Author Topic: Overheard at Work  (Read 13253155 times)

tuyop

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #350 on: May 24, 2013, 06:31:40 AM »
I went to grab some printing off the copier and saw that my manager had printed of a repair estimate for his car. The total was $750.

$750 is actually not that expensive of an auto repair. You can easily have things go wrong that are more expensive than that to fix.

Yeah, this. I mean that could easily be brake pads and new tires, which are legitimate car expenses that are difficult to do yourself if you're not inclined. Though not learning to do pads is a bit of a cop-out IMO.

If you need any sort of larger replacements, like brake calipers, radiators, or (ugh) body work, then your bill will probably be in that range or higher depending on your car.

This is why it's very important to select cheap cars. For instance, a 2008 Yaris with 15" tires has possible minimum biannual replacement costs of $55/tire (or 110 if you get winters too). My car, a 2010 Mazda 3 with 17" tires is $75/tire (150 for winters). These numbers are much higher in Canada, too. This difference is repeated in most components. Exhaust for instance, Yaris: $650 for parts (Magnaflow) Mazda: $771 for parts.

KatieSSS

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #351 on: May 24, 2013, 02:38:55 PM »
I went to grab some printing off the copier and saw that my manager had printed of a repair estimate for his car. The total was $750.

$750 is actually not that expensive of an auto repair. You can easily have things go wrong that are more expensive than that to fix.

Yeah, this. I mean that could easily be brake pads and new tires, which are legitimate car expenses that are difficult to do yourself if you're not inclined. Though not learning to do pads is a bit of a cop-out IMO.

If you need any sort of larger replacements, like brake calipers, radiators, or (ugh) body work, then your bill will probably be in that range or higher depending on your car.

This is why it's very important to select cheap cars. For instance, a 2008 Yaris with 15" tires has possible minimum biannual replacement costs of $55/tire (or 110 if you get winters too). My car, a 2010 Mazda 3 with 17" tires is $75/tire (150 for winters). These numbers are much higher in Canada, too. This difference is repeated in most components. Exhaust for instance, Yaris: $650 for parts (Magnaflow) Mazda: $771 for parts.

I guess when I owned a car I got lucky in that I never had a bill as high as $750 at one time. The most was having to replace the front bumper for $500 after someone side-swiped it when it was parked. I remember replacing tires for about $300. I guess I never did any of these things at the same time, which meant that I never saw such a high bill.

chucklesmcgee

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #352 on: May 24, 2013, 10:35:59 PM »
"Yeah I'm trying to be financially independent. Hopefully in a few years or so."

"Really, what the hell would you do all day with all that time? I can't even think of what I'd do."

Wanted to tell him that there's a problem spending all of your life earning a living if you never get around to actually living, but I thought better.

Jamesqf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #353 on: May 24, 2013, 11:25:38 PM »
Wanted to tell him that there's a problem spending all of your life earning a living if you never get around to actually living, but I thought better.

But what is "actually living", anyway?  Why is whatever you do when you're not working more "living" than what you do when working? 

Certainly some of the things people have suggested as alternative uses for their time, like full-time travel or spending lots of time with kids, would bore the crap out of me.

unitsinc

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #354 on: May 25, 2013, 07:18:58 PM »
Wanted to tell him that there's a problem spending all of your life earning a living if you never get around to actually living, but I thought better.

But what is "actually living", anyway?  Why is whatever you do when you're not working more "living" than what you do when working? 

Certainly some of the things people have suggested as alternative uses for their time, like full-time travel or spending lots of time with kids, would bore the crap out of me.

Not to judge too strongly, but if spending time with your kids bore you, perhaps you should not have bred in the first place. ;)

RedMaple

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #355 on: May 25, 2013, 07:53:17 PM »
Literally JUST heard this from two people having a conversation behind me.

Guy 1: "I need to buy a new car soon, my current car has 303,000 MILES (!) on it"

I had thought wow, good on that guy for driving such a older high mileage car until it essentially dies, what a mustachian.

Guy 2: "Wow, how old is it?"

Guy 1: "8 years ago it was brand new, I have a long ass commute plus drive places nearly every weekend."

*facepalm*

Does that really break down to almost a month worth of car time in a single year? *shudder*

Holy crap. Ok let me get this straight.

That works out to 3156 miles/mo. At an overall average speed of 50 mph (very hard to achieve that, i.e. extremely conservative) that's 63 hrs/mo. Assuming 7hrs of sleep a night, in a 31 day month that's 12% of the guy's waking hours spent in a car. Clearly he works - that's 8 hrs/workday or at least 21*8=168 hrs/mo, so that means he's spending 18% of his non-work/sleep life in a car. Yes, a month per year of car time.

