View Full Version : C'mon then hows it done
Rare Bird
21-03-2010, 16:13
Money, Money, Money!
i visit around hi-fi forums for a quick nosey everyday & often see people box swapping gear at thousands of pounds! i sit here in shock sometimes thinking how the hell do they afford it, it's not just hi-fi it's cars & such. I work near on 60 hours a week & so does the wife, i'll be lucky if i get £150.00 spending money a month, i've cut down what i can but na not much better off, holidays abroard are like every three years sometimes more..Rents going way too high but i cannot & will not chance a Mortgage.
I have no more time in my life to work any more hours.I know my wages arnt really good but finding a job in Yorkshire with big wages is pretty much a no no.Not that i want to spend thousands on new kit cos i don't, i wouldnt buy new hifi within that price bracket, but i do like vintage gear which is far more cheaper but still can't afford that..
The only explination is people are loaded to the hilt on credit cards in which i no longer want that experience after the ex wife.Surely it's not just me.
I think i'm best facing the fact that i'm a looser, a wanker that will be living on bread line in rented shit hole all my life,
:scratch:
The only explanation is people are loaded to the hilt on credit cards
Yep. I used to be a taxi driver and once had this high flying businessman as a customer. I listened in to his phone call once where he was moaning about the monthly cost of his lease hire Merc, but he had to have it because of his 'image'. I was taken aback that he didn't own his own car. I've always owned mine, and I don't earn 10% of what he does.
Kris.
The Vinyl Adventure
21-03-2010, 17:03
My dad used to lease his cars so he could have a new one every 2 years ... I think he must have just like the smell ... He wasn't the type for "image"
Andre I know what you mean, I often wonder the same thing. I long ago figured out I wasn't smart enough to get a big paying job (Doctor, Engineer, Lawyer etc) and resigned myself to taking what I could get. About the only area I could make decent money was sales, did this for too long and it damn near killed me.
Now what I earn just about covers the bills and 'walking around' I'm having a foreign holiday this year, yeah, but the first holiday of any description since 2004 and I've no way of replacing the savings I'm spending on it. Still, life would be boring if it was too easy:)
Rare Bird
22-03-2010, 11:51
Money, Money, Money!
i visit around hi-fi forums for a quick nosey everyday & often see people box swapping gear at thousands of pounds! i sit here in shock sometimes thinking how the hell do they afford it, it's not just hi-fi it's cars & such. I work near on 60 hours a week & so does the wife, i'll be lucky if i get £150.00 spending money a month, i've cut down what i can but na not much better off, holidays abroard are like every three years sometimes more..Rents going way too high but i cannot & will not chance a Mortgage.
I have no more time in my life to work any more hours.I know my wages arnt really good but finding a job in Yorkshire with big wages is pretty much a no no.Not that i want to spend thousands on new kit cos i don't, i wouldnt buy new hifi within that price bracket, but i do like vintage gear which is far more cheaper but still can't afford that..
The only explination is people are loaded to the hilt on credit cards in which i no longer want that experience after the ex wife.Surely it's not just me.
I think i'm best facing the fact that i'm a looser, a wanker that will be living on bread line in rented shit hole all my life,
:scratch:
At least the lack of responce tells me exactly what i thought..I'll sleep at night at least ;)
My home is the only thing I bought on credit. If I don't have the money, I prefer waiting a little than having a credit. :)
I have a separate budget for each type of expenses, hifi included.
I don't have a credit card, thus. ;)
Beechwoods
22-03-2010, 12:41
I'm the same. I have a credit card, but it's got a zero balance and to be honest I don't know why I've still got it other than it's free and it could get me out of trouble when on holiday or whatever; come what may. All my purchases are saved for. I've had to tighten the belt a lot over the last year or so though.
Rare Bird
22-03-2010, 13:45
I'm the same. I have a credit card, but it's got a zero balance and to be honest I don't know why I've still got it other than it's free and it could get me out of trouble when on holiday or whatever; come what may. All my purchases are saved for. I've had to tighten the belt a lot over the last year or so though.
I keep a credit card so i can get my money back from them if an holiday company folds like it did to me last time, other than that it's just silly using one.But most people can't seem to survive without one.
This is the best scenario
Flashy house on massive moowergage.. car on tickker & megabucks hi-fi on the card, can't keep payments up down the line loose Flashy house, hi-fi & car. I suppose you could save the hifi & connect it to the nearest street lamp you'll be sleeping under :)
I always snigger at braggers cos one day.
anthonyTD
22-03-2010, 14:01
hi andre,
i understand how you feel, i have often found that a lot of people who like to show they are succesfull and have nice cars houses etc infact dont own any of it! i myself would not have the system i have if i hadnt built most of it:eek: and the house i live in well i managed to buy it with a mortgage when i was 22 [for years i didnt have a pot to piss in] as i got older it got easier and this year it will finaly be mine after 25 years and goodness knows how much of my hard earned. i dont buy expensive items unless i have the money first, i find i value things more that way.
A...
I know how you feel.
Within my system only eight out of about forty five items were bought new. Everything else is used, or second hand, albeit some items only having had a few hours of use. In the early days I built most of my own equipment.
