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The difference between ‘can’t afford’ and ‘would rather not spend my money on’ something

129 replies

Thingsthatgo · Yesterday 09:39

I’ve been pondering this recently. As a family we are careful with money. We earn a bit above average and we save around £1k per month. I shop on Vinted, our furniture is all preloved and we take inexpensive holidays (mostly camping).
Regularly I am obliged to spend money on things I don’t enjoy, and wouldn’t choose myself, but that’s just life. I am just pondering how much other people do this, and whether it bothers them.
One example is family days out. My in-laws visit once a month, and will often suggest we book somewhere nice for lunch as a treat. We split the cost, but it usually costs us £150-200. (man-child BIL doesn’t ever contribute, but that’s another story). As a family of four we would only ever do this as a celebration, not as a monthly thing. I don’t enjoy them, and I feel a bit resentful, I guess.
I often suggest cheaper options, but they get rejected.
The problem is, although I would much rather use the money for other things, we can afford it. So should I just suck it up?

OP posts:
AlternateLook · Today 19:39

BlackRowan · Today 19:03

What baffles me is that you only choose cheap holidays. Don’t you want to live a little??
life is short and next day is not guaranteed to anyone
you are saving enough to allow a nicer holiday once in a while (and by nicer I don’t mean garish AI in Benidorm)

Is Gran Canaria okay with you? We're going on tne first two weeks in September, so I'm just wondering if it meets with your approval?
🤔

Binbag70 · Today 20:30

I’m still trying to get my head around people saving 1k a month! I’d be lucky to save half of that in a year.

BlackRowan · Today 21:36

Badbadbunny · Today 19:08

That's very subjective. Spending shed loads of cash doesn't mean they'd enjoy the holiday more. Everyone is different. We've been through stages of VERY expensive holidays (USA, Canada, Egypt, Israel, Kenya etc, plus expensive skiing and golfing holidays and a very expensive cruise), but also been on cheap and cheerful Med beach holidays, and lots of UK short breaks etc. I can't really say there was any correlation between cost and enjoyment. Certainly, these days, it's 7 years since we've been abroad, 7 years since we've had even a full 7 day holiday, as we've morphed into cheaper UK short breaks exclusively for the time being, and some of those have definitely been more enjoyable than more expensive foreign holidays, often surprisingly so.

Sure, I get that, but ONLY camping holidays?

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BlackRowan · Today 21:37

AlternateLook · Today 19:39

Is Gran Canaria okay with you? We're going on tne first two weeks in September, so I'm just wondering if it meets with your approval?
🤔

Are you the OP? Why are you asking me?

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