BS: How do you decide you can afford it?

Subject: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: autolycus
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 05:54 AM

People say, "I can't afford ...." [or "I haven't got any money."

Governments, councils, companies say they can't pay for .....; or that they are spending only £xx for a,b and c.

People will say they can't afford £6 for a book and then spend £200,000 on a house.

A government says "We haven't got any money for roads"/ "...can spend £3 billion".

1. How do you decide you can afford or not afford something?



Allied to that, people say "I haven't got any money?"

I think different people mean different amounts by those same words.

2. When you say, "I haven't got any money", what do you mean in cash terms?

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 06:02 AM

Its all Priorities ! Once I have covered my Housing , Heating , and other essentials , the residue is for entertainment and is quite limited , so I DONT have money f0r a lot of things .

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 06:20 AM

And , sadly , our current UK Government seems to have very few of their priorities correctly allocated

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 06:24 AM

Well, you take a bribe, then get elected, and promise everybody anything they want..as long as they paid off their bribe.
It works here, doesn't it?

Oh...It doesn't???
You mean WE owe money for all those 'favors'??
Pretty slick
Pretty sick!

"By the time a man is nominated for President, he's no longer fit for the job"--Adlai Stevenson..(nominated 4 times!)

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 06:41 AM

As Leadfingers says, it is all priorities. If you have £pound;5000 avaiklable you could have one major holiday or go to quite a few folk festivals. You might choose the festivals and your neighbour may choose the holiday, neither of you can afford to do both.

Government (national and local) priorities are another matter.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: autolycus
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 08:23 AM

Yes, obviously it will be to do with priorities.

However I doubt if people way up every possible pro and con, nor have a complet list of their priorities, when they are deciding whether or not to buy that vacuum cleaner or packet of upmarket sausages or that dress or that box of CDs or that insurance from the man at the door or that new type of iPad.

I used to sell secondhand books.

Sometimes people would jib at £1.20 or £2.50 for one. Until I asked them what the last thing was that they'd spent £1.20 or £2.50 on. They'd often remember something pretty inconsequential and laugh.

And I was selling at a university and therefore to people who, by and large valued books [after a fashion.]


My basic questions still remain, somewhat.

In the case of an individual, at what financial level do you think or say "I can't afford it"?

At the government level,when the gov. "income" runs to billions, how do they decide the exact figure they come up with for x,y or z?


I'm somewhat more interested in the question for individuals.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Bobert
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 08:54 AM

This is a very simple concept htat I have been trying to teach my step-son and his wife...

We have needs and we have wants...

We use our available resources to meet our needs...

If any resources are left after that then it's a matter of making choices from the wants list keeping in mind that "savings" is part of responsibility...

B

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 09:18 AM

I was wondering the same thing the last time I went the pictures and it amazed me how parents afford outings to the cinema at all, theatre or the zoo, with a couple of children in tow it must cost a little fortune. Unless by saving they can do these things but then would't saving for a break away as a family somewhere be more beneficial. How do parents prioritise these days on what is essential.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: theleveller
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 09:40 AM

Number one priority (after essentials like food, housing, heating, transport etc.) is getting our son through uni. The student loan comes nowhere near to covering the real costs. Things like holidays have had to put on hold.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 09:49 AM

Having a set of in-laws in Africa who would patiently go without food for a day and make do with some manky water, I feel guilty even indulging in a few sweets. I send them whatever I can find to buy their 50Kg sack of rice, which lasts a month. During Lent, it's surprising how the 'no more treats' money box mounts up. I've contributed to 'Empowerment of Women in Papua New Guinea' fund, run by a chap in our village, and 'Women of Malaysia' from the Women's World Day of Prayer. Many people would be amazed and horrified at how poverty gnaws away at Third World families. We really do 'have it all' here in the West, and then some! So, if you CAN afford 'it', don't buy 'it' but send a little something to help the hungry and needy.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 09:58 AM

I know the difference between my needs and my wants. I learned those very young as we had barely enough money to cover our needs (and some months not even that). Whatever is left over from the needs is either banked or used for wants. (And we shop for both very, very carefully.)

