Thursday, July 9, 2009

Always have a plan

I'm a planner. I like to plan ahead my day, weeks, months. I like to make lists of stuff to do. You should see me make a list if we are taking a trip!

You may remember that I am in the middle of a remodel on our kitchen.

HELLO! Decisions! Everywhere.

Lot's of planning to do. Where should we put the stove? How should we position the cabinets? Should we knock out that wall? What about counters? What color and style? Don't forget about the floors either!

This is where the sticky part comes in. I like to PLAN. That means, I like to go to the counter/floor/paint place and see what they have. I want to look around and see some different styles.

I never thought it would be so stressful.

I DO love shopping! Even if it's just window style. :) It's hubby that is making it stressful. Hubby is more of a last minute person. Hubby wants to wait until the day before it's time to put it all in and just go pick something out.

What if we pick something that we hate or looks horrible after we get it in? One time he relented and agreed to just go look with me. He even took me out to dinner. It was Zips, but we were all by ourselves so it counts right? We looked at counter top samples.

I picked out one I kind of liked. He didn't.

He found some flooring he liked. I didn't.

How did this become so hard? I want to keep looking but he thinks I am just crazy. We are not at that stage yet so why bother? UGH! I want to beam him with a granite sample. Because dear, dear, hubby I need to plan and see what there is to choose from so when the time does come, I can be ready. With a plan.

Question for today is:
If your income were drastically reduced, what luxuries would you give up?

Valerie

15 comments:

The Crash Test Dummy said...

YAY! I'm first! I'm so first! HA! And you didn't think I could do it.

The Crash Test Dummy said...

Okay, I hear you girl! I am so happy to know that I am not the only one who gets stressed out by her hub. And we're not even remodeling.

But we are similar to you guys. I'm not going to elaborate.

Mostly because I want to answer the income drastically reduced question.

I just asked my hub and he laughed himself silly. He said "What luxuries do we have?" Then he said "I would ride my bike to work," (We live less than a mile from his job.)

My son said he would do without his x-box and his baseball cards. (ha ha)

I would do without S.E.X.

(HA! That was for you, Sage!)

My hub said I would have to do without Jamba Juice.

NO WAY!

Oh, btw, Shelle, I read your comment on Anjeny's post and I TOTALLY went through a huge sexual surge when I hit 30. No joke. It was insane.

Don't worry. It tapers out. hee hee

Shirley said...

Good luck with the remodeling. What's worked for me in the past is to pick out two of three styles/colors/whatever that I like and then ask husband which of those three he prefers. He's not overwhelmed, and I get something I like no matter what he picks.

If our income was greatly reduced, I could give up DirecTV, my cell phone, first run movies, the theater/concerts, some restaurants, and over doing it on gift giving. The last thing I would give up would be trips to see my children and grandchildren.

Denise said...

I'm not really a planner, except of bigger things like education and our 5-year plan for life at the moment: In year 2 and right on schedule I might add... I'm a list maker and my guy seems to be a little more confused at the thought of being prepared for something. Last minute things irritate the crap out of me.

Re the income question... I started laughing at first, b/c there weren't any day spas or trips to the bahamas I could cut out. I don't have a nanny to fire and my personal chef is well... myself. What in God's name could I let go of? Hmmm...my morning Pepsi and smokes at 7-11 that come to 7.69. Multiply that x20 weekdays in a month and it's a bunch. Um, I suppose I could let go of Showtime and HBO, maybe the DVR. Little stuff like that I guess counts for a lot more than we think. I'm NOT cutting out my Florida trip every year and I'm NOT cutting out the trip to see my mama during the holidays.

Denise said...

Oh - and if the income were THAT drastically reduced, I could even sell a couple of the kids.

Susan said...

Holy mackeral.... we are buying a new house and trying to get hardwood floors, wall torn down between kitchen and dining room, gut and renovate kitchen, gut and renovate three bathrooms, and um... let's see, do all if it now.

Yeah. Right.

Floors and kitchen are our priority and I'm going freakin' CRAZY!

Yep.

And give up???? Well, when I in between jobs earlier this year and we went to one income all of a sudden, we eliminated eating out, little weekend trips, vacations, limited movies, no more luxury Target shopping for unnecessary things...

And I'm totally with Denise about selling a kid or two if need be!

binks said...

