I just spent five days with two good friends while working out of town. They're lovely hosts, but have gone off the deep end with consumption. A year ago, she moved cross-country to live with him, and they married soon after. Her COL went from super-high to nearly nothing, and she was now working from home, so even after a pay cut, it had to have been a huge win. But instead of banking it, they (she, mostly) went into "buy all the things" mode. Guy loves spoiling her and never objects to anything. Every visit, new shit is piled everywhere... so much that they hired help to clean. She got a side gig lately, and AFAIK, uses all that as play money too.
He paid off his car not long ago, but she has about a year of a ~$400/mo car lease hanging over her head - no biggie, because there's plenty of income to cover, right? Less than a week ago the new hot tub was filled up... and then she was laid off.
I was staying with them while this happened, and was surprised the next day to hear she was at the car dealership. Made sense when I heard something about breaking the lease. Made NO SENSE AT ALL when I heard she was new-car shopping. No talk of selling his car, or just taking the hit and walking away. Just roll the lease debt onto a new loan and figure it out later.
When I asked why two cars were even needed, I learned the leased car had been driven all of 72 miles this calendar year (while three grand in lease payments and who knows what insurance, taxes, etc. were being made). But this is actually a good reason to buy a new car because "it won't get road worn". And "the new payment is lower!" They're shipping one cross-country because the color is important.
I gave up. Didn't even ask the new payment term (assuming 72+). Didn't ask how much more it cost to get a different color from a thousand miles away. No more asking anything. Just packed the leftovers from the dinners I had cooked (since "we're anti-leftovers" - no surprise, since they'd never fit in with all that soda and ice cream) and brought them home.
We now return to your previously scheduled lifestyle optimization.