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Bobert
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 10:19 AM

Me too, Rap, but we collectively haven't sufficiently passed those values and concepts on to the generations behind us...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 11:03 AM

In this modern world, the sheer number of luxuries one CAN spend money on is beyond comprehension....and some (such as cell phones) have moved from luxuries to necessities for many.

I am retired and on social security, and my wife & I do crafts and enter 4-5 shows a year to keep our heads above water. If either of us died, the other would probably not be able to pay property taxes on this house....thus "what we can afford" is always on a "ok, there is a small surplus this month, so we can eat out once.." basis.
By being careful, we can have internet, an 8 year old car, eat reasonably well...etc. But gas prices are defining what we DO with that car, and the computer I am typing on now is 7+ years old.
I shop at the grocery store by planning ahead and reading the ads for sales. My cell phone is not on any "two year, unlimited calls" account, but on a $25 every 90 days for brief calls & text messages. I see gadgets advertised that I'm sure it would be 'fun' to own, but not at $500 plus $100 a month in charges!

I mow my own lawn, clean my own gutters, cut my own hair, buy 'most' clothes from nice thrift shops and never pay for movies online. I am reasonably clever about repairing simple plumbing problems and rewiring lamps and rehabilitating worn furniture.

"I get by with a little help from my friends.."

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 12:01 PM

Oh... and I have always loved Pepsi, but in recent years their basic price has almost doubled, so I never but it unless the sale price brings it down to $5 for 24 cans. (happens 2-3 times a year at Safeway "buy 2..get 3 free). If I run out, I buy Safeway's house brand....about 71.027% as good as Pepsi.

And I have been stretching an Xmas bottle of good scotch for 1 1/2 years....


If I won a big lottery, I wonder if I could adjust to being able to spend what I wish...










..oh, yeah...I suppose I could..

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 12:05 PM

In Alaska, a pack of cigarettes (20 ciggies) can cost you $10.00. Is that a need or a want?

I am amazed at how many low income people still can afford to smoke.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 12:33 PM

Me too, either, Ebbie! When I was first a grocery checker in 1955, cigs cost 21, 22, 23 cents. _reg, king size & filter)

I cannot comprehend how ANYONE can deal with 2-3 packs a day!

(yes..I know everything is 8-10 times as high as it was then...including wages....but still)

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: SINSULL
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 12:36 PM

It's called a budget. Budget for a house and you can't afford dinner out three nights a week. Simple really.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Bobert
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 01:16 PM

My step-ie an' d-i-l think that imported water is a "need" yet gas for their car to get her to work so they cay more imported water is a "want"???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 01:18 PM

We try never to use the "we can't afford it" because of the negative message it plants in our brains, BUT, this year, esp., we have to ask "how can we NOT afford it" as we've had to replace a water heater after an emergency with the old one and now, we will have to put in a new furnace as the old one is really on its last legs. It quit altogether last month, but Rog is handy enough he got it to work a bit more with some jury-rigging. Thankfully Spring is here and it's getting warm enough we won't need it, soon.

Every night, we give thanks for what we have, what we give, and what we receive. Somehow the Universe keeps coming through and we are grateful.

BillD, wages are not higher, here, at least. Rog makes exactly what he did when he was at the top of his profession, working at a tv station in Boston in the late 1980s, with less to show for it, after taxes, health insurance, etc. plus no one to take over to enable him to take a vacation. The time he really took any kind of vacation was thirteen years ago.

We don't eat out, mostly from preference and dietary needs. The last time I went out to a movie was about four years ago. It cost $30 for two matinee tickets, one child, one senior, plus one bag of popcorn and two small sodas. It was outrageous. I, too, marvel at the parents I see taking several children to movies etc.

