As I’m sure will come out over the next while, I’m a bit of a finance junkie. I save over 40% of my gross income (over 50% of what I earn post-tax, with 18% currently going to retirement), and since I really hate clutter I just don’t buy much. We spend a pretty penny on food compared to what we could spend if we didn’t eat organic foods, and we recently upgraded from an apartment in an area that was quickly becoming an undesirable location to a place that’s twice our previous rent (but still affordable – undesirable locations are cheap!).
When we do buy things (clothes, furniture, household miscellany), we make sure they’re of the highest quality that makes sense – and if that seems too expensive at the time, we just wait until we can get what we should get rather than buying something to bridge the gap. For instance, we recently upgraded from a stack of milk crates to a bookcase from the Container Store in our office. The total cost was less than $200, but we debated this purchase for more than 6 months. And the car I mentioned having but never using? It turned 10 years old this month and broke 100k miles last fall. (It’s ugly and was never really a fine piece of machinery, but it runs.)
This is particularly relevant because…I am typing from my brand new, just-arrived-today Macbook Pro! I bought an iMac last year to replace my dead Compaq laptop (I do web work from home on occasion, and it was time I had a computer that would do what it was told).
I didn’t really need this laptop, but my window for getting a discount was closing. And it’s useful, and it’s probably best that I bring my own computer to work for personal things (like blogging).
It’s gorgeous.
I love it.
It’s perfect and sleek and new.
My boyfriend came home with flowers and ice cream today, and the birthday gifts continued for a second night. Just 5 more days!
Oh, and I made my really tough decision earlier. I think it’s the right one, but the next two weeks will be tough…except the part when I’m on vacation for my birthday 
And there was this:
- A 3 mile interval run (13, 13, 2 min walk because my soleus was killing me since I wore heels all day and had to walk a lot, then 12 min).
- A crazy dinner made with squash, peaches, jalapenos, garlic, and tempeh
There is more splurging underway…I just bought several new outfits at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale, and I also bought a new bag for work. Photos to come when everything arrives. For now, sleep – my new macbook excitement has kept me up an extra hour! Forgive the bland post. Real life excitement doesn’t always translate so well.