The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: ysette9 on April 13, 2015, 09:06:56 PM
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Relatives of mine recently had their big, beautiful house broken into and had lots of valuable items stolen. The thieves even found the safe in the bedroom closet and managed to unbolt it from the floor and haul it out (gold coins inside and all). It turns out that of an estimated $85K in losses, their insurance paid out a grand total of $200 because, get this, they couldn't provide photos of the items that were stolen.
I was listening and sympathizing and found myself thinking that I am grateful that we don't really possess anything of value. We have a couple of laptops which, if stolen, would really suck due to the information on them, and a television which anyone can have since I watch it so infrequently. I do have musical instruments which I like quite a bit and are insured which I would simply replace if stolen. I have even found myself thinking that if my engagement ring were stolen (fully insured with its own separate policy) I may take the payout and not even replace it. Now that I think of it, our three-year old car is the most valuable possession we own. If it got stolen and for some unforseen reason insurance did not replace it, we could go out and replace it in the amount of time it takes to move some money around. Yes, it would be irritating, but it wouldn't matter too much in the big picture.
Yes, I'd love a nicely decorated house and I always wish I dressed better, but it is nice to see the downside to owning nice things (aside from their cost).
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My insurance company never told me I needed to send them photos of my belongings in order to be covered. I thought taking photos was a good idea because they help the victim remember what they lost. If photos were required what is to stop someone from taking photos of their friends' belongings after the theft? I think they probably had significant cash and jewelry losses which are only covered up to a small amount sans riders.
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I just realized I accidentally posted this in the wrong sub-forum. Maybe a moderator can move it to the general area for me.
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I agree with you about the photos. I've heard that generally it is a good idea, but it it surprising to me that the company wouldn't cover anything that wasn't photographed. Apparently they lost things like tools from the garage and the like which are expensive to replace.
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Sounds like they had a crappy insurance company. Photos are nice, not necessary.
Unless all but $200 of the $85000 was the gold, it could be hard to prove ou had it. On that note, keeping gold coins seems like an aweful idea.
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It must vary by insurance company and/or policy. My agent went through each category of items (clothing, books, jewelry, and so on) and told me a "standard" dollar amount that they cover, and said if I felt I owned more than the standard dollar amount for a particular category, then I would need proof (photos, receipts, whatever.) But I have heard in general a video of everything I own is a good idea - for example if my house burned down, would I really remember everything that had been in it? This is on my "to do" list for sure. Like others on this forum, I don't own anything particularly valuable, but replacing everything would still add up to quite a lot of $.
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The gold coins were a terrible idea, but they were my grandmother's. She and the old fool she was married to got swindled into buying gold at the height of the gold market at a substantial markup. Of course that was a losing proposition but the decision making faculties of someone in their mid-80s is apparently not up to what you are used to in these forums.
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Every time I've moved, I've videotaped all of the items in our home. I figure that it proves longevity and also each time I catch something that I probably missed the time before.
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There's a line by one of the characters in the movie "Killdozer" that I always liked and has defined much of how I live my life. It's a tad hyperbolic but the gist of it is meaningful:
"Never have anything you care about losing. Travel light and travel alone"
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I like having cheap stuff because it means that when we move house ourselves by putting everything in our trailer we aren't too concerned if somethings gets scratched. In our last move our coffee table had a gouge taken out of it. It didn't bother us at all. It is a cheap laminate table (with the laminate peeling). I like that I can put my feet on it, or a hot cup of tea, and not have to worry.
I also like having cheap stuff because we don't feel tied to a location. If we took a job on the other side of the country (or world) there is very little I would feel attached to and want to store/take.
On insurance, we were broken into a few years ago. They weren't interested in our furniture (ha!), but did manage to take $10k of electronics. We didn't have a photo of things like our camera (!) We did have a receipt for our video camera, and the insurance company was happy to accept the packaging and serial numbers from our kids' ipods. For a DSLR camera my husband had bought second hand the insurance company accepted a Statutory Declaration from the seller.