I too am amazed at the prices charged for a lot of high end gear. Fortunately one of the missions of AoS seems to be recommending good gear that does not cost a fortune.
As to members of other fora chopping and changing gear costing several thousand pounds - well, they sound as if they have more money than sense. Either they have very well paid jobs or have max'd out their credit cards!
Some people do spend a lot on their interests: a former colleague at work likes to drive and race performance cars. He had to remortgage his house to be able to buy his Porsche 959.
Like everyone else here I save up for my audio gear, holidays, car etc. I do use a credit card but pay off the amount each month. At 17% APR I would be a fool not to.
There are ways by which you can save money. If you are able to shop every day, then look for end of 'use by' date reductions. Always shop around for house, car and holiday insurance and even broadband and haggle; suppliers rely on customer loyalty and inertia without offering any incentive for such. It is worth doing this for fuel. I have just received a joint electricity and gas bill for the last two quarters. I had been paying £70 a month. The energy supplier, based on their estimation, wanted to increase the direct debit to £97 a month! I informed them that they had vastly overestimated my consumption (by over 2MW hours!), because in the past a meter reading had been misread . Based on my own, correct, meter reading they agreed to reduce the direct debit to £45 a month.
Regards
I'm with Anthony (and Dimitri) and share their opinion and values on this matter :)
I can say, hand on heart, that we don't owe anyone a penny (we have some credit cards but always pay the balance off in full every month) and that everything we have, we own outright (including cars and houses - we rent a couple of properties out to people, too). However, that took years of incredibly hard work running my own business (and some luck too) to achieve...
I'm a great believer in, if possible, being in charge of your own destiny, and thus in terms of one's profession, being answerable to no-one: building your own 'island', if you like. This is why I enjoy being self-employed running my own business, but I realise that not everyone is able to do this.
My wife and I between us earn good money (although I am to all intents and purposes semi-retired now at 44), and so because we've got a decent joint income and low outgoings/overheads, we in turn have a relatively healthy level of disposable funds to spend as we wish. Also, neither of us drinks to excess or smokes (and we don't have kids), which means we can afford to eat well, enjoy the occasional bottle of wine, and treat ourselves to nice things now and then, which for me sometimes means stuff for my hi-fi. For Del it's clothes and such like.
To answer you question, Andre, "C'mon then hows it done" - well how I've done it is through realising early in life that if I didn't sort out my own future, no bugger else was going to do it for me (state, and even some company pension plans, are laughable in their inadequacy, often ending in lining someone else's pockets other than your own), and so I used my skills as a salesman to start my own business selling products and services I'm passionate about (succeeding in business is half the battle if you actually enjoy what you're doing) and luckily becoming successful at it early on, which together with some sound property investments coming to fruition, has secured our financial future.
Those who fund their 'exotic' lifestyles with other people's money on loans and credit cards are just kidding themselves on, and like you say, will one day be in for a rude awakening, as the pretence catches up with them... There's plenty I could say about this, but I'll leave it for another time.
I think that in order to be happy and contented with life (and thus remain a well-adjusted person) one has to accept that some people will always have a greater disposable income that you or I (I have customers who are multi-millionaires and their lifestyles make mine seem like that of a pauper!), as jealousy or envy (which I'm not saying you have) towards people can be very unhealthy and damaging, particularly to one's self-esteem.
Just be grateful and content for what you've got, as there's always someone else much worse off than you (I don't need to tell you that, mate) - it may be an old saying, but it's a very true and valid one! :cool:
Marco.
Excellent post Marco! :clap:
I especially agree with the sentiments expressed in the last two paragraphs.
Regards
(and we don't have kids),
Well there you go. Kids is where most of our disposable income has been going for the past 20-odd years!
In the past, I've got myself into trouble with loans, overdrafts and credit cards, but I've been debt free for about 5 years now (apart from the mortgage) - to be honest, this is more due to being bullied by my wife than some "eureka" moment! She's a financial adviser and earns good money, I'm in middle-management and earn a good salary, and whilst we are "comfortably middle class", people rarely get rich working for someone else...
Well there you go. Kids is where most of our disposable income has been going for the past 20-odd years!
So now they've grown up, Joe, you can afford to treat yourselves! Or have other things now scuppered that plan? ;)
Marco.
So now they've grown up, Joe, you can afford to treat yourselves! Or have other things now scuppered that plan? ;)
Marco.
We can afford a holiday now and again, but the younger one's still a student, so we're forking out for her fees and contributing to her keep. One more year to go! But we're debt-free apart from the mortgage and are quite comfortably off, so no complaints.
We're thinking of downsizing soon, so we can be truly debt-free and I can partially retire!
Rare Bird
22-03-2010, 18:29
Good post Marco.
Well me being well off early was put paid to by my Ex wife. The Child Support agency finished me of to near on homeless. What they take great pleasure in doing is the more you earn the more they take, it's a no win situation.So you can never get out of the turmoil they put you into.Thank the lord it's all over.
