Feel guilty....

[simple_gifts]

You must have missed the "put it on a maxed out 18% credit card, and only pay the minimum $20/month" part of you American citizenship training..... 8)

Honestly, I think you are being too tough on yourself for all the reasons identified by others...

 

[javacontour]

So buy a used one on a place like Craigslist and help out someone who needs to sell. That way, you can get something you would like AND help out another human being.

 

[Cutehumor]

I feel bad, when I make a big purchase, and find it was $100 cheaper somewhere else.

 

[greenaccord02]

Let me preface this by saying I salute 97tbird's dedication to his fellow man. I see things a little differently, however.

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
I feel bad, when I make a big purchase, and find it was $100 cheaper somewhere else.

Yeah, the only time I feel bad is if I could have saved more money. I work hard so I can have the things I want. If someone else can't get those things they need to get a job. This isn't a socialist state yet. This country won't let the poor starve and that's taken out of our paychecks every month, so when somebody comes around holding a tin cup I can say, "I gave at the office." Now, don't get me wrong I respect and support things like cheritable car washes and bake sales, heck I'll even give money to the crackhead who cames up and asks to wash my windows at the stoplight or wants to give me a shoeshine at the airport but that's because this is America and we work for what we have here. If you really want to help the economy, nurture industriousness in the lower classes and discourage any sense of entitlement.

That's just my opinon.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
So buy a used one on a place like Craigslist and help out someone who needs to sell. That way, you can get something you would like AND help out another human being.


Not always. For example, the devil on my shoulder told me to sell my TV with intermittent problems to a poor fellow and hide from him afterward, but I do have an angel on my other shoulder that told me not to. Many people have only the devil on their shoulders.

 

[Steve S]

For all you have done I would be embarrased to reward my self with an appliance .The reward is not a thing it, is the feeling you get of overcomming or accomplishment that can't be taken away or quit working. Enjoy the T.V. I am impressed with your accomplishments ,Not the t.v.

 

[The_Jeff]

Well think of it like this, you won't have to drive to the movies and waste all that fuel and wear and tear on your thunderbird, you won't emit CO2, the flat panel takes less room in your house, it's not made with as much lead as a CRT. Children will smile and skip rope as they walk by your window seeing the bluish glow of a modern home theatre.

 

[JHZR2]

Take care of yourself first. Nothing wrong with getting a "prize" for your hard work, and/or a gift to make you feel good if you truly can afford it and desire it.

Charity is nice, but if you worked hard, I assume you did so for the sake of bettering yourself, not for others.

Having "so much" or more than the next guy is just natural order. There is a curve that everyone falls upon. Some of it is fate, some luck, health, chemistry, intelligence, some of it is fair, same of it may not be. You fall where you do, and you can climb up a bit, or fall back a bit depending upon our decisions. In this day we are supposed to "celebrate" everything. Every race, creed, diversity, culture, sexuality, and whatever else. How about celebrating the sweat of your brow?

It is one thing to wear flashy clothes, jewelery, and drive around in an escalade with big wheels and obnoxious sound to "flaunt" what you have to the next guy... and prove superiority through material means. It is another to buy yourself something because you've worked for it and can sustainably acquire it from your effort, frugality, etc.

 

[moribundman]

Is that a rehearsal for your high school reunion speech?

 

[JHZR2]

definitely... care to proofread, punctuate and comment on my English?

 

[moribundman]

I would, but you didn't end your post with "Thanks!" as always when you want something.

 

[MarkC]

I hope your belief system changes a bit as you grow up, JHZR2.
Nothing wrong with getting something you really want, or with enjoying the fruits of your labor, but some of the things you say indicate distorted values. "Bettering yourself" involves a lot more than aquiring "stuff", and helping others is one way.

I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy things and enjoy the rewards of your efforts at all, but caring about others is a sign of maturity.

As for 97bird, it's refreshing to hear someone with a conscience for a change. I haven't heard much concern for anyone other than oneself around here in a while. Not any that I believe, at least.
I hope he enjoys his TV and I'm sure he will find ways to help those in need whenever he can.

 

[JHZR2]

Guess Ive been reading too much Ayn Rand recently.

That said, one needs to consider what "in need" is. Im sick of the handout mentality and the degradation that occurs as the handout evolves from a good-hearted action of good basis to provide helping hand to something that is "deserved" for some reason unbeknown to me.