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I've thought of this often. I live in a condo complex that is mostly lower-income families and grad students - I don't mind telling people I live here because they assume I'm renting and it's cheap so then they assume that I don't have money.
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I'm also really surprised insurance didn't pay. Was there proof of forced entry? Did they have an insurance agent? Did they read their policy and find anything that requires photos of the missing items?
This is exactly the kind of thing that state attorneys general LOVE to hear about, by the way. Insurance companies acting in bad faith not paying claims.
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That is why it is just me and my bath towel.
Have taken pictures of my valuable stuff in past, probably need to update it again, then burn it to dvd and keep that at work.
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There is a certain freedom in not having valuables...if we got broken into, the biggest hit would definitely be the tools. Perhaps an inventory is a good idea.
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I don't have many valuable things. My wedding ring is always on. My laptop is 6+ years old. Our tv is *only* 32 inches.
This reminds me of a post on a minimalist blog about the time they got robbed. She called the police, and he entered her empty apartment. He said, "Wow! It looks like they really cleaned you out." She said, "No. All they took was my walk man."
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That really sucks for them. I bet the thieves are super happy.
I think I was secretly wishing someone would rob us while at work and take the TVs. Really those are the only things of much value other that some relatively inexpensive jewelry of my wife's. If they could get the extremely heavy 30 year old TV from the second floor bedroom they would be one hell of a thief.
Can't imagine keeping 70K in gold coins in a safe in the open. Safes with that type of money need to be in very well hidden secret locations.
And then there is the alarm issue. For 400 a year they could have a very nice system. I bet they will now?
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You don't own your possessions, your possessions own you. The more things you have, the more time and money those things require. The more stress those things bring you, negating whatever happiness you once thought they would provide.
I think of this often as I drive my '96 Jetta (estimated value: $75). I don't care where I park it. I don't bother locking the doors and I don't worry about it getting "dinged". I have dirt-cheap insurance and excise taxes. Someone at work actually left me a note apologizing for scratching it with their door. I responded that at this stage, scratches just add character.
I worry about having my identity stolen. I watch my credit card statements and use strong passwords for my online accounts. I've frozen my credit for safety. But I don't lose one second of sleep about my possessions. Who needs that?
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I agree so much. Anyone who broke into my house would be disappointed.
Also it's freeing knowing that none of that stuff matters. No TV, free or cheap garage sale furniture, The mattress is awesome, but old.
The only things I would hate to lose are the old computer, old laptop, and old iphone, but that's more because of the information that's on them, not the items themselves. And the car and rifle would be annoying to lose too. One other thing I would be distraught at losing is my dog.
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There is a certain freedom in not having valuables...if we got broken into, the biggest hit would definitely be the tools. Perhaps an inventory is a good idea.
Yeah, tools & firearms for me. I don't have much in the way of high-value electronics, jewelry, etc.
I've thought about doing short term contract work around the country, and everything I would need can fit in my vehicle. That made me reconsider why I own so much shit. A lot of it is tools, but a lot of it isn't!
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I did a home inventory recently so we could make sure we were buying just the right amount of insurance. We don't have much that is particularly valuable either, so I'd never done one.
Not nearly as much of a pain as I thought it would be. There are some Google Docs templates floating around to guide you in making a list, and I made sure to take plenty of pictures and upload them to Dropbox.
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Funny and somewhat related. My house was broken into once when I was a student. My and my roommate were both home at the time. We pushed my bed against the door and called the police. The police were there in about two minutes (we had called them half an hour before because these guys were creeping around the yard looking in the window, and they were still a block away in the parking lot writing up their police report). The guy who broke in got away out the side door, and he was there such a short time we couldn't find anything that was missing.
I noticed the next day that the ziplock bag of dried parsley that had been on the kitchen counter was gone. I can only imagine that in their hurry they thought it was something else. I giggled for a long time imagining their disappointment when they opened the bag and realized it was just parsley.
