to reward my hard working hubby with small things like remembering his name, putting food on a plate for him and opening his mail for him.
You can buy a second hand projector from me which I won many years ago through work and has been used once and sat in a cupboard ever since! Heheh.
Heheh you can fix the dog but people will always question you!
Very funny keep it up gotta love a sense of humor in this!
D
DWolfe | www.homestagers.com.au
http://www.homestagers.com.au
Email MeThat sucks. I never realised people have this problem. But now that you mention it, it is so true.
Even an old house demands a lot of money because you want to make improvements and make it look nice.
If you HAVE to buy a fridge buy one off Ebay and spend a couple of hundred instead of a couple of thousand. There are ways to have your cake and eat it too.
Ryan McLean
http://CashFlowInvestor.com.au
Positive Cashflow Properties Are Just A Click AwayRyan McLean | On Property
http://onproperty.com.au
Email MeInteresting… do you know what type of model it is? and how much do you want for it?
wait! I'm spending money! nooo.
(seriously how much.)
LOL
Epson EMP-S1h I dunno haven't told hubby yet, he probably wont even notice it is gone it has been in the cupboard for a LONG time. Have a squiz on ebay or something tell me what you find lol
D
DWolfe | www.homestagers.com.au
http://www.homestagers.com.au
Email MeToo funny Ben,
I know how you can pay for all those things.
Get a second job freelance writing – you crack me up. I reckon you could sell that stuff to a paper.
It's only natural for your wife to feather her nest – it's called nesting.
Get her to do a budget for how much she wants to spend. Get her involved in making decision about what to spend money on and comparing wants, needs and income.
Seriously – you're a good writer. Reminds me very much of humouress (how DO you spell that?) little pieces you see in the paper on the weekend.
Good luck!
Shummorus, humourus… humourous, humorus, humorous, humourouss, hu….
funny.
http://www.youtube.com/user/benanaman#p/u/25/mvR59QEExjA
For those who want to meet Tyson…
Haha cute.
Can you show us the pimpin' house? (and the dodgy fridge)
Actually its easy fixed- paint the fridge silver- we painted our dodgy old fridge purple when my partner and I feathered our first little unit and it was a great talking point(and worked well) for many years to come.
Sure can Young Investor! I've already shot the footage, just need to cut it up a bit and get it uploaded… you may have noticed I tend to make a lot of youtube videos about everything and anything, and moving into my house was definitely some good material. All the moving trucks get started this saturday, so I'll probably film a time lapse of moving in and out. Coming soon…
As far as painting the fridge… well.. since then… Nicky won the argument. We now have a chrome fridge.
*slaps forehead*
HAHAHAHAHA
Ben I feel for you, I had a similar experience 2 years ago when my wife and i bought our house. Now the place was almost 30 yr old by the time we bought it, and the kitchen and bathroom where still original, great spaces just bad orange and brown tiles and paint with mostly white cupboards. And don't get me started on the carpet in the lounge.
I told my wife that before we go spending "THOUSANDS" of dollards on reno's, she had to live in the house for a while to get a GREAT idea (notice it wasn't just good) of what you like and dislike in the house. Well that's where the similarity comes in, the ensuing arguements lasted a good month or so, it was, "but i already know what i want to do" and "what's going to go where" and "what new furtiture we're going to get". Well 18 months later, we had the kitchen and living areas redone.
Kitchen was just a make over, not new ie use exsisting frame work and just added new doors, hinges, kick boards, handles, stove, sink etc etc etc…
The lounge we ripped up ALL the odd carpet knocked out a brick free standing bar and titled. Now my wife has a very good nack at matching colours and putting schemes and all that fancy stuff, so i just let her go with whatever she felt like (which was her reward for waiting 18 months) and the tiles match the bench top and we've got more room and a shiny new kitchen too boot.After we were all done and dusted and there was a lot of dust from old carpet, my wife agreed with me that it was the best idea to wait before we did anything, so I won that one.
But alas, I'm well aware that the same arguement will be coming when we go to do the bathroom in the next month or 2 but this time i don't really have a leg to stand on cause we've already been in the place almost 3 years….
Row
Hey you wanted to see a preview of my house…
This is just the unit (dual occupancy) my side is a lot bigger with more expensive stuff, but I'm stoked about the kitchens.
I was originally quoted for just the granite benchtop in the kitchen in my side. Later on we found someone that imported kitchens. He gave us a quote to do TWO kitchens, the laundry and two bathroom benchtops in granite for cheaper than doing everything in laminate. Bargain.
I'll eventually get something to show off on my side, but right now my computer is in a box somewhere! This is just the ad for the unit. Have a look.
Very handsome property BC, and nice work with the kitchen deal!
Do you work from home by the way?
No, I work in an office in west end. I fight traffic for an hour or more a day, Why do you ask?
I remember you mentioning something about a failed business attempt – Just wondered whether the superannuation investment stuff was as an advisor/broker (ie: self employed), or working for a business…. but that was before i googled cbpd
haha. No no, completely different.
You might have heard about the government grant that was going around for insulation? $1600 dollars the government would give to anyone that insulated their house. That meant that you could knock on someones doors, offer them insulation, make a very healthy profit for doing the job, but the government paid for the whole lot. An excellent opportunity. I generated 160'000 dollars worth of business in the first month. Sounds like a lot, but that's only 100 sales. It worked very well for a while, except the company that was doing the laying for me were the worst bookkeepers in the world. They short changed me without fail every time I did an invoice, and just plain didn't pay sometimes. It made it extremely difficult to run a business when your workers were getting paid so sporadically, so I walked away from it.
Good thing too. The government pulled the grant without notice, and literally 2000 people lost their jobs in australia overnight, not to mention it crippled many businesses who owned warehouses full of insulation, but now couldn't sell it.
Kevin Rudd, you're a champion.
A lucky escape for some, a horrible nightmare for others.
I actually saw an article on Lateline (or Lateline Business, cant remember!?) regarding that issue. Apparently a couple of law firms are gathering together companies who have been affected by the sudden change and are now going to litigate!
Ben, you are too funny.
I am sitting in a hotel room in LA by myself and have watched all of your You Tube video's. It has kept me amused for ages. Love the plasticine one and of course your proposal and I was laughing so hard I cried when I watched the cooking one. You are a natural, have you considered Hollywood??
bfree2live
Haha, quite the compliment.
I HAVE considered hollywood, it's just the getting recognised there that's the hard part
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