Being MM is hard sometimes

[SusanBAnthony]

I have wanted a minivan for three years now. Here i sit in my civic

[Roc A Bee]

Every day when I eat the lunch I brought instead of going out

[kateross]

Mine is buying a set of new couch.  DH and I vow to not buy them unless we have the cash to do so. 

We have cash, just not for couch purchase.

And eating out to nice places.  I get jealous when friends go, but I can't pull the trigger easily.

[kadams767]

Saving the money to fully remodel my bathroom instead of just pulling it from our current savings and doing it now is killing me slowly. Every time I get into my retro almond colored shower, I die a little inside. But I know I will feel better saving the money and having a custom remodel done to exactly what we want.

[ohbirdie]

Putting off moving. We really want to move, but feel we need to be further along financially first.

Also...eating in. We use to eat out tons, but now we eat in and pack our lunches. I am a horrible cook, so I am suffering.

[Deleted]

DH hates his 97 Hyundai Sonata--it runs fine but all the little things are broken. I really think we should just keep it until it dies.

I've wanted Quartz counters for 2.5yrs but just haven't felt ok about spending the money for them with perfectly fine laminate counters.

Spending most of DHs Christmas bonus on buying stock instead of something more fun (vacation, home improvement) the past couple years kind of stinks.

[ladygirl]

Where do I begin? Off the top of my head:
-Not taking a vacation this year in order to beef up our savings.
-Putting off having a baby until said savings is beefed up, since it will be likely I will end up on unpaid bed rest when I do get pregnant.
-Selling our house we have rented out because we would likely have to bring money to the table. I hate our tenant, she is a nightmare but she pays, and we are out of state, so finding a new tenant would take some work.

Being MM sucks sometimes, but it's better than the alternative.

[cabbage10]

Not moving out of our apartment because all the extras that come along with having a house would just kill our savings.

cooking dinner 6 out of 7 nights a week. I despise dishes and cooking and everything that does not involve going out to dinner haha.

Shopping only when things are on mega sale and avoiding Anthropologie like the plague.

[frankenlady]

I have a problem not being a jealous heifer. A lot of our friends blow money on less important (to us) things - dinner out, bar tabs, crap from ikea. We save that money, which helps us travel as much as we do. Still, it's hard to turn down invites out with them.

[Deleted]

Jan 20, 2013 16:47:40 GMT -5 frankenlady said:

I have a problem not being a jealous heifer. A lot of our friends blow money on less important (to us) things - dinner out, bar tabs, crap from ikea. We save that money, which helps us travel as much as we do. Still, it's hard to turn down invites out with them.

This!

I want a new purse SOOO badly but there are other priorities we've agreed to focus on, so I am very very slowly saving up for a new purse off the side of my "fun money."  

We are also invest aggressively outside of retirement and pay extra on our 15-year mortgage, so it will be paid off hopefully 9 years from now.  That stuff sucks, because we could have refi-d to a 30year and had a much smaller mortgage (and also not paid extra)...but it would have cost us WELL over $240k over the life of the loan vs the 15 year.  It is hard to have a long-term view versus the short-term wins!!  Hoping that it all feels that much sweeter when our mortgage is paid off and we have thousands each month to invest and maybe a little to spend? 

[dapotato]

i was going to go to a flea market today but decided to stay home instead and take a good, hard look at our retirement planning. we haven't ever really sat down to figure out goals or how to get there because of so many moving parts in our lives the last several years. now that things are a little more stable, including income (knock on wood), we really need to start saving aggressively toward a better-defined goal.

eta: painful because i figured out how much we need to save monthly, and it requires some cutting of fun stuff. minimal, but still.

[mskitkat]

I absolutely hate my H's Civic, but I drive it during nice weather because the mpg is so much better than my Fusion.

[UnderProtest]

Jan 20, 2013 16:43:45 GMT -5 namasteak said:

Jan 20, 2013 16:10:21 GMT -5 ohbirdie said:

Putting off moving. We really want to move, but feel we need to be further along financially first.

Also...eating in. We use to eat out tons, but now we eat in and pack our lunches. I am a horrible cook, so I am suffering.

My SIL was a truly awful cook and I taught her how. If you wouldn't be insulted, I'd be more than happy to post the small recipe book I put together for her (cheap & easy meals). 

I wouldn't mind a recipe book like that.  More than being MM, its just too hard to go out with two small kids all the time.  I have no creativity in creating meals.

[MrsE]

Staying in my current job for another year so I do not have to pay back tuition reimbursement for my grad program.

I've never once actually picked out my own car.