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This is why we can't have nice things!
I can't imagine the stress of having an expensive car or c jewelry etc. I'd have an aneurysm if my $70k car got scratched or I lost a gold ring.
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Wow that really sucks for them. Especially with the whole insurance thing and not taking pictures, etc. You'd think the insurance agent would have made this clear or even required it (and serial numbers, etc) at the time they signed up for the policy... go figure.
I live in a pretty safe city but you can never assume anything. I have a few pretty pricey musical instruments (which I should probably just sell because I only play them for enjoyment and it's excessive having multiple instruments if there's no other reason besides that), and between those and our Macbook Air, my DSLR/lenses (which I'm planning to sell), and maybe some other electronics/gadgets, I don't think there's too much left to steal that would really be super valuable. Maybe my bike? I'm having trouble thinking of things, which I think is a good thing. That reminds me, I need to get on top of listing stuff on Ebay/Amazon for sale soon.
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Never mind break-ins, I love the freedom of not having pricey stuff in terms of my personal (and guest) usage. When I was in my 20s, I had two particular friends I spent time with, both relative newly-weds. One refused to put any expensive crystal or china on her registry because "if somebody breaks something at a party, I want to say "Don't worry about it," and mean it!" The other got incredibly upset if anything got broken or damaged, because even the less expensive stuff had been so carefully purchased or selected to fit into the décor. Guess whose house I preferred hanging out at?
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I noticed the next day that the ziplock bag of dried parsley that had been on the kitchen counter was gone. I can only imagine that in their hurry they thought it was something else. I giggled for a long time imagining their disappointment when they opened the bag and realized it was just parsley.
I'm giggling just imagining their reaction when they tried to light that up...
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I don't worry about the monetary value of my "stuff." Most of our crap is worthless, monetarily. If we were robbed, it would be some of the sentimental stuff that would get me. It's not worth anything, but if thieves took it, I'd be sad. What I do worry about is being broken into and the damage the thieves would cause. Apparently it's common thug practice to also trash the home after breaking in, and that would be a PITA and probably cost more than the "stuff" to make right.
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I'm also really surprised insurance didn't pay. Was there proof of forced entry? Did they have an insurance agent? Did they read their policy and find anything that requires photos of the missing items?
This is exactly the kind of thing that state attorneys general LOVE to hear about, by the way. Insurance companies acting in bad faith not paying claims.
I was going to say the same thing. Paying $200 on a claim that should be worth $85K has "lawsuit" written all over it.
Also, name names: which insurance company is this? I want to know so that I don't do business with them.
This reminds me of a post on a minimalist blog about the time they got robbed. She called the police, and he entered her empty apartment. He said, "Wow! It looks like they really cleaned you out." She said, "No. All they took was my walk man."
That reminds me of the time my house got robbed. The police said "so they ransacked the place, huh?" I was forced to admit that "no, it was just a mess beforehand." Embarrassing!
I'd like to think that since then I've made progress in keeping things tidier, but moving towards a more minimalist lifestyle would probably do me some good...
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Not sure about their policy, but my policy (with a major insurance company) only has nominal coverage for guns, coins, jewelry, and other "collectables" unless I purchase additional insurance (I don't). I wonder if they are just blaming the insurance company for their own failure to purchase the required rider.
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Not sure about their policy, but my policy (with a major insurance company) only has nominal coverage for guns, coins, jewelry, and other "collectables" unless I purchase additional insurance (I don't). I wonder if they are just blaming the insurance company for their own failure to purchase the required rider.
My (automatic) minimum coverage for those items is in the thousands. $200 is absurd- I think that's 20% of my deductible.
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Also, name names: which insurance company is this? I want to know so that I don't do business with them.
Seconded!
