Gary was one of the "All or Nothing " workaholics, and it seems the same thing applies to his retirement spending. He's been almost miserly this last seven months. I just piled the extra money into savings. And a good thing too, because last week he accelerated from "nothing" to "all."
Things he said a week ago:
"All the food at Walmart is stale. We have to go back to shopping at Dierbergs."
"I want an exercise bike like the ones they have at physical therapy. They're only $700."
"But your brother's the only member of the family who doesn't have an iPad."
I knew this was coming, that's why I've got the savings, but it was a shock to see how fast it came on.
The iPad for my brother was hard to swallow, at first, since usually blood buys for blood for Christmas in our house. He crossed blood lines by telling Dave he's getting an iPad. Then he bought the maximum memory iPad Air. And every imaginable accessory. For some reason he even passed on the free Best Buy shipping so we can ship it ourselves.
That must have scared him, because he backed off on the bike. First he shifted the bike purchase from Christmas to his birthday, then he decided riding his actual bike might be more fun than a stationary bike. At no point did he consider a less expensive bike.
He did compromise on the grocery store. Anything boxed or canned comes from the Walmart, anything else comes from the Dierbergs, the most expensive grocery in our area. Breakfasts out have been banned after a thirty dollar meal. He followed that up by planning a container garden on the patio that would supply him with grape tomates and red peppers. That was yesterday. So it seems were heading back to the miser mode.
"VACATION" I can hear you scream. "YOU'RE GOING ON VACATION HOW CAN YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT HIM SPENDING MONEY." I'm not complaing about the money, as I say I have enough saved up for iPads and vacations and real estate taxes. It's just ... I wish he stablized mid-spectrum. But that would be like a roller coaster without hills, I guess, no fun. And he is fun.
We just bought a Nespresso coffee machine for our cousin. We gave away our Nordic Trac and that left enough space in the bedroom to put in a king sized bed.
Posted by: Hattie | December 09, 2013 at 11:07 AM
Hattie - that's a pretty nice gift for a cousin!
Posted by: Thequeen | December 10, 2013 at 09:26 PM