Re: which matter more to you?
I have always been I like to buy things but now that is changing. I am getting restless and want to go out and explore the world. Which is why I am saving up money to go on one of those volunteer vacations where you go to another country and do something to help science the environment or humanity. I was thinking of doing one of the ones that involves working with scientists studying dolphins here is a link volunteer animal protection vacations its cost 2 to 3k for whta I want to do but I think it would be a great experience.
They have many things you can do in varying degrees of cost. I think some of it if not all is tax deductible as well. good way to spend money if you know you will owe the govt come tax time.
Re: which matter more to you?
I am totally the vacations are unneccessary type of guy. I feel that my kids will enjoy it, but forget about it in a few weeks anyway. I would much rather spend my hard earned money on tangible items for the house, or even for toys and things for the kids. BUT, my wife is a vacation freak and feels that we should go each year on at least 1 family vacation.....so needless to say, We go every year on a family vacation. :D
Re: which matter more to you?
I guess I sort of fall in between the lines on this one. I would rather save money when I need to for things that we want/need. However I think to many of us the "need to get away" is pretty great. For a high stress, monotonous, demanding, etc job taking a vacation or a break is very beneficial to physical and mental health. We go camping once a year for 3-4 days but its not all that far from home. I can tell you it helps me to push things out of my head those few days and just spend time with wife enjoying nature or other fun things we wouldn't normally do. This year we are debating camping or not because we are saving money with the hopes of buying a new home even though we already know we can get approved for a higher price range than we specified.
Here's something kinda funny about the couch comment...Last year we didn't even have a couch but a crappy futon thing. We knew we couldn't afford a nice new couch at the time when we looked at some. While we where camping a used couch in a driveway jumped out at us! We ended buying a nice lazy boy couch with fold out ends for $100 LOL We had to keep it at our site for the last night so I can imagine what people thought but we couldn't have been happier to find it.
Here's something to think about: Do people remember the "things" they had in life or the events in their life more? There are people of both sorts, and for us a house is a pretty "thing" which obviously would be a wonderful "event" with many more to come from it. If skipping one year of camping meant we could magically get our current home sold I would gladly skip it. But I know in reality it won't so I'm more inclined to get my wife and I away from work for a few days.
Re: which matter more to you?
i hear you on the "do people remember the things they had in life or the events in their life more" question.
for me, i'd rather have a nice reliable car, a couple of guitars for my kids, all the pets they want, a gorgeous yard filled to the brim with plants making it a tropical oasis for us on a daily basis... that's the sort of 'things' i'm personally referring to. the things which make it so we don't have to 'get away from it all to keep sane' instead, we simply step into the backyard and feel like we are 'away from it all'
or get on our new comfy lazy boy couch and watch a movie with the kids...
the kids having the awesome skateboard/bike/guitar/video game systems/sports equipment/ etc means more to me than a weeks vacation and doing without those things on a daily basis. i'd rather make TODAY amazing instead of simply one week a year amazing.
Re: which matter more to you?
im a vacation person. just got back from hawaii in march ( where i asked my girlfriend to marry me and she already set the date of sept 1st 2007) we were in ohio in January and we are going to Vegas in November for her 21st for a week...but i still like to buy things
Re: which matter more to you?
Quote:
Originally Posted by recycling goddess
i hear you on the "do people remember the things they had in life or the events in their life more" question.
for me, i'd rather have a nice reliable car, a couple of guitars for my kids, all the pets they want, a gorgeous yard filled to the brim with plants making it a tropical oasis for us on a daily basis... that's the sort of 'things' i'm personally referring to. the things which make it so we don't have to 'get away from it all to keep sane' instead, we simply step into the backyard and feel like we are 'away from it all'
or get on our new comfy lazy boy couch and watch a movie with the kids...
the kids having the awesome skateboard/bike/guitar/video game systems/sports equipment/ etc means more to me than a weeks vacation and doing without those things on a daily basis. i'd rather make TODAY amazing instead of simply one week a year amazing.
This makes alot sense to me. Being able to come home where everything is "just right" for yourself and family to me is definately worth more than a few days away each year. If we could afford to take trips like the guy who posted above (joking sarcasm) that might be different. I would jump at the chance to take a once in a lifetime trip to the Galapagos(sp) or something like that.