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Whatever they'd choose to steal from my place would be worth less than whatever the insurance would cost me! Most valuable items are a $1200 TV (bought about 7 years ago) and a $800 winter bomber jacket. The only things I would want insured are those which couldn't be replaced--original recordings of my band, some of my sci-fi clothes/prop replicas, a few boxes of photos and negatives. Oddly enough, I've found out that a few of the DVDs in my collection are now worth hundreds of dollars because they don't make those titles anymore. ...But can you even ensure those without having them appraised? Basically the stuff in my apartment worth stealing is the stuff the thieves would think worthless.
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Wow, that is really terrible for them. :(
But yes, not owning nice things helps. Reading this, I think I will call my insurance company and ask if pictures are required for documentation. Our furniture (aside from our TV) is from goodwill, so no huge loss there, but I'd be worried about our electronics since we have guitars, cameras, and hubby's music making equipment, etc. So a five minute call to a company to learn what documentation is required couldn't hurt....
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Wow, that is really terrible for them. :(
But yes, not owning nice things helps. Reading this, I think I will call my insurance company and ask if pictures are required for documentation. Our furniture (aside from our TV) is from goodwill, so no huge loss there, but I'd be worried about our electronics since we have guitars, cameras, and hubby's music making equipment, etc. So a five minute call to a company to learn what documentation is required couldn't hurt....
Whether required or not, best/safest practice would be for photos/documentation on anything valuable and out of the ordinary. Luckily, we only really have to worry about our double-plus-ungood nonmustachian expensive camera (with underwater housing etc.) and hard to carry away contents of our wine cellar, all of which is documented.
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Wow, that is really terrible for them. :(
But yes, not owning nice things helps. Reading this, I think I will call my insurance company and ask if pictures are required for documentation. Our furniture (aside from our TV) is from goodwill, so no huge loss there, but I'd be worried about our electronics since we have guitars, cameras, and hubby's music making equipment, etc. So a five minute call to a company to learn what documentation is required couldn't hurt....
Whether required or not, best/safest practice would be for photos/documentation on anything valuable and out of the ordinary. Luckily, we only really have to worry about our double-plus-ungood nonmustachian expensive camera (with underwater housing etc.) and hard to carry away contents of our wine cellar, all of which is documented.
We have it listed, I think. But I am feeling inspired to document further. As you say, better to have too much documentation than too little...
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You don't own your possessions, your possessions own you. The more things you have, the more time and money those things require. The more stress those things bring you, negating whatever happiness you once thought they would provide.
Right on, brother! Not a day goes by that I don't say,
"The things you own end up owning you." From the movie, Fight Club.
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Yes, definitely. I've always been glad I have no interest in jewelry, high-end furniture/art/antiques, etc. Not worth it.
My BIL and SIL live in a toney suburb of our city, and they have spent a MINT on pricey decorative objects for their home. Every time I go in there I'm just freaking flabbergasted by it (not to mention slightly claustrophobic because there is so much STUFF everywhere!). Literally any single room in their house has more objects of value than we have in our whole condo.
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"The things you own end up owning you." From the movie, Fight Club.
Don't you just love big-budget, mass-market movies about non-conformity? I know I do!
(I actually do think Fight Club is a good movie, but you have to admit it undermines its own message a little bit...)
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Never mind break-ins, I love the freedom of not having pricey stuff in terms of my personal (and guest) usage. When I was in my 20s, I had two particular friends I spent time with, both relative newly-weds. One refused to put any expensive crystal or china on her registry because "if somebody breaks something at a party, I want to say "Don't worry about it," and mean it!" The other got incredibly upset if anything got broken or damaged, because even the less expensive stuff had been so carefully purchased or selected to fit into the décor. Guess whose house I preferred hanging out at?
Same story, but with grandparents - one house fun the other house stressful. Knew back then I'd never wanted someone to feel uncomfortable in my home.