A neat thing our bank has offered is a saving account to which a dollar is deposited from our checking account every time we use our debit card. It's been surprising to see how fast it adds up and seems fairly painless. Not sure how it will seem after Rog is able to retire, but for now it is about the only way we seem to keep some in reserve.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 01:25 PM

We are familiar with the information that people steal in order to buy their drug of choice- does that mean that there are people who steal in order to buy their next pack of cigarettes?

At my worst I regularly smoked two packs a day- Alaska has slapped heavy 'sin taxes' on top of the cost of a pack; there is no way, even in my best-earning years, that I could afford two packs a day on top of ordinary expenses.

If I were a smoker today I would be furious 24/7. I have never responded well to pressure. I didn't quit - more than 30 years ago- until I was ready, not because a governmental body priced it out of my reach.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 03:51 PM

Bill D: "I get by with a little help from my friends.."

Amen!!

Ebbie, You'd think that with the 'push' for government paying for contraception....do you think they might include paying for those $10.00 a pack cigarettes, that a lot of folks NEED, after employing the activities, after making use of the government paid birth control????!!??
.....after all, is it 'medical' or 'behavioral'?????????

...then again, if it is for 'recreational sex'...do ya' think they could pay for other recreational activities as well???....I was thinking of taking a cruise!....'medical', of course.....it may give me the relief and relaxation, of recreational sex, followed by a good cigarette!!!

Ooops,
GfS

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 04:08 PM

During the 11 days I was away (got back Saturday) I was thinking about something I wanted. Slowly it dawned on me that I didn't need it; I could work around it. Yes, I'd have to spend a little, but nowhere near what I would have had to spend on my original "want." I can satisfy my "want" for about 1/25th of what I was thinking of spending by a little DIY (which I was going to do anyway). It might perhaps cause me a little confusion at first, but I don't see any insurmountable hassles. I have all of the items I need for this, although one is in for repair at the moment.

No, I'm not going to tell you what it's all about. I'm just saying that I've learned to consider what I have and how that can meet my "wants" even though something else might be newer/bigger/flashier. Sometimes it takes a while to see that, so unless it's an urgent matter (e.g., a new water heater) take the time to think out all the possible angles.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 04:10 PM

"How do you decide you can afford it?"

You mean we can decide ANYTHING any more???...If you are a Democrat, the government wants to decide everything for you!...If you are a Republican, you only get to decide what's left, that you can afford after your boys rape the economy!!....and pass laws making the corporations bigger and more powerful than the government....so much, that they have bought off both parties, anyway!

Me?...I play music. my instruments are paid for, already...by me!

Damn!..If I was an 'activist', maybe I could have gotten a government program to buy my instruments!....but then again, they'd want to tell me what I'd have to play, and what not, too!

GfS'

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 05:15 PM

Over the years, I've found that there are luxuries and necessities. One can skimp on necessities--for a while, at least---but if one skimps on luxuries, they soehow stop being luxuries. I don't buy on credit, and I really find it hard to regret having bought something, or even to remember clearly what things I have purchased in the past cost.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 06:31 PM

"If you are a Democrat, the government wants to decide everything for you!"

pooh! Simplistic slogan! There are just a few things that cannot, in a modern, complex society be left to every individual to decide on a personal basis -- from speed limits to building construction rules to carrying guns in public.

We DO need total reform of how elections are financed and how the almighty dollar affects running government, but don't invent easy generalizations to explain it all....

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 08:46 PM

Bill D: "pooh! Simplistic slogan!..."

...and yet even the simpletons can't understand it.

But the real problem is, the LOAN payment that the 'Fed' charges us (the taxpayers). The taxes only pay the interest. ALL of our income taxes ONLY pays the interest on those loans...and the Democrats tend to pander to the entitlements to those they can elevate to 'victim-hood'....but the game is the same. The REAL benefactors are the SAME 'banksters' that the Republicans suck off of. There really isn't any difference to either one, when it comes to destroying our Republic, and using debt and control to do it.