If he does any city driving at all, a more realistic average speed would be 25 mph. That's 126 hrs/mo, and 35% of his non-work/sleep life in a car. Two months per year of car time.

This could be the worst commute I've ever heard of - but the other terrible commute I know of had the guy commuting 3hrs one way. So 6hrs/day on workdays. There was basically no time for him to do anything. This was a guy with a wife and kids as well, and he did it for 5 years I think.

For 3 1/2 years I had a 70+ mile each way commute from NJ to Greenwich, CT.  I put at least 3000 miles a month on the car.  It was horrible, but I did it because I made more money than I have ever seen doing it.  Never again, now that the money is in the bank.

Hedge fund, right?

RedMaple

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #356 on: May 25, 2013, 08:18:50 PM »
One of my coworkers spends $10 on yogurt for lunch just because it's organic. Firstly, I had no idea that yogurt could cost that much, secondly, our work fridge is stocked with food - including Fage Total 0% yogurt...

Jamesqf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #357 on: May 25, 2013, 10:31:36 PM »
Not to judge too strongly, but if spending time with your kids bore you, perhaps you should not have bred in the first place. ;)

I haven't.  But I have friends & neighbors who have kids & grandkids, so I get exposed to them.  I even quite like them, in limited doses.  (Friends have remarked that any barbeque or such tends to separate into three groups: guys talking sports, women talking girl talk, and me & the kids & dogs.)  But a couple of hours once or twice a week is enough.

Furthermore, I think spending too much time with parents is bad for kids, since most parents tend to be overprotective, and coddle their kids instead of letting them develop on their own.

Nords

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #358 on: May 25, 2013, 10:46:25 PM »
Taekwondo tournaments at the national/world level.
So why do you want kids (or adults) to do stuff at that level?  Seems to take all the fun out of it, and turn it into a job.  Not to mention that it completely misses (IMHO, anyway) the point of studying a martial art.
Maybe it depends on the martial art.

The owner of Oahu Taekwondo Center and two young adults competed in the 2008 Olympics.  Two others placed at the trials.  Several of the teens are current national champions in their gender/weight classes, and a couple of them went to the 2012 Olympic trials.  One adult (an instructor) is the current World Taekwondo Federation world bronze medalist in forms, and has been the WTF world silver medalist.  This year the owner is on the board of USA Taekwondo... from a state whose entire population is only about 1.2 million.

While it may seem like a job to you, we students seem to thrive in the competitive environment.  Nobody "makes" these kids compete-- they're all volunteers and the champions are hard-wired for it.  Even for the kids who only train for a few belt levels, I think martial arts develops personal discipline, integrity, and perseverance.  I find that the challenge of keeping score forces you to really understand what you're doing and not just go through the motions for your own pleasure.  Anyone can learn to do a round kick, but it takes at least a couple years of mental training & focus to execute sparring tactics in real time.  There's a significant difference between the dojangs in Hawaii that compete in sparring, and the ones who are doing it for their own edification.  I cannot find a workout that's anything like sparring, and I can't find a workout that's anything like martial arts training.  I no longer compete because of my lifetime knee damage (Navy, not taekwondo), and frankly it takes a lot longer these days for the taekwondo bruises to heal.  But I still train, and I'll train until I'm physically unable to keep up the pace.  That day may be coming in the next year or two, and I'll be sorry when it does.

Some of these teens have seen more of the world at their age than I have in my Navy career.  They've also watched the owner and his spouse raise their kids at the dojang (two black belts and a red belt).  It's not a job-- it's their life.  It's a pretty good one, too, and at a decent profit.  They have no reason to retire early from this career.

Our daughter's black belt (after two qualifiers came up short) was one of the high points of her high-school years.  (She came up with our pose for the photo.)  That black belt also made a big impression on USNA, NROTC, and several top-ranked engineering colleges, so I'm happy to claim that the $10K in fees over the years turned into a college scholarship.  I found my 2nd dan test to be almost as challenging as anything I did at USNA-- and even some submarine operations.  I doubt I can physically qualify for 3rd dan anymore, and I'm not sure that I'm mentally tough enough to get through it.