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I can't think of one piece of furniture I own that I bought new or is worth money. Everything I have was given to me by my grandmother or mother, bought used from an individual, or is from the thrift store. My laptop is 5 years old and my jewelry is basically worthless (<$500). My only TV is a 19" bubble TV. I have a deep freezer that I did buy new...7 years ago. Yeah, thieves would be HIGHLY disappointed at my place.
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I think the bigger issue is that these people lived in a big beautiful home and were likely being "cased." That would scare me, knowing that people are keeping track of my whereabouts. Also to the extent that the robbers knew they had a safe and brought a crowbar. If you live in a house like that, you got to have more than basic insurance.
Also robbers often steal things that have no monetary value, but high personal value. I think we just have to live with the fact that sometimes our possessions are stolen.
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Gold and silver should be hidden or kept in a bank safe deposit box. A wall safe or fire safe is too easy a target.
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I have a small fireproof gun safe in my basement. I keep telling myself I need to bolt that sucker down. I also want to put a sign on it saying, "Thieves: This safe contains little of value to you. It's mostly pictures and personal items. Please save yourself the trouble of trying to get in to it." Because that's not far from the truth. I think there might be a combined value of $500 in guns. The safe was $300. I only got it because I wanted something more secure than a plastic case for when my kids get older, and I liked the idea of using it as a fireproof storage box for documents and whatnot. It's only got a 30 minute fire rating, but I put a small fire/water proof sentry safe inside it. I figure a fireproof safe inside a fireproof safe has to be better, right?
I think the bigger issue is that these people lived in a big beautiful home and were likely being "cased." That would scare me, knowing that people are keeping track of my whereabouts. Also to the extent that the robbers knew they had a safe and brought a crowbar. If you live in a house like that, you got to have more than basic insurance.
Also robbers often steal things that have no monetary value, but high personal value. I think we just have to live with the fact that sometimes our possessions are stolen.
Any thief that doesn't bring a crowbar to a breaking and entering job should loose his or her thief card. Odds are that they used the crowbar to get into the house in the first place.
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That really sucks for them. I bet the thieves are super happy.
I think I was secretly wishing someone would rob us while at work and take the TVs. Really those are the only things of much value other that some relatively inexpensive jewelry of my wife's. If they could get the extremely heavy 30 year old TV from the second floor bedroom they would be one hell of a thief.
Can't imagine keeping 70K in gold coins in a safe in the open. Safes with that type of money need to be in very well hidden secret locations.
And then there is the alarm issue. For 400 a year they could have a very nice system. I bet they will now?
Emphasis mine, I think this is just another reason that having more valuable stuff weighs on you. You have to worry about protecting your hoard while you're away. Also the only alarm system I've ever had also had a monthly fee attached to it for the company's monitoring service. Maybe that's not the case with every alarm system, but it makes the cost of owning all that stuff even more over time.
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And then there is the alarm issue. For 400 a year they could have a very nice system. I bet they will now?
Emphasis mine, I think this is just another reason that having more valuable stuff weighs on you. You have to worry about protecting your hoard while you're away. Also the only alarm system I've ever had also had a monthly fee attached to it for the company's monitoring service. Maybe that's not the case with every alarm system, but it makes the cost of owning all that stuff even more over time.
For us, we have an alarm system because DW almost always gets home after dark, but before me even when I'm in town. We have no visible houses as neighbors; thus, the alarm for piece of mind. (Also includes smoke/fire detectors...)
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I drive an ugly car on purpose for some of these reasons.
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Yes the lack of stuff helps us too.. a $600 TV and a $2000k couch set is about the only things of value.. Unless they steal the $750 gas stove..:)
But then there is my tools.. oh boy!
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I have long ago learned to not try to understand the decisions of my relatives or expect them to make decisions the way I would. I can't quite break myself from occasionally making suggestions, but they are not followed, so I need to learn to stop that. People do what they are going to do for emotional reasons that don't resonate with me, but then most people are not the (semi-)rational engineer-type that my husband and I happen to be.