It is one thing to be materialistic and greedy, it is another thing to pay yourself first and then "help" where you feel it is most deserving. I worked and put a lot of care into sustainably acquiring what I have without debt or poor practices, then saving in a manner to create a strong long-term positon; no reason others can't too... And in terms of "deserving" that doesn't mean providing labor, doing deskwork, or hard labor, or a sob story or anything else. The proposition should be right, not just blind giving for the sake of giving, IMO. Even if I dont personally see it, I want a good return on what I give in terms of what it passes on. I dont care to just give because it is "the thing to do" or just because it is "good", or even because in theory it may better me. Quantifiable, observable and sustainable, please.

But I dont mean to gum up this thread with my 2c any more than I have.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

It is one thing to wear flashy clothes to "flaunt" what you have to the next guy... and prove superiority through material means.


Does that mean your going to your reunion in sweat pants?

 

[greenaccord02]

Well, let's just start us a commune.

I guess I need to grow up too, 23 years old with a wife, a house, 2 cars, a big TV, alot of [censored] I don't need, a big stash of oil, some really nice furniture and a pocket full of disposable income. Not to mention a very low debt to income ratio and one heck of a credit rating. All because I was responsible, got an education and went to work. And for some crazy reason, I'm not giving it all away...

...I really need to grow up.

"Only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on its banners: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
- Karl Marx

No, thank you.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

It is one thing to wear flashy clothes to "flaunt" what you have to the next guy... and prove superiority through material means.


Does that mean your going to your reunion in sweat pants?


Delete sections of my actual wording to produce a joke? Thanks...

Yep, sweatpants it was. Definitely.

I trust you know there IS a line. I'm fighting as much as the next guy to learn where it is and how it works based upon where I fell on the distribution and what I can observe.

 

[MarkC]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
Well, let's just start us a commune.

I guess I need to grow up too, 23 years old with a wife, a house, 2 cars, a big TV, alot of [censored] I don't need, a big stash of oil, some really nice furniture and a pocket full of disposable income. Not to mention a very low debt to income ratio and one heck of a credit rating. All because I was responsible, got an education and went to work. And for some crazy reason, I'm not giving it all away...

...I really need to grow up.

"Only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on its banners: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
- Karl Marx

No, thank you.


Must've struck a nerve, or maybe you just assume things that are incorrect.
I never said there's anything wrong with being successful, I just said it's a sign of maturity to concern yourself with others.
I didn't say you had to hand over any of your prized possessions or money (or time) to anyone. I just said in an apparently unclear way, that thinking of others and helping them is a good thing.
That doesn't come from Karl Marx, but instead, from someone whose initials are J.C., among other people.
Funny how often people start screaming about communists when some one mentions being a bit less self-centered.

 

[greenaccord02]

No, I'm pretty sure that's marxist doctorine. It's great stuff for fantasy land where the farmer gets a plow from the blacksmith and pays him in corn and they both break off a little something for the old widow, but here in the real world it means good industrious people who work and pay taxes get to pay for the medical bills and malt liquor of the lazy.

This is getting way off topic. Obviously we're of different opinions and I respect yours. Nothing is going to change this. Let's drop it.

<--- See, I'll even buy you a beer.

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
marxist doctorine


Doctorines are in season. $1.79 a pound.

 

[ARB1977]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
After waiting on a new LCD tv for about 3 yrs, and researching the whole time, I finally pulled the trigger on a 40" LCD Tv (sammy).
My wife wanted me to have it as she knew I waited a long time, and got it about $550 less than the normal price...
She wanted me to finally get it, and actually I saved lot for it too...
She wants me to have it finally, as a combined gift to for my B'day (I never get anything for my B'days usually; and just cards make me happy enough), becoming a citizen, and getting through what is known as the most grueling semester in pharmacy school...and Xmas of course.

And like every Xmas, what we do this yr also is not get/exchange gifts with wife's family and friends for oursleves, but we all select a poor family in the neighborhood and we all buy something and give it all to them, and also some for the troops, if we have enough. We always thought this was easier and better to do that just getting stuff for ourselves....

the TV is coming tomorrow, and i got to think of poor families and now I feel like an a-s-s for getting a TV, and almost cried this a.m., and can't help feeling I'm being selfish, despite trying to think "I deserve it" for all the reasons listed above...

Think of it this way, its a gift for yourself for doing such a wonderful job in thinking of other people. You have to treat yourself every once in a while.