Sent from my iPhone using ProBoards app

[fromage]

I have been wanting to trade in my 2001 Jeep Cherokee for a car with a larger backseat since my son was born 19 months ago. We're going to wait as long as possible, though (i.e. until we have #2 who is rear-facing in a convertible carseat, so...at least 18 months away). It's so uncomfortable getting him in and out of that back seat. I actually prefer our civic but DH drives it because he commutes. 

This is mostly a first world problem, but I love having short hair. I keep it long because that way I can go 6 months between haircuts rather than 6 weeks. 

[ellipses84]

Waiting to remodel our kitchen. We don't have a dishwasher or enough storage, so it really sucks from a functional standpoint. I kind of feel like if we had put it on CCs we would have been motivated to pay them off quickly and saving for it isn't going so great.

[keweenawlove]

I want a new car but I don't need one. I have an '02 Cavalier right now. I bought mine from my parents when I was 18 and it's still running really well. I like not having a car payment and the gas mileage is great. It doesn't have power locks or windows or cruise control so that gets really annoying.

[Deleted]

Oh god, ditto Frankenlady. We get together with friends ever Saturday morning for coffee and DH and I come away from each morning pea green with envy at another couple. It seems like every week they roll in with something new. This week it was new down coats (mine is 10+ years old), the week before it was a new car (the same model I've been eyeing for 3+ years now), the week before it was a new iPad mini. I feel like we work so hard, and are in a much better place financially (they save the bare minimum for retirement and live in a crappy house they hate), but I still get jealous of the things they have.

I'm with you, though I mentally know we are making smart decisions the 16 year old girl in me wants to spend money like it doesn't matter.

[RoxMonster]

When I look at the ugly yellow paint and red shutters on our house. I REALLY wish we could hire someone to paint (it's wood siding) or even better, get vinyl siding. However, no can do right now. If anything, H and I may end up painting it ourselves this summer.

Whenever someone I know goes on an awesome vacation. We took two awesome trips the past two years, but now with a house and a dog, we have no extra money to put towards vacations for awhile. It makes me sad

[martini]

Jan 20, 2013 16:43:45 GMT -5 namasteak said:

Jan 20, 2013 16:10:21 GMT -5 ohbirdie said:

Putting off moving. We really want to move, but feel we need to be further along financially first.

Also...eating in. We use to eat out tons, but now we eat in and pack our lunches. I am a horrible cook, so I am suffering.

My SIL was a truly awful cook and I taught her how. If you wouldn't be insulted, I'd be more than happy to post the small recipe book I put together for her (cheap & easy meals). 

Please post it...I am always looking for cheap and easy meals.

[frankenlady]

Jan 20, 2013 18:22:20 GMT -5 @idaholakelady said:

Oh god, ditto Frankenlady. We get together with friends ever Saturday morning for coffee and DH and I come away from each morning pea green with envy at another couple. It seems like every week they roll in with something new. This week it was new down coats (mine is 10+ years old), the week before it was a new car (the same model I've been eyeing for 3+ years now), the week before it was a new iPad mini. I feel like we work so hard, and are in a much better place financially (they save the bare minimum for retirement and live in a crappy house they hate), but I still get jealous of the things they have.

I'm with you, though I mentally know we are making smart decisions the 16 year old girl in me wants to spend money like it doesn't matter.

[frankenlady]

To all - as a result of my lurking, I clearly have no idea how to quote. Sorry.
@ idaho - I am the same way. I know we are in a better place as far as house, debt, and retirement. Still, I really want pretttly. Things. Right. Now.

[Deleted]

I decided to bite the bullet and max retirement for the new budget I'm drafting for when I move. Things will be tight, but it's important to me.

[Deleted]

The times that are hardest for me are when I want something clothing/accessories related and in dealing with DH's family. They are not MM IMO, they complain about wanting things all the time, but then spend the money that they could use to replace the things they complain about on other things. Like they have wanted a Mac for a year or so now (laptop DH bought for them a few years back is "too slow" and didn't have a camera for Skype or FaceTime), but then they bought a brand new car this year with all the extras. If they had gotten a few fewer things in the car (cloth not leather seats, etc.), they would have had money for a Mac and H wouldn't have been guilted into giving them our old one.

[whitepicketfence]

The newest vehicle I've ever owned is a 2003. While I like it, our friends just bought a new truck and a new GMC Terrain. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous.

Instead of using DH's bonus for a vacation (we haven't been on a real one in 6.5 years), we're using it to pay down debt.

We don't spend much money on ourselves. I realize this is because we're digging our way out of credit card debt on one income, but it still sucks.
ETA: Oh, and we have 2 kids in a 2BR 1200 sq. ft. house. This has been less than ideal at times. Our mortgage payment is so cheap though that it makes sense for us to live here until I go back to work. We also want a 3rd child and will certainly be cramped at that point.