That lot are way out of order. To find you wife has been messing around for near on 14 years isnt funny but when they come for a heap of dosh rubbing it in your face, even forcing you to sell all your posessions to pay them isnt funny, i'm all for paying them but it's always the bloke that get it even though he's totally innocent & been a good hard working providing husband.
What i've lost in the past i could never ever rebuild, i worked to hard back then for it all.42 year old is too old to be doing what i did at 17.
It's nothing to do with being jealous of others it's just i don't understand how people do it, i do understand how fully grown men still living with there parents do it, that easy there taking the piss out of there parents!
O well enough moaning about it.
Beechwoods
22-03-2010, 19:35
I'm with Joe and Andr'e that the decision to have kids is the singlemost foolish thing to do if you're interested in spending big money on hifi (or anything!). This year is the last we've got before holidays have to go term time and we end up spending 3x what we would otherwise spend for a week away! But at least we won't have to pay the equivalent of a mortgage every month in nursery fees for 2x 1½ days at pre-school. Just a couple of examples of how the little blighters are like weedkiller to financial growth :)
I remember years ago Victoria Wood doing a stand-up routine about childbirth:
'The best comparison I can think of is trying to get a sofa through some French windows that aren't quite wide enough; the only difference being that in seventeen years the sofa isn't going to turn around and shout 'I didn't ask to be born you know!"'
Oh cr@p Andre, this thread is all I need the mood I'm currently in - not your fault guv'nor, but I'm worn down right now.
Tell you summat fella's, it don't get easier....
When I was at KJ all those years ago, we had a number of very wealthy clients who were lovely to talk to and deal with. they never wanted or expected anything special and they would wait their turn patiently on service items (we had a resident engineer back then). Not once did I ever feel talked down to by these people. Compare this with the new rich living in Harpenden in the early eighties (the old rich were too busy hanging onto their dosh to spend it our way). These people were the most horrible in attitude, only wishing to speak to the organ grinder rather than the oily rag and wanting everything for nothing back then. I remember installing a TV once, the carpets we walked on in this property were covered in dust sheets and the client's wife almost rude. As we reversed out of the driveway, she opened the front door and shook the dust sheets outside as if we'd really soiled them. Opened my eyes to these people I can tell you.
I completely agree with your above assessment, Dave. The nouveau riche and/or aspiring middle-class social climbers have always been considered as rather vulgar by those whose wealth derives from 'old money'.
The often snobbishness and arrogance of the former comes from a simple lack of class and the insecurity of needing to 'show off' their supposed wealth at every opportunity to all and sundry (although it is usually funded by borrowed money and therefore false) in the form of showcasing their expensive possessions.
This sort of nonsense is frowned upon by 'old money' types who are completely at ease with their (genuine) wealth and thus exude a natural self-confidence in public without the need to show off to anyone; in fact often they will do precisely the opposite, and on the surface be seen to live a rather frugal existence by dressing plainly, having a somewhat 'unkempt' appearance, and sometimes driving old cars (but often those of some pedigree).
They'll also usually be very down to earth, show no airs and graces, and be respectful of people no matter their 'status' in life...... This is what I've found from experience.
Marco.
The Grand Wazoo
22-03-2010, 21:47
I've had close working relationships with both old & new monied folks.
The old money every time for me!
Marco, you're spot on.
on the surface be seen to live a rather frugal existence by dressing plainly, having a somewhat 'unkempt' appearance, and sometimes driving old cars (but often those of some pedigree).
Oh well, two out of three ain't bad.
Beechwoods
22-03-2010, 22:10
The old money every time for me!
Call me new-fashioned but I prefer my money post-decimalisation :)
Although i have spent some money on some new kit last year (Focal Speakers) it was a cash purchase. Everything else has been buying and selling, modding and selling and repairing and selling. I must admit, I do spend lots on components but its all paid for now (not later). I did buy a TV on 12 months interest free credit last year but saved the money and paid for it before the 12 months was up (so i didn't get hit with all the interest!!!). I'm always on the lookout for kit that I can play with and sell for a profit!!
Looking back, my chrome Quad II's were incomplete and I got them for a decent price, finished them and used them. Then I sold them and purchased my Restek from a pal. All my cable are 2nd hand and my CD960 was a donation from my old boss (because he's also interested in the mods I did to it) well I say donation, it cost me a decent bottle of whiskey!!
Where there's a will there's a way!!! lol
Oh well, two out of three ain't bad.
What's the odd one out then, Joe?
Marco.
P.S Hi Ian - where have you been?? :)
What's the odd one out then, Joe?
The car. It's old, but has no pedigree, being a Skoda.
:lolsign:
I always knew you had class!
Marco.
P.S Hi Ian - where have you been?? :)
Hi Marco, Busy busy busy!!!
The month I had off work after my knee op finally caught up with me! Evidently no one did any of my work while I was off and my projects just stalled!:stalks:
I've not had time to do anything except try to get back on top of my work!!! I've taken far to long with Chris's SB PSU but i'm making decent progress at last and he should have it back this week!! :cool:
No worries, Ian - good to have you back and hope you're feeling better now :)
Marco.
The Grand Wazoo
23-03-2010, 01:09
Andre,
You really shouldn't worry about all this. People have different priorities, no-one is right.
