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Now, of course all these is hypothetical...
Cos I'll never know what I would really do unless I really have such an opportunity.
Read old blog post here.
So a simple way to look at things is that I would say, "NO, absolutely nothing would change. I will still remain frugal..."
But is that true?
What are the things which I really really like that I might actually relax spending on IF I had a larger income stream?
There are always things that we want, but we put off purchasing due to being frugal...
So I think... what are the things that I really want to do if I had more money?
I don't like branded stuff. Bags, wallets, belts, shoes... I've never had a desire to buy them.
I've never walked past a luxury shop thinking... Oooooohhh if only I had money, I'd buy those.
So I reckon I would not spend my $10,000 dividends on those.
I'd admit, one thing that I would like to have is probably a nicer car. A Camry would be nice. Slightly more power, bigger space. I like driving, so it's something which I think I'd enjoy having. Currently, I see my vehicle as just a lame expense, but if I had $10,000 consistent dividends per month, I think I'd look into getting a nicer vehicle...
So maybe $1,800 per month allocated to a better vehicle.
I don't really desire anything much for my home... I've never thought, oh if I had more money, I'd buy a better table, or couch, or TV... so... looks like home improvement isn't on my list...
Maybe food... But I really do wonder about this...
Cos... I currently get free fruits and vegetables from Pasir Panjang, and this is an active decision. There are other freegan activities whereby I can obtain better food, meats, catered food, etc... but after discussing with my wife, we felt that we should keep a healthier diet and eat mainly fruits and vegetables and only eat the better food once in awhile. Cos for a period of time, we changed our diet to the "better" diet and it was more greasy and we started gaining weight, which is why we discussed this and decided that we wanted to eat healthily whenever possible and only eat better food occasionally.
But I do miss some atas hotel buffets/Sunday brunches which we've been avoiding cos they are expensive and relatively unhealthy. So maybe I'll allow us to go eat some premium hotel buffets once in 2 months.
Let's say its $200 per person per meal, so it's $400 per 2 months, which makes $200 budget per month. This is just a small fraction of the $10,000. Hardly a scratch.
Then there's the regular food expense, which is currently around $200 per month. This includes eating out sometimes, buying special groceries which I don't get for free, other ingredients, etc...
So maybe with more money to burn, I may want to buy some extra stuff like more meat? I'm not sure cos we do try to consciously eat a healthier diet, cos it's so easy to just absentmindedly forget and just eat a lot of unhealthy stuff.
So maybe total $300 for eating out and groceries, slightly higher than currently.
Based on my Aug 2018 expense update, I have around $672 in fixed expenses.
I think MAYBE if I had $10,000 in dividends, I'll probably upgrade my $3 phone plan to the SIM only plan.
My $3 phone plan's main flaw is that I don't have much data, it's not much of a problem usually, but IF I had $10,000 per month... upgrading another $20+ or so wouldn't make much of a difference.
So I'll end up with maybe... $700 in fixed expenses?
I'll budget $1,000 per month for miscellaneous expenses, such as dental, medical, gifts, etc... I think $1,000 per month is quite a high number.
As of now, I'm looking at
Better car $1,800
Hotel buffets $200
Groceries $300
Fixed expenses $700
Miscellaneous $1,000
Which is a $4,000
This is where it gets really hard to think of ways to use more money...
I looked at my Aug 2018 expense and tried to see where I can upgrade my lifestyle...
So I decided to put another $1,000 budget for travel every month. This is an average, so some may be due to my wife's biz trips, or it could be for our own personal trips.
And the grand total is... slightly under $5,000...
Ok, now this feels strange, cos... It's not that much. I expected I would want to spend and buy more convenience or luxury... but... there's really nothing much that I want to upgrade.
Even now, I can get better food but I choose not to...
We could probably afford a better car, but we choose not to...
All the upgrades I've listed above, we probably could afford it if we wanted to... but yet... they are simply unnecessary.
I do think that it would be fun to travel more to certain places to see the world, but those would be slowly incorporated in our holidays as the months pass. So I think a $1,000 monthly budget to cater for her biz trips and our own trips is pretty reasonable...
Which really begs the question.... HOW DO PEOPLE SPEND SO MUCH???
What do people buy? How much can they eat? How can people blow $10,000 or more in a month?
I'm struggling to find things to upgrade and yet I hear about people who get into debt.
$5,000 a month isn't hard for a couple to earn, and that's already my upgraded budget...
Where does the money all go to???
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