I Drew This

While I mostly blog just for myself, it sometimes would be nice to have a few more readers. There are times, such as a few minutes from now, when I’d like to be able to ask a group of people something so it would be good to have a decent sample size.

What’s been on my mind is this.

I’m just about to change jobs. This will mean that I’ll get a bit of money paid to me when I leave my current employer, mostly from leave entitlements and such. Now I have an idea in my head of how much it will be and I know I could blow it all in an afternoon with the things I really want. Easy. If I had twice what I’m about to get I could blow it in an afternoon and the following morning (even with a hangover).

But I’m a family man. We (C & I) have a mortgage and credit cards and school fees and accounts for our daughters’ futures with not as much money as we’d like to have there. We also have plans to improve our home: stick in some doors and build a bit of a deck, get a new carport and do some pulling up of plants, moving the dirt they were in from one spot to another spot,  and sticking new plants in the now-over-there dirt (I’m told it’s called “landscaping”).

So as much as there’s stuff I want, how do I justify spending a large amount of money on stuff that’s only going to benefit me directly (though, it should be said the family would benefit indirectly) when it means money can’t be spent on other areas we, as a family, would like to invest in?

Case in point: I have a Canon 20D. It’s an 8.2megapixel Digital SLR. But it’s an old model by today’s standards. I have one pretty good lens, one OK lens and one really basic lens. I do shoot the occasional wedding or stuff for work and on these occasions I’ll either borrow or hire, so there’s no loss to me. So do I need a 50D? I know I’d like a 50D (or a 5D) but how do I justify spending money on one of those if it’s not related to a direct stream of income? It’s the same for L-series lenses: should I really be spending money on a top-of-the-line lens and getting great pictures, when I can get ‘good’ pictures with the lenses I have? The question is the same for TVs, computers, musical instruments…

The thing is, I have a hard time spending money. It’s not that I’m miserly; I’ll invest good dollars in something if it’s worth the investment. I can appreciate buying quality over buying average. But I was taught to save, save, save and not make impulse purchases. The downside of this is that for me, every purchase of just about anything is an excruciating decision to make because I’ll always find a way to talk myself out of it. If I need new shoes (which I do) I’ll tell myself “Well, I’ve lasted this long with the shoes I have; I can last another day/week/pay period without new ones” and before you know it I’m in the market for new shoelaces because these ones have broken and the soles are nearly worn through.

I mentioned that it’s hard to see the justification for anything unless there’s a direct income stream to be derived from it. It’s even harder when it comes from purely leisure activities. I find it hard to reconcile the expense of something that is purely for fun—and I’m not just talking financial.

How great would it be to be able to come home from work, pick up a guitar/laptop/wii and spend hours just playing. And yeah, some of my creative pursuits are productive: I often touch up photos in photoshop, which I’m pretty skilled at, only to click ‘No’ when it asks if I want to save—because I know I’m never going to get any of them printed/published so there’s really no point (which is kind of the point of leisure, isn’t it? Pointless amusement? Something that’s fun but really unimportant? If it were important, would it not be called work?). But I get home, cook food, spend time with kids, get them to bed, sometimes cook food again if C & I don’t eat with the kids, clean up after cooking, have a nice cup of tea with C and by the end of that there’s precious little time to do anything productive (or loud) anyway.

So what I want to know from you readers, both my regular half-dozen or so, and any random traffic that happens to be passing by (I know you’re there, please contribute on this one) is…

How much time do you get to spend taking part in leisurely pursuits? I’m talking hours per evening/weekend on stuff that’s just for you.

And if you were to have a nice separation cheque handed to you, how much of it (either a percentage or whatever dollar figure you imagine you’d like to get as a separation cheque) would you be able to justify on spending on yourself (whether it’s on a car, electronics, a holiday, chocolate, hookers, drugs, whatever floats your boat)?

Comments or emails welcome.