I used to pay a work force on a fortnightly basis. They'd turn up to work in cars I wouldn't want & wouldn't want to afford. They'd go on holidays like that too. They'd spend their lunch break talking about their latest toys & trinkets. I used to wonder how they afforded it. The answer is simple - they couldn't, but someone told them they could. That's why this country is in the state of shite it's in now.
I've never owed anyone a penny - except for the 5 years I had my mortgage. I was lucky enough to be able to pay it off in a very short period because I was earning ridiculous fees as an independant consultant. I wasn't any happier then, than I am now though. Money doesn't get rid of problems - your problems are just different ones but they seem just as important to you.
My advice is that as long as you can pay the bills and you're doing something that makes you feel good about yourself, you're very, very rich indeed.
All the best, mate.
The Vinyl Adventure
23-03-2010, 01:57
I can certainly get Marcos veiw of being in charge of your own destiny and all that I couldn't work full time for anyone again hence my working as a photographer trying to get in to web stuff working in a shop, and belive it or not, ocationally in the summer, working for a bouncy castle hire company (hannah's dads) supervising mental children trying to kill each other. I was also unlucky enough to loose my family much younger than most and used the money I was left to buy my house... A good situation for a 27 year old .... although I think I would prefer to still have a dad and nan!! I bought my kit with bits of left over savings from the money I set aside to buy the kit for my business ... All gone now ... This year is crunch time... Make a sucessful business or fuck it all up .... Starting at zero with all the stuff I need to get going though is good, I do feel privlaged in many ways!
OK no one's mentioned it but!
Divorce is the killer of all Mens cash stack!!!!
After 10 years of paying a mortgage, I walked with about £8k. The ex wife however, got over 10x that. Not bad for someone who earnt less than 15% of the household income. Don't give me all that about bringing up the kids cos I had as much to do with that as she did. Not a bad way to earn a living tho.
To this end I now rent with my new partner and her kids. My girls come here on alternate weekends which is cool. Lets just say that rent+Council Tax+child maint is significantly more than my salary was 10 years ago!!!
The £8K....gone! new bike and had loads of fun at a time in my life when I needed it.
I couldn't be happier with my life as it is now (with the exception of not seeing my girls every day) My new partner is an angel (she must be to put up with me!)
My advice is that as long as you can pay the bills and you're doing something that makes you feel good about yourself, you're very, very rich indeed.
So true!!!
anthonyTD
23-03-2010, 10:31
Andre,
You really shouldn't worry about all this. People have different priorities, no-one is right.
I used to pay a work force on a fortnightly basis. They'd turn up to work in cars I wouldn't want & wouldn't want to afford. They'd go on holidays like that too. They'd spend their lunch break talking about their latest toys & trinkets. I used to wonder how they afforded it. The answer is simple - they couldn't, but someone told them they could. That's why this country is in the state of shite it's in now.
I've never owed anyone a penny - except for the 5 years I had my mortgage. I was lucky enough to be able to pay it off in a very short period because I was earning ridiculous fees as an independant consultant. I wasn't any happier then, than I am now though. Money doesn't get rid of problems - your problems are just different ones but they seem just as important to you.
My advice is that as long as you can pay the bills and you're doing something that makes you feel good about yourself, you're very, very rich indeed.
All the best, mate.
well said that man!!!:)
A...
Rare Bird
23-03-2010, 11:05
OK no one's mentioned it but!
Divorce is the killer of all Mens cash stack!!!!
After 10 years of paying a mortgage, I walked with about £8k. The ex wife however, got over 10x that. Not bad for someone who earnt less than 15% of the household income. Don't give me all that about bringing up the kids cos I had as much to do with that as she did. Not a bad way to earn a living tho.
To this end I now rent with my new partner and her kids. My girls come here on alternate weekends which is cool. Lets just say that rent+Council Tax+child maint is significantly more than my salary was 10 years ago!!!
The £8K....gone! new bike and had loads of fun at a time in my life when I needed it.
I couldn't be happier with my life as it is now (with the exception of not seeing my girls every day) My new partner is an angel (she must be to put up with me!)
I think you'll find i did mention this (Post 17). You lucky i aint seen mine for going on 10 years.
:doh:
Sorry Andre, a little insensitive of me :o
Ali Tait
23-03-2010, 13:33
Although i have spent some money on some new kit last year (Focal Speakers) it was a cash purchase. Everything else has been buying and selling, modding and selling and repairing and selling. I must admit, I do spend lots on components but its all paid for now (not later). I did buy a TV on 12 months interest free credit last year but saved the money and paid for it before the 12 months was up (so i didn't get hit with all the interest!!!). I'm always on the lookout for kit that I can play with and sell for a profit!!
Looking back, my chrome Quad II's were incomplete and I got them for a decent price, finished them and used them. Then I sold them and purchased my Restek from a pal. All my cable are 2nd hand and my CD960 was a donation from my old boss (because he's also interested in the mods I did to it) well I say donation, it cost me a decent bottle of whiskey!!
