Jealousy makes me feel lousy.

Smuches4u · May 2011

DH's formerly employee owned company was bought out. So far things are looking okay. They've made a lot of changes and while they're disruptive, overall they're in a positive direction.

Well, with the purchase, all the employees received a payout. It's taxed of course and DH is being responsible by not blowing it all and reserving some for income taxes next year. But it's still a pretty generous sum for not really doing anything other than being employed. Free money essentially because it's an unexpected income for us.

While I wholeheartedly support DH's decisions to manage his money wisely for the greater good of our household and home, I can't help but be a little jealous when he shares with me all the FUN things his co-workers have planned. A family trip to Disneyworld. A cruise for the family. A new car.

I don't wish for anything extravagent. It would be nice to drive down to SoCal for a Disneyland trip for DC. And I'm jealous. I wish there were just occassional times where DH would stop being so overly worried and responsible and just LIVE. He spends so much time planning and worrying and managing he doesn't have any time to enjoy his hard earned benefits.

I'm thankful for the unexpected funds because that means a new roof for our home (which we'll never have to buy again as long as we plan to own it), a new fence for our yard (it's shared, but still an expense we weren't planning for this summer - the winter has been rough on it), and a good dent in our property taxes and HO Insurance (we chose not to include it in our loan, no sense in paying interest on it when we don't have to, we'd rather earn the interest while we stock pile for the payments). But that Green Monster sure is raining on my grateful parade.

AvaLikeLava · May 2011

I hear you. However, look at it this way. Next year come tax season THOSE families might be hurting for not recognizing the hefty paycheck they'll have to hand over to the tax-man. You, meanwhile will sit pretty. So next year YOU can do the fun family trip, and THEY might worry about how to get out of debt.

scrapmama2201 · May 2011

Every year, for the past few years, our fun portion of our tax return has had to go towards our damn car. EVERY.single.year. So frustrating. I can't remember the last time we took a family vacation or trip that was not connected to DH's work. Though, in reality if the money had not gone towards the car it would have gone towards a new deck.

EmmieB · May 2011

so you're married to a guy like my husband...who worries more about retirement than any other barely-30 year old guy i know.

maybe you could finagle a nice celebratory dinner/day trip out of him?

KellyMRocks · May 2011

I can SO relate. This is how I feel about royalty payments and publishing rights. Since both of us are self employed, there is never a steady income. It's never the same each month. We always live in the fear that this month will be the month we don't make any money. So royalties always go to savings in case we need it. I am thankful for the cushion, but I would love a vacation!

tiki_t · May 2011

We're in the same boat. Saving money for tree removal, a new fence, etc. I was kind of bummed at first but DH challenged me to come up with a 1-2 day local vacation. So that I did! I found a KOA in the Santa Cruz/La Selva Beach/Watsonville area that is way cheaper than a hotel, it is far enough away from home that we feel like we're doing something different but close enough that we aren't spending a ton in transportation. I splurged and instead of getting just a tent site, for a little extra you can get an RV site with a propane BBQ grill right there for cooking. There's tons of kids activities (beach, pool, train, etc). We're going to give it a try. The entire thing for 2 days is less than one night's stay at a hotel. I'll report back next month on how it went.

Can you start with mini-budget vacations until all the financial essentials are covered and then work your way up to places like Disneyland later?

Smuches4u · May 2011

We do have a Kid-Free vacay planned, but that's being paid for by another unexpected income of a much smaller denomination and it took weeks for DH to get on board with that & not use the money to pay down a different expense.

I know very well that he's making a great sound decision, I just wish he'd splurge a little bit. Just a little.

Especially since it seems any and all extra income I bring in goes back into our household in other ways. We talked extensively about this & he encouraged me to bill those expenses to our Joint account because he felt badly that I wasn't doing enough for myself. When he realized how much I was spending on necessities he panicked and got a real good look at how I do my part to manage our household.

Smuches4u · May 2011

DH's plan for our financial future and the apocolypse that is sure to doom us to debt for all eternity doesn't leave much room to build up to our Disneyland dream. I'm being dramatic, but sometimes this is the vibe I get from him.

It's just not as much a priority for him as it is for me. As much as we are alike in personalities having the same birthday, we are just as different in personalities.

SweetieP · May 2011

I totally hear you. We have two unexpected amounts coming this year and we're doing the responsible thing....paying off bills and building our nest egg. I keep working on DH to take us to D-land. We'll see if he will give in. Good luck with yours!

mandy0505 · May 2011

Oh man, I am totally with you. Being responsible sucks it sometimes. I totally felt this way while we were trying to pay off bills and didn't do any extra-curricular activities. Just keep reminding yourself that these other people likely have debt while you are focusing on not accruing more debt. Good luck ::HuGz:::

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