Jun 19, 2008

Financial row

For the very first time in our very young married life, J and I had a financial row.

I think I was able to express in this blog how different we are in our financial values. According to him, I have lived a sheltered life and have ethos about what is financially sound. He grew up poor and that's that.

I don't really want to describe his financial life, apart from saying that he grew up poor, because I don't know 99% of it. I think knowing that he was poor is just 1% of it all.

Anyway, we had the argument because our 5-month old MacBook fell from our couch's arm rest. It still looks like a laptop, no dents or cracks, but the monitor does not display anything except for an ink-looking crack. The monitor has no crack that you can feel, it just looks like it. I can't describe it perfectly because I have no technical knowledge of monitors and LCDs.

We have home content insurance that has a deductible of $200. Apple is not gonna cover it because it was not a defect. He said that he'll cover it using his allowance. I always worry that insurance people won't cover accidents caused by negligence. Anyway, I got upset because I have been telling him not to put that laptop on the arm rest because it is not flat, it's curved. So when the laptop is on it, it's like see-sawing itself.

I felt bad because he could have used his allowance for other things that will benefit him. I also needed to vent about his attitude towards the fair wear and tear of things. I'm generally accepting that things get old and perform worse eventually, but I also think that we could delay the "perform worse" part if we just take care of our things. We can afford $200 but it's still money we could have used to pay debt or for something beneficial. Ok, after saying that last sentence I conclude that we can't afford it.

We recently bought a bigger car on loan. More debt. That's another post to come. We are also going to sell our small car to pay it off and pay roughly 45% of our new car loan. Hopefully it all works out. More new debt to come because we are going to spend Christmas in my hometown and also have our baby's christening there. It never ends!

I do have ethos but having a family is new to me, hence I'm learning a new take on financial life. I don't have it all worked out yet but I'm proud to have a budget and have our finances sorted out. I aim for my family to live better than what we are living on now. I want to be debt-free as soon as possible and I think I owe that to my family.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Tasha,

    One month from now, you and your H will forget about the heartache and financial burn coming from the LCD problem. You will totally forget about the expenses a year from now. But you and your H will continue living together and growing a family. Learn from it and move on :-). Laugh about it even. I learned that the hard way. It's not worth the heartache.

    Warm regards,
    Salve

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  2. Thanks, Salve! We usually get over quarrels quicker than most couples I think. We rather argue than resent each other.

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  3. Anonymous1/7/08 17:25

    You sound like a very mature but young lady. Your financial awareness is unusual for someone who is as young as I suspect you are.

    Your computer is a small matter that is really not very consequential. Have fun and move on.

    Sacrifice now for a comfortable future and you will be surprised at what you can do.

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