Furthermore, I think spending too much time with parents is bad for kids, since most parents tend to be overprotective, and coddle their kids instead of letting them develop on their own.
Maybe you'd prefer to have a few years of parenting experience under your belt.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2013, 12:18:34 AM by Nords »

oldtoyota

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #359 on: May 26, 2013, 07:26:28 AM »
My coworker mentioned his gardeners. I guess he is not planning to retire soon.

limeandpepper

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #360 on: May 26, 2013, 07:36:56 AM »
One of my coworkers spends $10 on yogurt for lunch just because it's organic. Firstly, I had no idea that yogurt could cost that much, secondly, our work fridge is stocked with food - including Fage Total 0% yogurt...

Organic yoghurt shouldn't cost that much from the shops... unless it's pre-mixed with organic muesli/granola/fruit as well, or something.

I just buy all that stuff separately and mix it myself, and even with all-organic ingredients it's probably $1.50 - $2 per serve.

paddedhat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #361 on: May 26, 2013, 08:36:27 AM »
I love the stories about the 2nd graders who demand and get upgrades to their I-pads and Kindles. We have a family whinefest that started about 10 years ago when the first of our spawn, at 13 y.o determined that our lack of a family cell plan was a violation of basic human rights. He was equally shocked to learn that I was NOT going to co-sign a two year Verizon contract at $80/month for him. Just last week the daughter, 21 y,o and finishing university, is on the phone, whining to mom that she cannot believe how difficult it is to afford a new I-Phone and contract, since having any other brand and not spending $130/month would be social suicide. As she went on, she sniveled that she can't believe that we don't have a family plan. As soon as it left her pie hole, she gasped and yelled, don't tell DAD I said that. LOL. The wife and I have gone the last twenty years without signing contracts for cell service, I can't imagine dropping thousands a year to make a seven year old brat happy with an I-Phone 5, really WTF is wrong with people? 

paddedhat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #362 on: May 26, 2013, 08:46:34 AM »
Literally JUST heard this from two people having a conversation behind me.

Guy 1: "I need to buy a new car soon, my current car has 303,000 MILES (!) on it"

I had thought wow, good on that guy for driving such a older high mileage car until it essentially dies, what a mustachian.

Guy 2: "Wow, how old is it?"

Guy 1: "8 years ago it was brand new, I have a long ass commute plus drive places nearly every weekend."

*facepalm*
We live in one of the top ten uber-commuting locations in the states, according to the most recent census bureau info. I had a buddy who worked in service for the local Honda dealer. He said it was nothing for a 7-8 year old Honda to get traded in with 400K miles on it. At that point it was a mercy trade, and the dealer send it off to auction to recover a few hundred from the deal. The customer then started the process of putting  50-60K a year on the next one.  Simply a mind blowing waste of a life. BTW, this stupidity has tapered WAY back since the start of the depression. A lot of folks finally figured out that a trophy house, ninety miles from the office, is a hell of a thing to give your life for.

Rollin

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #363 on: May 26, 2013, 03:42:44 PM »

[/quote]

Yeah, this. I mean that could easily be brake pads and new tires, which are legitimate car expenses that are difficult to do yourself if you're not inclined. Though not learning to do pads is a bit of a cop-out IMO.
[/quote]

That could be just tires!  Or if it's a sports car that could be the price of two (and you are rewarded with much less mileage out of them too).

Rollin

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #364 on: May 26, 2013, 03:51:10 PM »
I love the stories about the 2nd graders who demand and get upgrades to their I-pads and Kindles. We have a family whinefest that started about 10 years ago when the first of our spawn, at 13 y.o determined that our lack of a family cell plan was a violation of basic human rights. He was equally shocked to learn that I was NOT going to co-sign a two year Verizon contract at $80/month for him. Just last week the daughter, 21 y,o and finishing university, is on the phone, whining to mom that she cannot believe how difficult it is to afford a new I-Phone and contract, since having any other brand and not spending $130/month would be social suicide. As she went on, she sniveled that she can't believe that we don't have a family plan. As soon as it left her pie hole, she gasped and yelled, don't tell DAD I said that. LOL. The wife and I have gone the last twenty years without signing contracts for cell service, I can't imagine dropping thousands a year to make a seven year old brat happy with an I-Phone 5, really WTF is wrong with people?

...and, I can tell you that had you done so they would not be any more happy than they are today.

My life got much better when I could finally afford enough food for the week.  I know the latest money draining phone ain't gonna make me (or anyone else) happy.

bayescraft

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #365 on: May 26, 2013, 05:28:58 PM »
Today I learned two of my coworkers drive to work... all five blocks. Admittedly, I might be spoiled by living four blocks from work, but it's consistently delightful weather here, no reason not to take a nice stroll twice a day.