Where there's a will there's a way!!! lol
OI YOU! TAKE NOTE-There is NO "E" in Whisky! If there is,it's that bourbon stuff that the yanks try to pass off as the real thing! :lolsign:
You tell the Sassenach, mate! :eyebrows:
;)
Marco.
StanleyB
23-03-2010, 15:02
OI YOU! TAKE NOTE-There is NO "E" in Whisky!
Yes there is:). The Scottish spelling is whisky, whilst the Irish spelling is whiskey.
Ali Tait
23-03-2010, 15:02
:lol:
Ali Tait
23-03-2010, 15:04
Yes there is:). The Scottish spelling is whisky, whilst the Irish spelling is whiskey.
Aye,but that's the oirish for ye!
StanleyB
23-03-2010, 15:05
The funniest one I know of is http://www.feckinwhiskey.com/
Ali Tait
23-03-2010, 15:12
It was all spelt without an "E" until the late 19th C,when Irish and American distillers wanted to differentiate their product from the Scots distillers.
That told me! I'd tell you the only whisk(e)y type drink I like is JD but i'd get lynched! :lolsign:
However, I did sample a very old (older than me at the time) bottle of dimple that was my grandads. It had been in his display cabinet for at least 20years. When we finally opened it, it was not like any other whisky i'd ever tried, it was smooth and most excellent!!! Not sure if it should mature in the bottle, but it was bloody old and bloody nice!!
:cool:
Ali Tait
24-03-2010, 08:11
Don't mind a bit of bourbon myself,though I find JD a little sweet.I do like Wild Turkey.
Haselsh1
24-03-2010, 09:12
I use my credit card to buy things as it's easy. I pay 150 quid a month as it's all I can afford. I live in a rented house as the cost of a mortgage here in North Yorkshire is ridiculous. I drive a twelve year old Nissan Primera Sri as I can't afford anything else but... my partner Janet and I own our own florist business so I don't answer to some scumbag teenager who thinks he's the boss. That on it's own is worth thousands.
I think the work/life balance thing is important to achieve and I've certainly managed to get that more right than at any previous time in my life. I was a high flyer at Xerox when their engineering division went bust. Being made redundant was a life changing experience and, although very stressful at the time, it made me make decisions that I have not regretted. One was to go into education and work in a school.
I earn exactly half what I was earning when I was in industry, but my job satisfaction is much greater and I love every minute of my time at home with my music and when I'm with my wonderful girlfriend Ruth. I do own my car and everything except the house, on which I have a hefty mortgage. It was a case of finding somewhere where my son could go to college and where I could have quality of life after a disastrous second marriage that cost me dearly to extract myself from.
I was diagnosed with cancer last year and had surgery and chemotherapy and it focussed my mind wonderfully on the things that I really care about. Do I worry that I may not own my house when I retire? Not really, I may not make it to that age and if I do then I will sell up and do something else. I can always think of doing things practically that will earn me a living and at least I have built up a decent pension. But that's down the road; I have enough to live on for now and I enjoy every day for what it brings me.
Hi Martin,
Great post, and some interesting insight. I agree with your sentiments entirely, especially those on work/life balance :)
I was diagnosed with cancer last year and had surgery and chemotherapy and it focussed my mind wonderfully on the things that I really care about.
I didn't know about that mate... I hope you've made a full recovery now.
Regarding the bit in bold, I know *exactly* what you mean. I was diagnosed with a spinal tumour a couple of years ago, which if I hadn't had removed would've killed me, and even the operation for removing it could've left me paralysed from the waist down.
Fortunately, the (benign) spinal tumour was successfully removed without any problems and I've now made a full recovery, albeit with a slight loss of mobility (I'm not very good at bending down at certain angles, or standing for long lengths of time), but that's it.
And yes, such things do focus your mind on what really matters in life - and that's most certainly NOT working like a dog all of your days to achieve - I dunno, what? :scratch:
Life's too short, so retiring at a sensible age, which allows you to spend quality time with your loved ones and enjoy life while you're still fit and able to do the things you like, is far more important than anything else.
Marco.
Well said, Martin and Marco. ;)
Getting "focused to what really matters in life" is what I call a "reality check". We should all have one regularly. :)
I didn't know about that mate... I hope you've made a full recovery now.
Thank you. I lost my first wife to cancer in 1999 so when I was diagnosed I considered it to be fair justice. I do seem to have pulled through and have been given the all-clear so, for the time being, I'm fine. However, once a cancer patient always a cancer patient so they will monitor and scan me for the rest of my life. I have only praise for the NHS and Basingstoke Hospital (one of the centres of excellence for cancer in the country), who have treated me very well.
I'm very glad to hear that you, too, have pulled through. These close shaves make you think long and hard, don't they?
Primalsea
02-04-2010, 09:51
I used to see loads of people who looked like they were doing so much better than I was. They would boast about what they bought, would never go to places like Peacocks and constantly drone on about how much they spent on things. I later discovered that most of these people were in the shit with debt that they couldn't afford to get out of. Some people got their parents to bail them out (not bad if your parents bail you out when your in your late 30's). They got themselves straight and then just started borrowing again.
