Does anyone else have this thing where they are really good with money in all aspects of their life EXCEPT where their car is concerned?

Just occurred to me when reading about Lee's telly and Jeans etc.

I would never even consider buying a 120 quid pair of jeans, 30 tops for me, I never buy bolly im quite happy with moet, I dont ever both travelling first class, I just generally am quite a "cheap" person effectively, even when I used to earn really good money (well by my standards, 500 a day ish) I was still the same, never once bought a pair of shoes that cost over 100 quid or a suit for more than 500 etc.

And yet when it comes to bits for cars, I seem to have utterly NO ability to make the same rational decisions, I dont think twice about spending a grand on a turbo, and if it doesnt work exactly how I want Id stick it on the shelf and buy another one, I have thousands and thousands of pounds worth of tools I hard ever user, I'll happily buy a new wideband I fancy when the old one still works, even when I set myself a budget for stuff I fancy but dont need like today where I wanted a set of electronic det cans for no more than under 200 quid, I even specified a price when asking about them, then stu suggested a set at over 50% more than that, and I ordered them in an instant.

I always tell people I cant afford holidays and stuff like that, and I feel its true when I say it and yet I must blow a grand a month EVERY month on things for my cars I dont need.

Anyone else do similar where just one aspect of your life seems to have no veto on it when it comes to spending, but everything else you are sensible with? (not just cars could be any other hobby)

 

I am just in general terrible with money!

Earn / Spend, Earn / Spend! Always have been and probably always will be!

 

Prett much the same as you Chip

Won't spend more than £40 on Jeans for home/going out (I like Levis, but usually buy 2-3 at a time, this lasts years). Work Jeans, about £8

I won't spend more than, for example:
£40 trainers
£5 a t-shirt unless special, i,e a band tour etc


But when it comes to a car, I always seem to be able to justify it

 

i am terrible with money lol............if i earn £4k a month i seem to be able to spend £4500 lol........... terrible but hey im still 24 and enjoying life .........

and nothing wrong with a nice bottle of bolly Chipster lol

 

When I have the cash, I always go for 3 brand names of clothing, Paul Smith, Turnbull & Asser and Patrick Cox. I like my clothes and when I go out I like to look good, as thats the first thing a lady/girl/women see's.

Thats about it though., I don't spend my money on much else, I'm not one for fancy game consoles, TV's or stereos. You all know I own a shonky sunny, But even that I don't spend much on tbh.

Things may change when get a better wage though.....

 

Invariabley the sort of birds who care what brand clothes a bloke is wearing are the sort of bird I have NO interest in at all normally TBH, Ive never yet met a bird into designer clothes in a big way that has a personality I could tolerate longterm no matter how fit they are or not, and I must confess that other than Paul Smith ive never heard of those people, and wouldnt recognise any of them as any different then a "next" or "tesco" pair anyway if you were wearing their jeans.

 

Its not so much a brand name Chip, Its looking smart. I like the look of Paul Smith clothing as I deem it 'smart', So thats why I buy it.

When you go to chat to a women, What one would you go for? One in a tracksuit or the one in a dress?

 

Primark all the way for clothes i MAY stretch to a pair of levi's if & when i'm earning more money but i just spend my money on crap. Like on saturday i had a bday bbq and i spent £140 on food and bits and had enough food to last the weekend(although thats technically isn't shit it's not going to waste!!!) i spend £20-30 a week on food for lunch at asda's and ebay's claimed some of my wages. I now only have about £40-50 to last me the month. and i still need to save money to get the onion repaired and back on the road!!!
But i don't spend loads when it comes to cars my money go's on whatever i see first!!!!

 

Whichever one I fancied more, couldnt really care less what they are wearing within reason, if they swapped clothes odds are Id still fancy the same one TBH

 

As a relatively new member it does make me chuckle how much other members seem to spend on things.
I guess living on a lower wage, in a relatively poor area gives you a different perspective.

I too would rather spend cash on the car, I always have. I'd walk around in knackered cloths so long as I could buy another part for the car.
Those days are long gone now. Since buying a flat and getting married other things naturally take priority.
I even sold my XR2 because it was more costly to run than an 'ordinary' car - and thats saying something, we aint talking cossies here!

With a mortgage that equates to around 70% of your monthly wage car things suddenly pale into insignificance.
Saying that, I wouldnt have it any other way. Sod living at home and sod moving to london - even if I could double my salary for the same job.

Designer items are for folk with too much cash. I try to look presentable, the misses insists in some cases, but I'm certainly not daft enough to spend £100s on fancy clobber.