My relatives had the safe in the upstairs bedroom closet, bolted to the floor, but the thieves had enough time in the house to both find it and take it out. What I found interesting is that at their old house they did have a security system, but for some reason did not get a new one when they moved. Now of course they have a big, fancy one installed. I can't help but wondering what part prudence and what part shutting the barn door after the horse has already escaped?
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I am not sure I like to be told that I should not buy quality, valuable possessions just because someone might steal them.
I buy top quality tools for my workshop, because I enjoy using a quality tool and believe sometimes a cheap tool is false economy.
Should we tell pretty girls not to wear makeup or nice clothes because they may get raped? Freedom in being ugly?
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Gold and silver should be hidden or kept in a bank safe deposit box. A wall safe or fire safe is too easy a target.
But the people who hold physical precious metal seem to be the ones worried about "SHTF". A safe deposit box at a bank doesn't do much if that's the scenario you're planning for.
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I noticed the next day that the ziplock bag of dried parsley that had been on the kitchen counter was gone. I can only imagine that in their hurry they thought it was something else. I giggled for a long time imagining their disappointment when they opened the bag and realized it was just parsley.
I'm giggling just imagining their reaction when they tried to light that up...
Off topic, but I just had to mention my high school classmate who bought a baggie of oregano from another classmate, with the understanding that it was something other than oregano. Her reaction? To tell the principal. That didn't end as well for her as she assumed it would.
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I agree about not owning valuable things that can be carted away by a thief. That's one reason I haven't upgraded my $15 flip phone. I can leave that thing in an unlocked car and no one will take it! We also have cheap laptops that we could easily replace if stolen. The biggest things of value in our home are our digital camera (ca. $500-$700). My husband just bought a $100 Amazon Echo that I think he would be sad if it was stolen. My kids' tablets on which they place video games? I hate them so much sometimes I am tempted to place them on my porch in hopes they would get nicked.
Honestly, our Lego collection is probably worth more than all of our electronics combined. Those little plastic pieces hold their value! I've told my husband to take pictures of that for insurance.
I do have a black cameo set from my grandma that I would be heartbroken if it was taken, but that's about it. The most expensive part of our house is the 75K addition we put on the back, but obviously that can't be stolen. It could burn to the ground with the rest of the house (hopefully w/o us in it), but that's why we have insurance.
I love having cheapo, old furniture, and since I have three young boys, I just can't bring myself to upgrade. Recently someone came over and asked if they needed a cup holder for their coffee cup on our side table. My husband laughed, since the veneer table has the finish peeling off and is overall really ugly. It's way past shabby chic. But it serves the purpose and is sturdy (a must with young kids). Some day we'll upgrade it....or not. Then I'll hopefully have grandkids and don't want to stress over them hurting my precious things.
One more thing: my apartment was burglarized in my early twenties. Nothing was taken, because I'm sure that the thieves walked in and said, "Man, these people are poorer than we are!"
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I am not sure I like to be told that I should not buy quality, valuable possessions just because someone might steal them.
I buy top quality tools for my workshop, because I enjoy using a quality tool and believe sometimes a cheap tool is false economy.
Should we tell pretty girls not to wear makeup or nice clothes because they may get raped? Freedom in being ugly?
Well, I don't think anybody is saying you can't buy quality, valuable possessions. As long as you realize there is an extra cost that goes along with them. The cost of keeping them clean, usable, and in your possession.
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Not a burglary, but for about half an hour a couple of weeks ago, we were not at all certain that our house wasn't burning down. We landed at the airport after a trip, and when I turned on my phone I had a text from a friend saying, "Are you all okay over there? I see a lot of fire dept related activity." It took a little over thirty minutes for us to confirm that it was a house across the street from us (bless their hearts - they lost two dogs and the house was so damaged it will have to be razed). Longest thirty minutes of my life! But what I realized in that interminable thirty minutes was that the only thing of true, irreplaceable value in the house was our cat. Yes, I'd be sad to lose scrapbooks I'd made. Yes, there's paperwork that would be arduous to replace (passports, birth and marriage certificates). Yes, there's original artwork it would be a shame to lose. But at the end of the day, they are just things.