Apart from a family loan to help get on the property ladder, which we paid back as fast as we could I only have the house on credit. Sometimes we order stuff from Littlewoods if its reasonably priced but that's the extent of our borrowings.
Everything else I buy I wait until I can afford it. My job is decent but not mega highly paid. It's nice to be able to afford things from time to time but certain life changing events have shown me that nothing is as important as looking after you and your loved ones and the relationships you build with them.
I heard a good story once from a vicar
I teacher produced a large glass jar filled with rocks and asked the students if they thought it was full. The students all agreed that it was indeed full. He then poured in a load of smaller pebbles and then said well do you think its full now. The students all agreed that it was actually now full. So the teacher poured in a load of sand which now filled in all the gaps between the pebbles a rocks and said surely it's full now. The students obviously had got the picture by now but he didn't stop and poured in the contents of 2 cans of beer.
He said that the jar is like your life, the rocks are the important things like family, loved ones and yourself. Put the rocks in first, spend time with the family and loved ones, look after yourself, get that medical check up, work will just have to wait, if you don't like your circumstances that fight to change them. The pebbles are next these are the things like your home, clothes and other needed possessions. Sand is just things that don't really matter but people often spend too much time building up. If you ignore filling the jar up with the rocks and pebbles you just have sand, no foundation.
One student asked what the beer represented. The teacher said "I'm glad you asked, no matter what happens in your life you always have room for a couple of beers"!!
This is one of the absolute most interesting thread I've encountered in the forum so far :)
It's like a book I couldn't put down; reminding me that most here still live in the "real world" with real world concerns...
I must say that I'm very privileged to be where I am now. As a citizen of my country, I don't pay income tax and virtually all "necessities" are subsidized by the government e.g. when my late grandmother was sent to Singapore to be treated for her cancer, the government footed the bill for well over the equivalent of a million pounds sterling and our family only paid the equivalent of less than 50 pence for registration! Prices at fuel stations have been the same for as long as I can remember; premium's the equivalent of about 25 pence a litre, while it's less than 20 pence for diesel a litre...
The only significant tax that I remember paying for (aside from road tax) was the Import Duty for Hi-Fi equipment I brought in and at only 5% for all forms of consumer electronics and loudspeakers etc isn't really something I can justify moaning about :o
And if a citizen doesn't have any real estate to his name, the citizen can apply to join a VERY long queue for landed residential property where upon successful application, the citizen pays less than 25 pounds a month to own the highly-subsidized property outright!
On a personal level, I didn't own a credit card til the need to engage in online financial transactions "forced" me to apply for one; thanks to Amazon.com :rolleyes: My rationale then was that they "made" people spend money they don't have. So before I got involved in online shopping, cash in hand was the only way to go ;)
I didn't even own a cellphone before 2003! My thoughts were that if someone NEEDED to get in touch with me they'd somehow will and I'd avoid trivial text queries as to where I was and what I was doing etc as most of my contemporaries are so fond of doing :rolleyes:
However, in spite of my former frugal practices, I would place no set budgetary limits on the things I was really passionate about e.g. Music/Hi-Fi, books/comics, crystals (the new age kind) and now Japanese-bred Koi...
After all, what is Life without Passion? It just takes a considerable measure of discipline on my part to avoid going overboard; Xmas can't come everyday now, can it... :santa::guns:
Regards,
Malek
p.s. Forgive me if all this sounds somewhat vulgar, or even obscene, in light of the financial hardship some of us are enduring...
Glad you enjoyed it, Malek. We like to create a 'human' touch here on AOS, as this is not just a forum, but a community of REAL people! :)
I'm enjoying your contributions very much, so keep up the good work :cool:
Marco.
For some people, Xmas doesn't come at all...
To return to the OP, I remember a used-audio premises in Hertfordshire full of obsolete top end. There was a hard core of clients who'd rotate the stock around every six months or so. This firm disappeared some years ago, so don't know whether it was because there was no real business, or for some other reason...
Oh yeah Andr'e, what the fugg are *foreign* holidays? Come to think of it, what are holidays???????
Jeez you can be a right gloom merchant sometimes, Dave... :doh: :lol:
Cheer up!
Marco.
For some people, Xmas doesn't come at all...
.... what the fugg are *foreign* holidays? Come to think of it, what are holidays???????
:o
... must resist urge to quote PRMYL's post in full and add '...which was nice ...' alQjtnWQlAE
Glad you enjoyed it, Malek. We like to create a 'human' touch here on AOS, as this is not just a forum, but a community of REAL people! :)
I'm enjoying your contributions very much, so keep up the good work :cool:
Marco.
Thanks again for the kind words, Marco :o
And to be more accurate, income tax exemption also covers non-citizens based in the country. I know a very wealthy canadian (and now we know why) who has his "official base" (more like just hiring someone to man office space) in the country, in order to avoid paying tax in his native land :)
Regards,
Malek
You know what they say... :)
Sharing IS Caring, Joe :lol:
Regards,
Malek
Good thread.