Sorry if that 'offends' and steps on the toes of the partisan hacks, (either side)...but that IS the truth!

Look at this... the Democrats seem to be 'all over' the corporations and bankers...and justifiably so.....but they look the other way to the fact that Obama's appointed Secretary of Treasury is an IMF banker....who was appointed, while being delinquent on his taxes!!!
EXCUSE ME!!! Was this a case of oversight?...Stupidity? ..or part of a larger agenda, that has NOTHING to do with what we are being led to believe is going on???

That being said, the Bush administration was ALSO spending way beyond its means, and contrary to what the people who got him elected THOUGHT "Conservatives" were about! Go figure.

Maybe, just maybe, we should IGNORE the political rhetoric, and consider the REALITY of their actions..BOTH SIDES...(which I've just about worn out a keyboard telling you over and over again) only to fall on deaf ears...because you were sold a bad bill of goods, thinking the Democrats (or Republicans) were championing us 'little guys'..HOGWASH! They are only self serving betrayers of public confidences...trading 'favors and paybacks' to those who financed them to be put in office...to do just that!..with a few side 'bennies' for them, as well.

Now with the upcoming elections we have a choice between a black Romney or a white Obama...but the game is the same. nearly a year ago, I told you about the gas prices going up and 'why'. Now we are living it...my explanation was correct..and you can see it unfolding IN CONTEXT, every day that we live...and yet, if we all get 'involved' in the 'blame-game', somehow we fool ourselves that something is being accomplished to do something about it.
This has NOTHING to do with supply and demand. This contrived bullshit has NOTHING to do with the 'environment', either! It has more to do with Kissinger's con job on the Saudis, and Carter's con job on the Democratic based 'environmentalists'....who sold it to the American public, and you've all been fooled..and still are!

If you really want to know the details, you'd have to click on my old posts...soon it will ALL be clear to you...and then you'd argue about it, because you can't bring yourselves to the reality, that the deception ran so deep...and YOU bought into it, too! Shock!

The guys who are REALLY in control, aren't elected..they just finance the 'PR'...

LOVE,

GfS

Forget what the 'party line' is TELLING you...watch their ACTIONS! The rest is just a 'sales pitch' to pull it off!! ...and the emotions that their 'pet media outlet' can whip up. Anyone can see that...even on here!

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 09:19 PM

Excuse me, but the "entitlements" I receive -- Social Security, Medicare, VA, pensions from four States -- I put money into over more than forty years. I worked hard to make that money and to part with even some of it at times caused some hardship.

I am "entitled" to these things in the same way I am "entitled" to my car: I bought and paid for them; in the case of the VA with my hearing and my health.

You'd better smile when you call what I paid so dearly for "entitlements."

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 09:48 PM

What you INVEST in is entirely different, Rap...we both know that....
..of course, they are gutting that, too...greedy little bastards!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Gurney
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 11:23 PM

Not a problem for me.
I just ask my personal Chancellor of the Exchequer, Her Indoors.

Surprises me sometimes.

Not often.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 11:34 PM

Most people decide what they can afford based on two things: Firstly, what they MUST pay for because they simply have no choice. Secondly, what they want most to pay for with whatever money is left after the stuff they had no choice about. The stuff they want is whatever they have the most fun with (or are addicted to the most...or both).

For some people that's alcohol or cigarettes. For others it's movies and entertainment. For others it's sex. For others it's various unneeded consumer items that they just enjoy buying. For some it's stuff they collect...some people amass enormous collections of unnecessary stuff, all the way from Beanie Babies to expensive guitars.

If they really WANT it, then they'll find a way to buy it.