Not that they aren't saving quite a bit by living close to work -- they are, of course -- but man, old habits die hard.

brewer12345

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #366 on: May 27, 2013, 08:17:36 PM »
Literally JUST heard this from two people having a conversation behind me.

Guy 1: "I need to buy a new car soon, my current car has 303,000 MILES (!) on it"

I had thought wow, good on that guy for driving such a older high mileage car until it essentially dies, what a mustachian.

Guy 2: "Wow, how old is it?"

Guy 1: "8 years ago it was brand new, I have a long ass commute plus drive places nearly every weekend."

*facepalm*

Does that really break down to almost a month worth of car time in a single year? *shudder*

Holy crap. Ok let me get this straight.

That works out to 3156 miles/mo. At an overall average speed of 50 mph (very hard to achieve that, i.e. extremely conservative) that's 63 hrs/mo. Assuming 7hrs of sleep a night, in a 31 day month that's 12% of the guy's waking hours spent in a car. Clearly he works - that's 8 hrs/workday or at least 21*8=168 hrs/mo, so that means he's spending 18% of his non-work/sleep life in a car. Yes, a month per year of car time.

If he does any city driving at all, a more realistic average speed would be 25 mph. That's 126 hrs/mo, and 35% of his non-work/sleep life in a car. Two months per year of car time.

This could be the worst commute I've ever heard of - but the other terrible commute I know of had the guy commuting 3hrs one way. So 6hrs/day on workdays. There was basically no time for him to do anything. This was a guy with a wife and kids as well, and he did it for 5 years I think.

For 3 1/2 years I had a 70+ mile each way commute from NJ to Greenwich, CT.  I put at least 3000 miles a month on the car.  It was horrible, but I did it because I made more money than I have ever seen doing it.  Never again, now that the money is in the bank.

Hedge fund, right?

Well, I wasn't delivering blow to bored, wealthy housewives, so it must have been a hedge fund job.

Nudelkopf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #367 on: May 28, 2013, 05:43:10 AM »
TWO people today "Yipee-d" about payday. One had to buy $100 flights tonight and could only afford it if the pay came through. Another said she had 63c in her account, and she was going to celebrate by going out to dinner tonight.

I know these are students.... But still.

infogoon

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #368 on: May 28, 2013, 07:11:38 AM »
My wife and I are expecting a child this fall. While the company that I work for offers paid parental leave, I have the option under FMLA of taking several weeks of additional unpaid leave after that runs out.

I mentioned to a couple of my coworkers this morning that I may do that, and they asked if I'm independently wealthy. Because apparently that's the only way they can imagine someone not living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Coneal

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #369 on: May 28, 2013, 06:52:23 PM »
AnnaD
I could write a book with stories like this. I think my favorite was the employee that came into my office and spent 10 minutes telling me a tale of woe about their financial situation. Finally he said the bottom line was he needed to take out a 401k loan. My response was "you never signed up for the 401k plan!"

LMAO!!!!  Got a kick out of this one.

gooki

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #370 on: June 01, 2013, 01:38:07 AM »
So my sister in law was talking about parking at work... One woman arrives at her work a whole hour before her shift starts just to secure a parking spot. WTF????

ep114

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #371 on: June 01, 2013, 02:02:31 AM »
Funny that this post is here because just today my co-worker told me that he thought it was his duty as an American to spend as much as he could in order to support the economy.  Then he said "I learned that from my dad. But you know, he;s a really hard core Republican. "  what? Is that a Republican thing?

And a few months ago, another co-worker said he was withdrawing money from his IRA to pay for a billboard to cheer on his sons basketball team.  Apparently that costs thousands of dollars.

These guys are in their 40s and 50s, but I also work with a bunch of Millennials, and I've been really impressed with their financial discipline and lack of materialism.  Lots of PB&J for lunch and getting room-mates, biking to work etc.  Smart cookies. 

BlueMR2

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #372 on: June 01, 2013, 06:10:28 AM »
I guess when I owned a car I got lucky in that I never had a bill as high as $750 at one time. The most was having to replace the front bumper for $500 after someone side-swiped it when it was parked. I remember replacing tires for about $300. I guess I never did any of these things at the same time, which meant that I never saw such a high bill.

I occasionally have very large bills for auto work.  I do most of the little things myself and just keep saving up all the big things until I absolutely have to get something done.  Then, I have the shop do *everything* on the "I need somebody else to do it" list at once.  My bills are therefore infrequent, but can be quite large when they do hit.  The one had a $6000 bill about 3 years ago and the other just came home after $4200 worth of work.