With four kids, an obscene mortgage, and a relatively modest income, I am rather feeling the pinch at the moment. Most of my 'toys' were bought during more prosperous times. Back then, they were my pride and joy, but now they're just stuff. I have been happily supplementing the monthly income by ebaying chunks of my LP collection (and being astonished by how much some of them are worth :) ). The financial value of my hifi system is gradually reducing as I trade down to less expensive items. A few years ago, doing that would have been a source of major sadness - now it's just a shrug of the shoulders. As long as I have something to play my favourite choons on, I'm OK :). In fact, I'm realising that much of what I thought I knew about hifi was totally wrong all along. I'm currently using a £200 pair of homebrew horns, a £20 plastic T-Amp and a £50 ten year old Sony DVD player and could not claim to be any less engrossed in the music than I have been in the past with more expensive kit. The only thing left over from my 'proper hifi' days is my Orbe - haven't quite persuaded myself that a cheaper alternative to that will suffice (though it could happen...). I can envisage selling the Orbe and using the cash to buy a reliable integrated amp and a decent, but less expensive turntable - then just enjoying what I have until such time as finances improve (which is years off - unless one of my boys becomes rich very young and decides to reward his doting parents by paying off their mortgage ;)).
As my late father used to say: 'Having no money doesn't stop you pressing your face against the sweetshop window'.
The older I get, the more I realise that my father was right - about pretty much everything. The sly old bugger would piss himself laughing if he could see me now :lol:.
I don't think he'd be too impressed by the way hifi has developed either. I can hear him now: 'Call that an amplifier? doesn't even have proper knobs. Load of old rubbish...'.
:)
Martin
Rare Bird
26-05-2010, 23:07
Oh yeah Andr'e, what the fugg are *foreign* holidays? Come to think of it, what are holidays???????
Well the wife been looking but i can tell her now there aint gonna be one for a few years yet.
Good thread.
With four kids, an obscene mortgage, and a relatively modest income, I am rather feeling the pinch at the moment. Most of my 'toys' were bought during more prosperous times. Back then, they were my pride and joy, but now they're just stuff. I have been happily supplementing the monthly income by ebaying chunks of my LP collection (and being astonished by how much some of them are worth :) ). The financial value of my hifi system is gradually reducing as I trade down to less expensive items. A few years ago, doing that would have been a source of major sadness - now it's just a shrug of the shoulders. As long as I have something to play my favourite choons on, I'm OK :). In fact, I'm realising that much of what I thought I knew about hifi was totally wrong all along. I'm currently using a £200 pair of homebrew horns, a £20 plastic T-Amp and a £50 ten year old Sony DVD player and could not claim to be any less engrossed in the music than I have been in the past with more expensive kit. The only thing left over from my 'proper hifi' days is my Orbe - haven't quite persuaded myself that a cheaper alternative to that will suffice (though it could happen...). I can envisage selling the Orbe and using the cash to buy a reliable integrated amp and a decent, but less expensive turntable - then just enjoying what I have until such time as finances improve (which is years off - unless one of my boys becomes rich very young and decides to reward his doting parents by paying off their mortgage ;)).
As my late father used to say: 'Having no money doesn't stop you pressing your face against the sweetshop window'.
The older I get, the more I realise that my father was right - about pretty much everything. The sly old bugger would piss himself laughing if he could see me now :lol:.
I don't think he'd be too impressed by the way hifi has developed either. I can hear him now: 'Call that an amplifier? doesn't even have proper knobs. Load of old rubbish...'.
:)
Martin
Hello Martin :)
Your post should easily qualify a place in the "Strokes of Genius" section, where your system has been tweaked with harsh economic environment and paternal insight to produce oh-so-GLORIOUS music! :barrel:
Regards,
Malek
Haselsh1
27-05-2010, 08:21
I work five days a week in mine and my partners floristry business. The business pays every household bill but only pays me two hundred and fifty pounds a month of which I have to pay one hundred and fifty in direct debits. With the remaining one hundred I am expected to contribute towards food and drink.
We haven't a hope in hell of ever going away on holiday or for a weekend break but I do have a 5k hi-fi including a Croft pre/power amp. I also own a fifteen hundred pound Nikon F5 camera and a host of lenses and have a very well equipped darkroom. I think it is a case of mind over matter. It is a case of being satified with what you have and not always wanting what you haven't. It is for me at least and I am now waking up to that.
Hello Martin :)
Your post should easily qualify a place in the "Strokes of Genius" section, where your system has been tweaked with harsh economic environment and paternal insight to produce oh-so-GLORIOUS music! :barrel:
Regards,
Malek
Hi Malek
I suppose the problem with obsession is that it distorts perspective. I've been guilty of that in the past, but realised that a fantastic hifi cannot make you happy if you have neglected other parts of your life.
Selling parts of my hifi in order to make life better for my family has made the music sound much better :). The traditional cost/performance ratio of hifi equipment can be circumvented with a little imagination (and in my case, a little luck too). Horns with a low power T-Amp is a combination that would not normally have occurred to me and only happened by chance - my valve amp went bang and I tried a cheap T-Amp because it was all I could afford (and I reckoned it was worth a try).