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During college, I was doing an internship in a small town in New Mexico. The interns were all living together in a small trailer. When we went to Albuquerque for a work-related weekend trip, the place was broken into.
We think it was some teenage hooligans based on the items that were taken. They broke into the back of the trailer, and took a lot of my roommates' things. In my room, they rifled through my underwear drawer (gross) and took my jewelry box. Strangely, they left my $1K road bike (guess the neon pink was too much?) and the thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment in my closet (I was the tech geek so I had our project equipment). They also took the beer that was in the fridge.
Other than the shock of knowing someone had been going through my things, the only thing I was upset about was the jewelry box. Not because I buy anything expensive for myself, but because both of my grandmothers do and I lost most of the jewelry that they had given me. Since then I refuse to buy any "nice" jewelry. Costume jewelry works just as well, no one has ever commented that they notice I'm not wearing "real" jewelry, and I don't feel bad if I lose it... Like last week when I accidentally dropped my ring down the toilet at work (not a western toilet, so no, I couldn't get it out).
I did splurge on kitchen equipment because I LOVE to cook and there is not a day that I don't look forward to being back in the US solely to have access to it. However, I highly doubt your average thief would go after my incredibly heavy enameled cast iron dutch oven.... I also have pretty nice furniture for a 20-something, but most of it was bought/gifted used or at significant discount. Still, this post reminds me to plan on doing a full inventory when I move back home.
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Should we tell pretty girls not to wear makeup or nice clothes because they may get raped? Freedom in being ugly?
I wear crappy clothes and only wear makeup to weddings and funerals. Not ugly.
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Yes the lack of stuff helps us too.. a $600 TV and a $2000k couch set is about the only things of value.. Unless they steal the $750 gas stove..:)
But then there is my tools.. oh boy!
Wait... *counts on fingers*... you have a two million dollar couch?
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Should we tell pretty girls not to wear makeup or nice clothes because they may get raped? Freedom in being ugly?
I wear crappy clothes and only wear makeup to weddings and funerals. Not ugly.
Seriously. Since when did makeup and clothing determine whether or not a person is attractive? I imagine you could put Gisele Bundchen in a sackcloth and rub ashes on her face, and she would still get hit on in a bar.
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Nobody's saying you can't have nice things. I have some awesomely nice things -- a well-seasoned cast iron frypan, a broken-in guitar, a plum tree, a really warm quilt, and a comfortable couch. I just don't have expensive things.
I've considered putting a sticker on my front window: "Home Protected by NWS -- Nothing Worth Stealing".
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Nobody's saying you can't have nice things. I have some awesomely nice things -- a well-seasoned cast iron frypan, a broken-in guitar, a plum tree, a really warm quilt, and a comfortable couch. I just don't have expensive things.
I've considered putting a sticker on my front window: "Home Protected by NWS -- Nothing Worth Stealing".
Well, fine for you but I like to do woodworking and metal machining and I do not buy Harbor Freight tools for it. If someone breaks into my garage they would have access to thousands of dollars in tools. I also have a .357
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Well, fine for you but I like to do woodworking and metal machining and I do not buy Harbor Freight tools for it. If someone breaks into my garage they would have access to thousands of dollars in tools. I also have a .357
I think that's *my* point! You chose an expensive hobby, which then pushes you to choose a weapon and/or alarm and/or insurance.
But I imagine that expensive hobby brings you pleasure or satisfaction, more so than a box o' gold in the closet.
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I think that's *my* point! You chose an expensive hobby, which then pushes you to choose a weapon and/or alarm and/or insurance.
But I imagine that expensive hobby brings you pleasure or satisfaction, more so than a box o' gold in the closet.