In both of the above cases, my friends think I'm insane as that's about what each of the car's value is.  They say "why don't you buy a new car instead?".  Because the amount I spent will probably get me another decade of service out of them.  Why would I spend $30k and lose $20k of value in the same time?  They then say "well, you could buy another of the same thing used for that much money".  I respond with "yep, I can spend the value of the car to buy another one that almost certainly has the exact same issues".  :-)  Big car bills don't need to be scary if you do the math and put everything in the proper context.

JamesAt15

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #373 on: June 01, 2013, 07:43:46 AM »
So my sister in law was talking about parking at work... One woman arrives at her work a whole hour before her shift starts just to secure a parking spot. WTF????

Does she mean securing a parking spot at all, i.e. they might fill up, or just that she wants to get a good parking spot so she doesn't need to walk for a few dozen meters to get to her building?

mpbaker22

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #374 on: June 01, 2013, 08:38:47 AM »
Funny that this post is here because just today my co-worker told me that he thought it was his duty as an American to spend as much as he could in order to support the economy.  Then he said "I learned that from my dad. But you know, he;s a really hard core Republican. "  what? Is that a Republican thing?

As a semi-Republican, I am quite annoyed by this.  I have way too many Republican friends who drive SUVs, and not the little SUVs either.

I say it's the irony of politics.  Democrats want the government to be responsible, but often do more on the individual level.  Republicans want everything on the individual level, but they leave everything to the government.  I agree with the Republican philosophy of individual responsibility before governmental, but too many people don't actually believe in the individual part.

Jamesqf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #375 on: June 01, 2013, 12:06:50 PM »
As a semi-Republican, I am quite annoyed by this.  I have way too many Republican friends who drive SUVs, and not the little SUVs either.

Me too, but I'm consoled by the fact that such stupidity/hypocrisy/willful blindness is pretty well non-partisan.  I'll never forget, just after the Iraq invasion, seeing a new Cadillac Escalade driving around with a "No Blood For Oil" bumper sticker proudly plastered right next to the temporary license plate.

gooki

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #376 on: June 01, 2013, 03:37:29 PM »
So my sister in law was talking about parking at work... One woman arrives at her work a whole hour before her shift starts just to secure a parking spot. WTF????

Does she mean securing a parking spot at all, i.e. they might fill up, or just that she wants to get a good parking spot so she doesn't need to walk for a few dozen meters to get to her building?

A parking spot so she doesn't have to walk 5 minutes to the door.

tuyop

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #377 on: June 01, 2013, 06:47:34 PM »
So my sister in law was talking about parking at work... One woman arrives at her work a whole hour before her shift starts just to secure a parking spot. WTF????

Does she mean securing a parking spot at all, i.e. they might fill up, or just that she wants to get a good parking spot so she doesn't need to walk for a few dozen meters to get to her building?

A parking spot so she doesn't have to walk 5 minutes to the door.

Haha, I was taking a class at the local college (PD funded by my employer), and the first day I noticed that parking was $5/day.

So instead of parking in the lot, I found a bank that was closed for the weekends a 500 meter walk away. I thought about maybe paying the parking lot $60/hour ($5 for 15 minutes of walking) to save me the displeasure of walking through a beautiful suburban neighbourhood on a Saturday morning and afternoon.

None of my classmates did this. The kicker, they all walked the 500 meters twice anyway to pick up their lunch at the coffee shop next to where I parked.

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #378 on: June 03, 2013, 11:28:26 AM »


None of my classmates did this. The kicker, they all walked the 500 meters twice anyway to pick up their lunch at the coffee shop next to where I parked.

I would have driven to lunch.

ozzage

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #379 on: June 03, 2013, 03:48:08 PM »
Haha, I was taking a class at the local college (PD funded by my employer), and the first day I noticed that parking was $5/day.

So instead of parking in the lot, I found a bank that was closed for the weekends a 500 meter walk away. I thought about maybe paying the parking lot $60/hour ($5 for 15 minutes of walking) to save me the displeasure of walking through a beautiful suburban neighbourhood on a Saturday morning and afternoon.

None of my classmates did this. The kicker, they all walked the 500 meters twice anyway to pick up their lunch at the coffee shop next to where I parked.

haha that's great!