I'm not saying I no longer lust after shiny things (I will always have a weakness for well designed tube amp :)), but I have been astonished by the quality of the performance I'm getting at the moment. Not to everyone's taste and not perfect by any means, but utterly lovely (and cheaper than chips in the grand scheme of things). Class D with horns - well worth a try :).
Anyway, back on topic for a moment. I'm planning to use some of the spare cash generated by my LP sales to explore the vintage market a little. I'm still quite sentimental about my dad's first proper hifi (circa 1973 - lovely Technics receiver with rosewood side panels and a bank of silver switches and knobs to make any man proud - they just don't make em like that any more :)). Yeah, I fancy a behemoth vintage integrated amp - built like a tank, plenty of knobs, weighs a ton etc etc. Might even sound nice if I'm lucky. Rosewood panelling optional ;). I'll just spend a few hours flicking switches and basking in the glory of those big knobs (phwoar, ooerr missus etc :eyebrows:).
The problem with the never ending road to hifi nirvana is that it can all get a bit po-faced (it certainly did for me). It's a hobby - it should be fun.
Speaking of fun, my eldest son had a great idea. We've got a pair of Sony speakers that suffered cabinet damage during the last house move. horace jr had the idea of removing the drivers and crossover and building them into new cabinets made of Lego! I've been meaning to get started on it for ages, but it's going to happen this summer. Lego speakers - how cool is that :smoking:.
I was probably going to make a point of some sort, but I've no idea what it was. Probably something about counting my blessings rather than my speaker cable options.....
:)
Martin
I think it is a case of mind over matter. It is a case of being satified with what you have and not always wanting what you haven't. It is for me at least and I am now waking up to that.
I must commend you on your efforts as you are still basically living within your means and learning to keep a positive outlook on things :)
As for holidays, isn't great music (through good HiFi, of course) suppose to transport us away (if only for as long as the music lasts) from the monotony of the daily toil? ;)
And it's great that you haven't have had to do without the things that you're passionate about e.g. music, photography etc to help you weather the current gloomy economic outlook... :cool:
Regards
Malek
Haselsh1
27-05-2010, 15:16
Malek, ultimately you're right of course. Music is a definite release from everday stresses and strains as long as your Hi-Fi isn't creating stresses and strains in itself through its shortcomings. I am very passionate about listening to music late in the evening whilst it is dark as I find that this vastly improves my perception of what is going on for zero financial outlay. I love the Hi-Fi I have and don't any longer want what I can't afford. This I find is crucial.
I try very hard to keep a highly positive aspect to my life and the fun I get from being alive. I have never expected something for nothing and have always been very willing to get out and work for money. I do not and never have lived off benefits at everyone else's expense. I am far to positive for this to happen and because of this I now have the system that I have. Ultimately, my partner Janet is the florist whilst I am the driver. We do OK but there is an awful lot we have to go without even though we still have to work our arses off everyday of the week except one. We are happy together and that has to be worth a lot more than money. There are some things that are just so beyond money.
I love music and photography and the arts. I consider myself to be very lucky.
Music is a definite release from everday stresses and strains as long as your Hi-Fi isn't creating stresses and strains in itself through its shortcomings. I am very passionate about listening to music late in the evening whilst it is dark as I find that this vastly improves my perception of what is going on for zero financial outlay
Drug-Free Therapy; another way I see music :)
Hence, I (conveniently :lol:) rationalise my investment in Hi-Fi audio as a means to avoid paying for more expensive medical "services" to treat the multitude of stress-related diseases out there. And it's a known "fact" within medical circles that stress suppresses the proper functioning of the immune system ;)
Furthermore, haven't we all experienced poor sleeping patterns as well (and we all know how important as good night's sleep is, to our capacity to meet the new day), especially prior to a significant event in our lives e.g. pre-exam jitters, or even pre-wedding/marriage jitters! :eek: I sure could've benefited from being bitten by the Hi-Fi bug during my school days then :doh:
And so, our common love has led us here to share our myriad Joys and Burdens :D :sofa:
Regards,
Malek
it should be fun.
Amen to that, my friend! I ocassionally read threads on here and find myself muttering under my breath "get over yourself" or something similar - life really is too short to take hifi so seriously. Now taking the music seriously, that is a different matter... ;)
Speaking of fun, my eldest son had a great idea. We've got a pair of Sony speakers that suffered cabinet damage during the last house move. horace jr had the idea of removing the drivers and crossover and building them into new cabinets made of Lego! I've been meaning to get started on it for ages, but it's going to happen this summer. Lego speakers - how cool is that :smoking:.
That is pure genius - I genuinely think they would be fantastic, (to look at, if not to listen to!) Why stop at speakers, though? Brings a whole new dimension to modular! Do it! (And post up the pics!)
Amen to that, my friend! I ocassionally read threads on here and find myself muttering under my breath "get over yourself" or something similar - life really is too short to take hifi so seriously. Now taking the music seriously, that is a different matter... ;)
Nothing's really worth taking seriously, apart from your health. As Horace Walpole so wisely remarked: 'Life is a tragedy to those that feel, a comedy to those that think'.
Rare Bird
01-06-2010, 22:52
life really is too short to take hifi so seriously. Now taking the music seriously, that is a different matter... ;)
here here :)
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