I need to get a gf just to get double incomes.

Massage club membership? lol. You decadent bastard.

There's a huge (really huge) TV at my local electronics store...it covers pretty much an entire living room wall in a normal-sized home. What's more, it costs 40.000 euros. 40.000! Who has that kind of money to spend on a freaking tv?!

Don't get me wrong, the TV is awesome. But 40k is just insane. if you pay that for a tv, you've lost all perspective on life and finances.

heh...either that or you're just rich. There was a time when I thought dropping $500 on something was insane. Now-a-days I could do that if the fancy struck me without really impacting my finances. I'm sure there are people that feel the same way about $40k. Or 40,000 euros or whatever crazy currency you guys are using this week.

@ the massage membership, yea, that might've been over the top. :p Oh well. But if you think that's decadent...

lol my expensive treat = £40 for a game... (about $80). God I felt like I'd really splashed the cash last year when I bought my new phone. £150! I usually spend a third of that on a phone!

But I am broke atm. If I was just to do my contract hours I would actually lose £5 a month. Luckily I usually get 4 extra hours at least a week so if I stick to budget I make about £50. But of course I always manage to find some small thing to buy that adds up (usually in the form of something yummy I spot while walking round Asda doing the food shopping).

And yes, massage membership... wtf? lol. Only in America I guess Just do as Mole does and whine at Shiny (Mole doesn't whine at Shiny that I'm aware of btw... hehe) until she gives in and sorts out your aches.

As for my childhood, I wasn't spoilt nor were we poor. Until I was 10 my parents owned a shop so didn't get holidays or anything as Dad was always working there (6am til 7pm) and Mum was doing the stay-at-home-mum/cover staff lunches thing. So my 'treats' were going to Hull maybe once every couple of months on the train with Mum, where I'd get a couple of toys bought for me. Due to this though I spent school holidays at my grandparents and my grandma was of the variety where if you said you liked something, that meant you wanted it and it was bought for you. I didn't take advantage though. Once I was a teenager I had to save up my £5 a week pocket money for most stuff I wanted.

Oh and on the subject of holidays, seriously, for Easter I have always gotten a few chocolate eggs and that's it. Now I can appreciate if you don't like chocolate and/or are older and don't want a ton, then a little gift could be given instead. But we get so many parents buying consoles for their kids for Easter... what the hell? £300 PS3 for Easter?! What do they get for Christmas?!

A kid who blasts you a away with his 9iron because you interrupted their gameplay.

Well, I hate to admit it but my mom really likes to shop. So, she goes overboard on everything. So, like for Valentines day she got me some cute PJ's and 2 rings. I personally don't celebrate Easter, so that one usually does not count but all sorts of other useless holidays I get things.

I probably would have been one of those PS3 type of kids back in the day.

As for the massage membership, well truthfully while I totally agree it is a luxury. It does promote better health for me. I have pretty much cronic pain issues and there is just a huge difference in a "real" massage and one from a loved one. Besides I spend more in dog food a month than I go on the massage.

And if you only knew how much I spent on wine so far this month. I think I am up to about $300.00. But I got like 9 bottlesish.

yea, but that's not a typical expense. We also have pretty much a full bar with dozens of bottles of liqour and such, but those are acquired slowly typically. The most I've spent on liqour in a month is probably around $300.. Keeping it stocked costs maybe $20/mo on average. Beer used to be pretty bad... I think we used to go through 2 cases of Kostritzer in a week, so about $60 per week in beer alone. That's been thankfully reduced since we don't drink as much. Then there was the weekly $160 for groceries.... that's also gone down.

So, anyway, my point being that $30/mo on a massage membership and $30/mo on a gym membership isn't really all that bad when taking in the bigger picture. I think my cell phone costs me about $70/month all by itself and that is, unfortunately, a necessity.

70 month a week on call costs? Dude...what do you do with your phone? Surf the web via sattelite uplink? I think I only spend like 20€ a month, and that's only because I ocassionally call a girl for obvious dating reasons...while you have one at home.

I don't spend much money on anything at all, except games (but even that has gone way down since the Christmas period). I don't smoke, don't dope, don't own a car, get a free bus pass from work, don't pay much rent atm, and I hate shopping for anything else than multimedia. I haven't bought clothes in months. Oh wait I did buy new shoes, but only cause my only other pair is falling apart.

Only thing I really spend cash on is going out to eat or drink with friends. But that gets expensive real quick, unfortunately. I just try to save as much as possible - trying to make a good buck out of what is, other than that, a pretty crappy period in my life.

lol....enjoy it while you can. It only gets worse. :p The main reason my phone bill is so high is because I get unlimited data on my phone, a necessity with what I use it for since it's tied into my gmail and work email. We have a decent number of monthly expenses... I probably spend $500-700/mo on unavoidable expenses. But whatever, I still save money, I'm not in debt, and I'm enjoying myself, right?

Didn't get what you said about unlimited data on you phone - you carrying a blackberry or Iphone of sorts? *has a dinosaur phone without color screen*

Yea, I carry one of these

Haha...how can you even type with all those tiny-ass buttons?

As opposed to my dinosaur cell

wow, that's a blast from the past? Hey Ox, the 90s called, they want their cell phone back. So, when you're talking on that thing, does it make your fillings vibrate with all the radiation it's beaming out? How many batteries does it use? Like 3-4 D Cells?

Aight, I'll stop. Anyway, to each their own. I like tech toys, which is the main reason I got it, but I've come to thoroughly enjoy many of its features. The calendar is awesome.... I don't think I'll ever get another phone without calendaring. Also the touch screen is pretty nice. Many things aren't so nice... the crappy camera, small storage (though it does support SDHC), crappy contact organization...a few other things. But whatever. Hopefully by the time my contract runs out there'll be a really nice replacement beckoning to me.

The new Palm (with new OS) looks promising.

Ah, yea, the Palm Pre looks promising. So does Android, honestly. I've got a year and change on my contract, so hopefully by mid 2010 there'll be some really nice stuff out (and available in the US).

the palm pre... I hear the production model doesn't have the flames

I'd still be very happy with my old 3310/3410/6610i that I used to have, I loved those things. Still have the 6610i but I kept managing to break the fascias somehow and you just can't find 'em anywhere hence I upgraded to my super sexy Nokia 6600 classic silver.

I just love Nokia, won't touch anything else. Never had a problem with any of my 4, never had to send them for repairs (and I tend to keep them right up until the last possible moment, I don't need upgrades if it still texts and calls!) and find them easy to use and good looking (very very VERY fussy about how a phone looks). Mole will say otherwise having worked for a phone company, but I hate Sony Ericssons and Samsungs; every one he has had (I think) has ended up with some kind of fault on it, particularly his last one, and he's not the only person I know with such makes that have problems. Don't get me wrong, I know Nokia's die as well, but if I remember correctly, the Nokia Mole had never died either, unlike his last 2 or 3 phones.