But then you have our ruling system, and that's another story completely. It's run by a tight little oligarchy of incredibly wealthy bankers and CEOs of major corporations. These are billionaires, not millionaires. They're very rich and they want to get even richer. So they shape public policy to accomplish their own enrichment, as GfS has alluded to in several posts above. They own the mass media outlets. They own the government. They own the poltical parties. They own the military, the law, and the police. They own the spies and secret agencies. No election can vote them out, because they own all the major political parties.

And they have a system that simply creates more money whenever it wants to by creating that money in the form of debt. The bankers create the money by making loans to private individuals, industries, and most of all...governments. The governments end up deeply in debt, debt that can never be paid off. The public pays its taxes to service the ever-growing interest payments on the debt. The currency inflates. The public loses out. The rich players who created all that fiat money get richer. Everyone else gets poorer. And the world slides into a deeper and deeper hole of unpayable debt, instability, war, and suffering.

There's one way to escape what is happening. It's the Great Escape: death. We're all going to escape from living in this crazy fiat money $ySStem when we die. Given the fact that most of us are getting pretty old, I expect we'll escape from it fairly soon. Short of that...get used to it, folks, because this fiat money system we are living under is so entrenched and unassailable in its financial corruption that I do not expect anything else BUT death to deliver you, me or anyone else out of its unholy clutches.

Oh, but try to enjoy things anyway while you're still here. ;-) It is possible to enjoy this mortal ride anyway, despite the fact that we cannot do much about the corrupt circusmasters at the top end of the money chain. Just don't let it get you down. There are plenty of other far more worthwhile things you could be thinking about on a daily basis, and putting your energies into. Like music, for example....or your friends and loved ones.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 19 Mar 12 - 11:58 PM

Little Hawk: "There are plenty of other far more worthwhile things you could be thinking about on a daily basis, and putting your energies into. Like music, for example....or your friends and loved ones."

A MEGA 'AMEN' to that!!!

Some people just plain 'Get it'!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 02:36 AM

In actuality I decide whether I can afford something by asking myself if I will regret having spent the money. If I know I will cringe every time I think of it or explain to someone how I came to acquire it, I don't buy it. Period.

On the other hand, if I really want it and the only reason I hesitate is because of the price, I buy it- it is, after all, what money is for.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 04:06 AM

Yeah..its sorta like deciding whether to spend your money donating to a politician's campaign, or something of equal worth..like going to the WWF's Wrestle Mania.

It's SHOWTIME!

Personally, I think musicians, who really pursue their craft, are usually more genuine...and entertaining!..sometimes, even have MORE to say!
That's why it's better for them to stick to music.

(Also, probably why I've been more involved, as of recently, to sticking to instrumentals...the ONLY time I even talk about 'politics'(?), is on here....and that's usually only to debunk partisan phony propaganda...and replace it with the truth....which, BTW, is better for keeping your head clear, to process the moods and/or feelings that a musician can relay. I've screwed that up a couple of times by 'cut and pasting' some stupid political e-mail I got, (and sometimes I've put them up to illustrate how ridiculous it's gotten)...sorta like listening to an interviewer interviewing a 'pro wrestler'!...and like wrestling fans, the ideologues eat it up!!

Oh well..........
GfS

A better investment would be an extra set of strings!..or even a pack of 'smogs'!!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: autolycus
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 04:39 AM

GfS

I have so far failed to understand the connection between the political parties having apparently decided everything for us, and whether I buy another pair of trousers, upgrade the computer, go the pictures, have a meal out, buy some food or other that isn't for ensuring I stay alive, buy that secondhand book, choose a 3-star or a 4-star hotel for my holiday, buy a house or buy a present for my partner or not.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 07:18 AM

For most people, the break point between impulse spending (which requires no reason or justification) and major spending (which does require reason or justification) is somewhere around three times their hourly wage. A person who earns $20 per hour will usually be willing to spend up to $60 without much thought. Anything beyond that amount requires convincing oneself that the thing is needed in some fashion.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 08:07 AM