Left Bank

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #380 on: June 05, 2013, 07:44:40 AM »
Love the forum and have always been mindful of my spending.  I moved to the east coast recently and made a friend here that just makes me cringe with his antimustachian behavior.   He and his wife are planning a trip to the Far East to visit a relative and bought three, yes three plane tickets because they didn't want to risk having anyone in the middle seat.  It was justified by saying that it was the cheaper option than 2 business class tix.   

The couple also recently bought a 2500sq/f house but needed to borrow money for the DP from relative.  They then took out a home improvement loan (close to 100k) to redo the kitchen and blew through that sum before the redo was done and had to put 20K on their credit cards which they are carrying.  Needed top-end everything for the kitchen.  What is amazing is that they complain that the stress from their jobs is killing them.  WTF!

MgoSam

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #381 on: June 05, 2013, 11:55:52 AM »
Never understood people that need to have the highest Vikings brand (or other brands) applicances for their kitchen unless,

a. It is for select appliances that they will use a ton and thus can justify spending a ton of money
b. You are a chef, making food is your primary vocation in life.

Otherwise, it seems like an insane waste of money. One of my friend's runs a kitchen remodeling company and is doing pretty well, so I guess he glad that people don't agree with me.

infogoon

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #382 on: June 05, 2013, 12:24:43 PM »
Never understood people that need to have the highest Vikings brand (or other brands) applicances for their kitchen unless,

a. It is for select appliances that they will use a ton and thus can justify spending a ton of money
b. You are a chef, making food is your primary vocation in life.

Otherwise, it seems like an insane waste of money. One of my friend's runs a kitchen remodeling company and is doing pretty well, so I guess he glad that people don't agree with me.

Remember in 2007 or so, when the big trend for suburban homeowners was buying professional grade lawnmowers? The kind with a standing platform and zero turning radius?

I think that the fancy kitchen appliances are the same thing. Complete overkill.

anastrophe

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #383 on: June 05, 2013, 01:12:07 PM »
Never understood people that need to have the highest Vikings brand (or other brands) applicances for their kitchen unless,

a. It is for select appliances that they will use a ton and thus can justify spending a ton of money
b. You are a chef, making food is your primary vocation in life.

Otherwise, it seems like an insane waste of money. One of my friend's runs a kitchen remodeling company and is doing pretty well, so I guess he glad that people don't agree with me.

Remember in 2007 or so, when the big trend for suburban homeowners was buying professional grade lawnmowers? The kind with a standing platform and zero turning radius?

I think that the fancy kitchen appliances are the same thing. Complete overkill.

I have a coworker who probably took out a home equity loan to renovate her kitchen. She buys accessories that match her tiled backsplash. But she eats prepackaged food for every lunch and complains about how cooking is too hard.

MgoSam

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #384 on: June 06, 2013, 07:56:25 AM »
Yeah, it is bizarre. My one splurge with appliances is my Vitamix. That said, I make myself a smoothie for breakfast at least 3 times a week, sometimes each work day and will drink it on my way. I have Blenderballs so will occasionally blend it for an afternoon snack and toss it in the fridge. I intend on using this Vitamix for at least 5 years, and think that thus far it has been worth it.

mugwump

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #385 on: June 06, 2013, 08:24:45 AM »
Never understood people that need to have the highest Vikings brand (or other brands) applicances for their kitchen unless,

a. It is for select appliances that they will use a ton and thus can justify spending a ton of money
b. You are a chef, making food is your primary vocation in life.

Otherwise, it seems like an insane waste of money. One of my friend's runs a kitchen remodeling company and is doing pretty well, so I guess he glad that people don't agree with me.

Remember in 2007 or so, when the big trend for suburban homeowners was buying professional grade lawnmowers? The kind with a standing platform and zero turning radius?

I think that the fancy kitchen appliances are the same thing. Complete overkill.

When we moved into our house 16 years ago, the stove was an old bare bones electric stove with coil burners and a basic oven.  We figured we'd replace it in a few years, but it is still there, totally reliable, even though we cook almost every meal at home.  Every once in a while my husband suggests replacing it, and we could totally afford to, but it works fine.

The Bearded Bank Builder

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #386 on: June 06, 2013, 08:54:14 PM »
Yeah, it is bizarre. My one splurge with appliances is my Vitamix. That said, I make myself a smoothie for breakfast at least 3 times a week, sometimes each work day and will drink it on my way. I have Blenderballs so will occasionally blend it for an afternoon snack and toss it in the fridge. I intend on using this Vitamix for at least 5 years, and think that thus far it has been worth it.

