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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   2629 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 23, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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What is your budget breakdown, or in other words how much of your budget do you spend on hobbies or video games or fun things?

Ah jeez. Damned near nothing. About 25% mortgage, 10% food, 25% savings, another 15% for utilities, insurance, etc. I give the wife 10% to do whatever she wants with no questions asked. The rest seems to consistently vanish because of random medical bills (dental crowns are expensive), mechanical bills, or home improvement projects.

At the end of the month, I splurge on myself between $100 and $200, or roughly 1-2% of my monthly take home pay. It tends to go either towards a tool and/or rough lumber, a video game, whiskey or cigars.

When I get my Christmas bonus at the end of the year, I tend to splurge on one big ticket item for myself and save the rest. Last year I bought a Dewalt thickness planer. The year before that I bought an Ikea computer desk for my retro computers. This year I'm eyeballing either an 8" benchtop jointer or a 48KG Kettlebell.

25% on your mortgage seems really low. Is it?

I donno. It's the only mortage I've ever had.

I feel like once upon a time, having your mortgage be 25% of your take home pay was conventional wisdom. A quick googling shows I'm not totally hallucinating, as it appears here Lifestyle inflation has obviously changed that over the years. But I'm old school, so I made the necessary sacrifices to stick with it. So far it's working out well for my family. We stick to a budget, but it's not suffocating. There are things we'd like, and we can't do all of it. But there is nothing we truly hurt for. We're saving adequately for emergencies, repairs, retirement, school, etc.

Something like 30-35% was the official Canadian stress test number, at least until recently -- they may have backed off of this now that condos are high six figures in any major city, but I wouldn't be surprised if 25% was the traditional number from like the 80s or something.

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