But my point is we should not accept a society where in order to avoid someone taking what you have, you must avoid buying anything. My pretty girl example was bad, but what about a situation where a boy in school must perform bad on tests because to do otherwise would cause bullying by his fellow students. Is that acceptable to you?
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Yes the lack of stuff helps us too.. a $600 TV and a $2000k couch set is about the only things of value.. Unless they steal the $750 gas stove..:)
But then there is my tools.. oh boy!
Wait... *counts on fingers*... you have a two million dollar couch?
Yes it sure is comfy..;)
Speaking of expensive things, see that airplane I am hanging out of?.. I built that thing. It cruised at 200mph and had full instrument flying capability (clouds, but no de-icing equipment).
It was worth roughly $100k.. It cost me about $90k to build it if you don't count the 1400 hours of my labour.
Eventually I got to the point where flying 400 miles for lunch was getting old and so was the constant maintenance (which I did), plus the hangar rent, insurance and purposely going out in crappy weather to maintain my instrument rating.. oh and fuel...:)
OK, the time had come.. I had lots of aerobatic videos and photo's to remember the beast by.. But then I sold it.. Done, 1500 hours of flying experience and I have really hardly missed it at all.
There was a lot of "me" in that airplane not to mention the 10% of my net worth at the time.
Now we really are wondering... Why do we have 2 rental properties ( its not free money).. In fact do we even need to own a house.. with an expensive couch???
Funny how your perspective changes I guess..:)
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Exflyboy, awesome! I like to build too (we built a full RV from the ground up) and know the labor and money that goes into it.
A plane is a step up from what we do though!
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Yup.. I was so dumb.. that was the second airplane I built.
I am about to get new renters (old renters want to break the lease so they are finding new renters)... This afternoon I start to think... "Really??.. Do I really want to be in this business?.. What if their dog bites someone and the plumbing starts leaking? blah blah blah"
Having said that renting has made us close to $260k in income and the trailer cost us $12k to buy with the house.. so its hard to complain..:)
Maybe the place will have worn out sufficiently in the next 5 years it may make sense to pay somebody to haul it off, especially as my motivation to work on the upkeep is diminishing fast.
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We were broken into once - not a lot expensive taken (we didn't own anything expensive) but things were a pain to replace, the insurance company wanted to tell me where to buy replacements (no I didn't like their stuff, I got my replacements) and we had to get cleaners to get potting soil out of the carpet (they knocked over a plant and ground it into the carpet). The weirdest part was the booze - I can see them taking a half finished bottle of rhum, but sherry? What burglar drinks sherry?
Unfortunately the alarm system had gone to school with me to get a bath.
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I drive a 2009 Toyota Matrix that I bought new. I usually keep my cars until I drive them into the ground (and this one was a loss-leader, a good deal even though new).
A year after buying it, I backed into a boulder and scraped up the bumper paint. Then I mistakenly put a full can of paint in the back without ensuring the lid was completely tight, and the friend who was driving the car for me felt terrible when a sudden stop resulted in paint all over the upholstery.
I don't mind either of these things though - the cosmetic stuff is just that...cosmetic... and now I don't sweat it if someone else puts an additional scratch on my bumper in the parking lot, or if I have little dings in the door. I'm not going to resell it until it's old anyway, so who cares? Thank god I don't drive a Mercedes or some such!
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But my point is we should not accept a society where in order to avoid someone taking what you have, you must avoid buying anything.
We've both accepted the society in which expensive things are desired by people who steal. Because that's almost all societies. We just differ in how we deal with it. You happen to have expensive things and expensive ways of protecting them. I happen to have cheap things and no need to protect them.
what about a situation where a boy in school must perform bad on tests because to do otherwise would cause bullying by his fellow students. Is that acceptable to you?
I don't get how bullying resembles my frypan. Unless your point is that by having cheap hobbies, I'm letting the bad guys win? I see where you're coming from, I guess... you're not going to let others constrain your choices.