+1

I make a fruit and veggie smoothie at least 5 days a week. Before I had it, I had a much harder time eating as many veggies as I should

MountainFlower

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #387 on: June 06, 2013, 09:28:29 PM »
Never understood people that need to have the highest Vikings brand (or other brands) applicances for their kitchen unless,

a. It is for select appliances that they will use a ton and thus can justify spending a ton of money
b. You are a chef, making food is your primary vocation in life.

Otherwise, it seems like an insane waste of money. One of my friend's runs a kitchen remodeling company and is doing pretty well, so I guess he glad that people don't agree with me.

I see it all around me with my neighbors.  We all built custom houses a few years ago and we are the only house on our street without Viking or better.  Our entire kitchen (cabinets, counters, appliances, sink, etc) was under $9000 and we have 32 feet of counters!!  I splurged on our hood because you can see it from every part of the main floor (stupid justification for spending $1000) and we still came in under $9000.   

It's so ironic that the people who seem to spend the most, cook the least!  LOL! 

infogoon

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #388 on: June 07, 2013, 08:07:51 AM »
"Sure, it's a lot more than I wanted to spend [on a pool table], but it was from my tax return. That's found money anyway, right?"

NumberCruncher

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #389 on: June 07, 2013, 02:11:26 PM »
A coworker recently moved farther away from work, to a more expensive area, because she "got tired of the restaurants in her old neighborhood."

gooki

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #390 on: June 08, 2013, 02:31:46 AM »
Fucking lol.

thefrugaltwo

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #391 on: June 10, 2013, 09:22:07 AM »
"It's so ironic that the people who seem to spend the most, cook the least!  LOL!"

This is so true. I used to babysit for these kids whose house had the most incredible kitchen I've ever seen. I have cooked professionally and I was practically starry eyed and drooling. Then of course I whipped up some quick fettuccine alfredo for them and the youngest one looked at me with super wide eyes and totally earnestly said, "I didn't know you could make pasta at home!"

I almost died, right there on their granite counters, next to their massive island with a second sink, and directly across from their massive stainless steel fridge.

Undecided

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #392 on: June 10, 2013, 03:27:43 PM »
"It's so ironic that the people who seem to spend the most, cook the least!  LOL!"

This is so true. I used to babysit for these kids whose house had the most incredible kitchen I've ever seen. I have cooked professionally and I was practically starry eyed and drooling. Then of course I whipped up some quick fettuccine alfredo for them and the youngest one looked at me with super wide eyes and totally earnestly said, "I didn't know you could make pasta at home!"

I almost died, right there on their granite counters, next to their massive island with a second sink, and directly across from their massive stainless steel fridge.

Maybe the parents cooked at home a lot, but not pasta. Maybe the kids only got pasta when the went out and could have something different from what their parents were having.

Jamesqf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #393 on: June 10, 2013, 10:41:23 PM »
...the youngest one looked at me with super wide eyes and totally earnestly said, "I didn't know you could make pasta at home!"

How the other half lives :-)  I think I was in my mid-30s or so when I discovered that a) you could get macaroni & cheese in a box; b) certain kids didn't know any other source; and c) the damned brats liked the boxed version better than mine :-(
« Last Edit: June 10, 2013, 10:43:16 PM by Jamesqf »

mpbaker22

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #394 on: June 13, 2013, 08:49:28 AM »
I work for a defense contractor -
In staff meeting yesterday we were talking about the government furloughs, which amount to 11 days in total, at least for the people we work with.  So that's roughly one paycheck missed.
More or less a quote - The older guys who have savings will probably do okay, but for the young guy who has just bought a house and is living paycheck to paycheck, this could be a real problem.

The thing is, the lowest pay grade we work with I believe is GS-9, which makes roughly $50K at the lowest step.  I don't understand how anyone could be living paycheck to paycheck on that!

Albert

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #395 on: June 13, 2013, 11:40:17 AM »
The thing is, the lowest pay grade we work with I believe is GS-9, which makes roughly $50K at the lowest step.  I don't understand how anyone could be living paycheck to paycheck on that!

My first reaction would be the same, but then it depends - there might be a substantial student loans debt and several dependants. Still not good, but a bit easier to understand.


lisahi

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #396 on: June 14, 2013, 09:28:04 AM »
I work for a defense contractor -
In staff meeting yesterday we were talking about the government furloughs, which amount to 11 days in total, at least for the people we work with.  So that's roughly one paycheck missed.
More or less a quote - The older guys who have savings will probably do okay, but for the young guy who has just bought a house and is living paycheck to paycheck, this could be a real problem.