When I think back over my (long) life, the things I remember as being really enjoyable, memorable, ecstatically happy etc didn't actually cost anything at all. (or perhaps just the fare or petrol to get there) For example, going to a Morris festival with a picnic and a flask of coffee, walking through bluebell woods, watching deer with their fawns in my last garden, our wedding day (a very low-cost affair, two guests and a cup of tea afterwards!) I may occasionally have bought something super, but after a few days, the novelty wore off. I personally find nature and wildlife, folk events, gardening and walking and of course, my happy marriage, are my joys. As Little Hawk so rightly points out, we must all face Death in the end, and all our possessions must be left behind. Happy experiences and solid joyful relationships are priceless. Don't bother buying 'stuff'!

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 09:26 AM

I wouldn't quite go as far as cutting my own hair I have to admit, that is one thing I do wait for until I can afford it and just go without something else when I can. Mainly because I don't trust my own handiwork or anyone else in the family for that matter. When my eldest son was young I cut his hair in a pageboy type thing (Walton style) and he has never really forgiven me for that. I still have photos of him sporting the hairdo in the family album which I frequently get out for him to cringe at when he drops by!

How people prioritise depends too on what stage in your relationship you are at, circumstancial changes i.e. divorce. Age and wisdom can also change priority on what can be afforded or more to the point good value for money. Eliza and Little Hawk are right to say that we must all face death at some point and you can't take the possessions with you when you go.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 10:50 AM

Bee-Dubya, that may well be true for most people. But I grew up in a situation where $120 per month had to feed six (my mother, my g-g-aunt and four kids), pay the mortgage, pay the utilities, put gas in the car, get shoes and clothing, and put us through school. Even in the 1950s $1,440 per year didn't stretch very far but we were lucky because we didn't know we were poor.

But as a result my own "break point" for a "want" is in the $20-$30 range. A "need" is a different story -- "We'll find the money somehow," as my mother used to say about that.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 07:24 PM

autolycus: "GfS, I have so far failed to understand the connection between the political parties having apparently decided everything for us, and whether I buy another pair of trousers, upgrade the computer, go the pictures, have a meal out, buy some food or other that isn't for ensuring I stay alive, buy that secondhand book, choose a 3-star or a 4-star hotel for my holiday, buy a house or buy a present for my partner or not."

Are you saying that you wish to be the new Secretary of Treasury?...or another post in this administration?

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Janie
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 08:05 PM

Good question, autolycus.   What I know about myself is that whatever the process is, it isn't very rational.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 10:20 PM

I want to be head of the Secret Police.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 02:13 PM

If the cost of not having something is perceived to be higher, then we will always afford it!

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 06:30 PM

SOCIALISM is a great idea....'til you run out of other people's money!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: Joe_F
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 08:28 PM

"Need" needs "in order to" in order to make sense.

A play by Voltaire contains a conversation something like this: "How can you write such trash?" "I have to live." "I don't see the need of it."

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 22 Mar 12 - 09:05 AM

Perhaps it was simpler back in the 60s and 70s when I was growing up. The range of material things were quite limited anyway so it wasn't expected. Thinking about it my parents always insisted on having a tv and radio they viewed that as a necessity no matter what, oh and soft loo roll.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 22 Mar 12 - 03:21 PM

I can't afford to replace the 1970s kitchen in our flat, even though the sink is cracked and leaking and another cupboard door fell off this morning.

I've been saving to do it for over a year now, but other more important things crop up. Like adult children struggling to keep in work and make living. Adult children coping with serious illness.   Like needing to make another trip back to the US before I am too unwell or too poor to do it.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Van
Date: 22 Mar 12 - 07:14 PM

It must be great to be in the position where you don't have to care about making that decision. Although you might appreciate what you have a little less.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you decide you can afford it?
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 23 Mar 12 - 01:51 AM

Speaking of which......... Is this what everybody was so excited about?????

GfS