We have been in exactly the same spot on the remodeling. My husband and I have very different tastes. We did A LOT of window shopping and when we agreed on things, that was the direction we went. We both compromised more than we wanted, but things are turning out pretty well.

Our problem?

We're now on month 15 and over it.

Since we both work in the same place, we could get rid of a car payment and car pool to work.
I would make my husband give up wine and alcohol. (shhh don't tell him, he may get cranky)

Then, we would cut down on our fabulous trips, eating out, and reduce the cable plan.

I'm not sure I could do without the iPhone or DVR so, I'll just sell my body for cash. ;)

Ahem.... get your mind out of the gutter, I was thinking about medical research.

Maybe...

Missty said...

I like Shirleys idea of you pick out two ro three colors, or whatever and have him choose from those. THe other thing is with remodels - you have to plan, many things need to be ordered in advance, etc. So you have to plan to have it ready when you need it. Descisions, descisions!


And what luxury could we give up - eating out at nice restaurants every weekend, spa days, movies, concerts.

I would still somehow travel.(because I can do a 4* vacation on a 2* budget!)

valerie said...

Crash- I am soo still laughing about what you said about giving up sex. Hee Hee. That was a good one. Love it, but if I had to give it up? I could probably do without. Hubby would probably die of course and then...hmmm...I could do the house any way I want! :)

Aubrey said...

My hubby and I can't even paint a room together without me wanting to knock him out with a paint can. Good times!

I recently became a SAHM about 1 1/2 years ago. Down to one income. Scary! First, we got rid of our FAB, loaded 3-row SUV. I still miss it to this day. LOL We also don't eat out as much. Other than that, we really didn't have other luxuries. He works at the cable company so we get cable/phone/internet for free! Thank God.

"Cookie" said...

I understand your frustration... a little. We built a home 4 yrs ago. Oh My!! Stressful!!! I had things picked out and was planning ahead but if a decision had to be made quickly, I could do it. My husband has to think things over...forever (at least in my mind). I'm a "fly to the seat of my pants" kind of girl. I can make a snappy decision and be cool with it. My husband.... not so much! And the sad thing... I want to build another house. When the market gets a little more stable, putting ours for sale and see what happens.

What would I/we give up? Well, I work in the construction business so we're actually been doing some cutting back. I've given up mani's and pedi's on a weekly basis. Eating out has been seriously reduced. I plan errands to safe on running around and wasting gas. I clip coupons so I've given up buying specific name brands. No randomly buying clothes or shoes. Dang this is depressing me. I'm not thinking about thisd any more!

Shelle-BlokThoughts said...

My guy just said... whatever you want, I want nothing to do with it. And that is even MORE frustrating for me!!!

But he is the one that plans and thinks over certain things... taking time, being aware.

I am like Cookie Crums... flying by the seat of my pants... I have NO patience!

as for things I would give up?

First my girl, because we are have in debt because I have this tendency to walk into a store and come out with some kind of clothing for her... it's a sickness!

No but really... same as you guys... except for my DVR... it's like my cocaine, I can't give that up! :)

Crash as far as S.E.X. goes right now I COULD give it up, but I don't want to... lol!

But I'll sacrifice for the sake of our finances! hehe

valerie said...

Shelle and Binks-I agree. I LOVE my DVR! I DVR everything so I don't have to watch commercials. :)

Anjeny said...

I guess you could say I'm a bit of both. There are some things I like to plan for and some that I do spur of the moment. Our house is constantly on a renovating mode. My hubby is constantly changing his mind about things and taking back what he purchased at the store. Usually when we go shopping for home renovating stuff, I don't usually show any emotions about anything because I like to see all the other options first and then I give him my suggestions. And sometimes if we like different things, design, color or make, we each make a list of our favorites and compare...if we find an item on both lists, that's the one we settle on. I'm good with it and he's good with it too.

As for question at the end of the post...we're basically living on a reduced income since he's the one working and we have kids eating us out of our home so we've learned to live within our means...but if I absolutely must, I'll give up the internet, or should I say, we cuz everyone in this family would be upset to see it go. And I'm sure I would have to give up on my money spending hobby I have. The idea of selling one of kids is very appealing...lol.

DGB said...

First we'd have to let the butler go. Our dog walkers would have to go next. Maybe the chef...

Kidding.

My beloved 7-11 coffee would go. So would my magazine subscriptions. Eating out. Video games. This is a sad list to make. There's more, but I can't go on.

WE BELONG