The thing is, the lowest pay grade we work with I believe is GS-9, which makes roughly $50K at the lowest step.  I don't understand how anyone could be living paycheck to paycheck on that!

I think you probably can imagine how somebody could be living paycheck to paycheck to what amounts to around $2470 per month take home, assuming only 5% TSP contributions. All you need is a mortgage, 1 car payment and student loans and you're easily paycheck to paycheck. And we're not talking a $300,000 house -- a $150,000 mortgage, with taxes and insurance will cost around $900 to $1200 per month (depending on how property taxes are in the area). That's nearly half your take-home pay right there. One car payment could run $200 to $350 per month. Student loans (say, around $25,000 or so) would put monthly payments around $200 to $300. Assuming the lowest end of those payments -- $1300 per month is for just your house, car and student loans. You have around $1100 left for everything else including electricity, gas, water, sewer, fuel, groceries, etc.

Now imagine this was a 4 person family and the grocery bill was around $400 per month (which is thrify for a 4 person family who isn't completely mustachian). You then have $700 left. Fuel for just one car will cost around $100 per month. There's $600 left now. Let's say they're pretty good about using less water, so a water/sewer bill of around $50 (this assumes it isn't hot right now and they have no lawn). $550 is left. If it's too cold, or if it's too hot, electricity/gas can run around $80 to $150 per month, reasonably. Using the $80 amount, there's $470 left. A four person house may have school activities. Let's say those run at around $50 per month, so there's $420 left. Oops... cell phone bills. Let's say they have a fairly thrifty family plan at $80 per month. $390 is left. And because these aren't really mustachian people, they have a $100 cable bill and a $40 internet bill. Now there's $250 leftover. The typical family of 4 will want to eat out sometimes. Let's say they spend $100 total on restaurants/fast food. Now there's $150 leftover. Kids need clothes.... now there's $75 left.

So on a fairly reasonable (although not quite mustachian) lifestyle, a family of 4 is left with $75 at the end of the month. If any of those categories wind up towards the high end, they're left with nothing. You actually don't have to spend money on outrageous things, or drive a gas-guzzling SUV to get into financial trouble, which is why, I think, MMM preaches about reducing or dropping the everyday bills most people think of as necessary. Of course, most people on this forum could find ways to slash the above budget so that it's easy for a family of 4 to live off of $2470 take-home pay per month. No cable, $10 cell phone plan, cut out the restaurants, sell the car and buy a bike, cut the grocery bill, reduce energy consumption. These kind of changes aren't in the vocabulary of most households, although I wouldn't exactly call the above budget "anti-mustachian."

mpbaker22

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #397 on: June 14, 2013, 10:11:29 AM »

I think you probably can imagine how somebody could be living paycheck to paycheck ...
I don't want to take up the whole page quoting your entire post, so the ... should suffice.

While that might be a typical budget, I would still argue it's excessive and anti-mustachian.    The thing is that each line item looks somewhat reasonable, but when you examine the situation as a whole, it's not.
A $180K house seems a bit excessive given that the pay grade is for a non-urban area (that might not have been clear in my post). People just need to question what they are spending more.


Mustachian expenditures -
Car payment - $100/month to buy a used car every 5-10 years
House payment - $850 ($150K house)
Food bill - $650 (includes eating out)
Car Fuel - $50
Electricity/Gas - $80 (I don't pay this anymore, but I think I was usually about $40 in an all electric)
water/sewer - $50
Cable - $0
Internet - $40
Clothes total family - $40


I guess the numbers I give are extreme, but they are essentially my numbers extrapolated to a family.  The broader point is that this individual is living paycheck to paycheck by choice and not by poverty.

sol

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #398 on: June 14, 2013, 10:34:23 AM »
And technically, a gs-9 step 1 only makes $41,563/year, unless there's a locality pay bonus.  Take another $9k out of that budget and it gets a little tighter.

footenote

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #399 on: June 14, 2013, 11:12:15 AM »
Yesterday I met a friend I made at last-crappy-corporate-job for lunch. She is 60 and we have talked many times about retirement planning. She hates her job and thinks she's about 2 - 5 years away from retiring.

So we're walking out of the restaurant and she says she's  driving her (slob) husband's car right now because of adult son's need to borrow her car. And she has to pick up her father to take him to a baseball game tomorrow night. And her father has always been meticulous about keeping his cars spotless. And how that means she must pay $70 to have husband's car detailed before picking her father up.

And I'm thinking about her ardent desire to retire and saying to myself "Well, there's your problem right there!"