 

Ive spunked far far too much into cars over the years, hence the £500 track day shitter which now finds itself doing 2 trackdays a month!!

Plus cos its so cheap, i'm pushing it sooo much harder cos theres less money to lose if it goes a bit "off circuit!!"

I understand totally what you mean chip though.

 

as long as it looks smart and it dont fall apart after a few washes i dont care what make it is tbh.

ive never been into designer stuff really. think the most i spent was £120 on a pair of Red or Dead shoes and tbh they lasted me ages and were well worth the money. as for anything else if its ok and looks ok ill get it.

when i used to go out at night i used to wear jeans and shirt or trousers and a shirt. never scruffy but i would probably spend more out that night that what im wearing.

if i was on stupid amount of money then things would be different

 

The only thing I regret spunking too much into was the x wife
and the money I had to spunk up afterwards

 

I use to just spend spend spend on car and bits for them but now after 10yrs+ & easily 100k on cars & modifying them i've started to look at what i buy and if i really need it.

Its like at the moment i wanna buy a carbon splitter for my Evo but can't justify the cost when all it does is make the front look alittle better it doesn't aid the performance of my car in any way

I buy most of my clothes from River Island and simply cringe when my mates pay £60 for a Hendleys top!

 

earn about £600-£800 (if im lucky) a month in a bar, and most of that goes on the car or just getting pissed, £160 a month insurance, around £120 in petrol, £30-£100 a week on alcohol and i pay my mum £30 a week rent, cant afford clothes

 

dont know how lucky you are mate....wait till you got to pay your own proper rent ......big shock

 

i do it the other way round.. spend far too much on entertainment and therefore the car never gets done!

 

I feel semi responsible for that now! sorry!

 

I suppose it depends on how much free cash you have available. I like nice clothes will spend over £100 on a pair of jeans, jumpers, or shoes. But I'm careful how many items i'll buy.

The same goes for cars.

However, I have a hard time justifying (to the wife) some of the things I buy for the R5 or the cars I buy

 

it should be more than that but i keep telling her im 2 poor

not that lucky either cos we are having loads of building work done so i keep getting disturbed when im trying to sleep after working all night, then when i get up its like oh your up early heres a shovel theres a wheel barrow, get digging boy

 

lol. don't be mate!
it'll get done in the end!

 

fuck it, i spend my money how i want, Im a proper gadget person, i like to have the lastest stuff, PS3's Wii's etc. I got a few ''big boys toys'' such as my RC cars & that. I also like to spend abit of dollar on clothes, im a sucka for trainners LOL


This time last year i was earning a good fucking wage & id just spunk it on crapi dont really need LOL

 

I'm exactly the same, i'm a student with a part-time job, i always think carefully what my money gets spent on if its not for the car, like if i go to the pub i'm always thinking about how much i'm spending on drinks, even if im only having a few pints. Yet the other day i woke up and didn't think twice about buying a personalised plate for my car costing £250 and a set of strut braces costing £100
The thing is i get alot more enjoyment out of spending on the car rather than buying clothes, dvd's etc., so it doesn't bother me to much

 

Chip,

I'm in your camp aswell i daren't add up what i've spent & lost on cars as you all know.. real tears, but i enjoy it at the end of the day, we're nice and comfortable living wise, no kids, mortgade either, (SPEELING) LOL so i try and enjoy what i/we can.

Misses can't see what the facination with cars is, she's given up now.. i'm 42 and still a bid kid....

 

how the fook can you earn 4k a month

 

Chip,
You have described me down to a tee . I see the £1600 we have just spent for the whole family (3) on a week in Cyprus in July as a complete waste of money (that could be better spent on the car ), but amazingly the similar costs that four days at the Ring is not even thought about . Sometimes I know I have to do as I am told though, or I will get divorced .

I'm being told we need a pond at huge expense - I have to bite my lip, as I dare not voice my true opinion and comment on what a waste that is, given the white (and gold) elephant that I own that consumes so much of my time and money .

My name is Mike and I'm a Cossie-aholic .

 

Work hard.

 

Play Harder

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head there mate!

 

dont suffer with that, i am bad in all areas, i just cant stick to a budget, quite bad really as work in purchase

 

I am very good with money, i like nice things but i'm not a designer person. I buy clothes if i like the look of them, if they are designer then thats fine, but i wouldn't buy it because it was designer. I will buy my car what it needs and never scrimp on my car. But i am very sensible and wouldn't ever buy something i couldn't afford.

Stu on the other hand is excessive with stuff for his cars, he likes to have the best of everything for his cars, which isn't a bad thing. But he doesn't ever spend what he hasn't got. He works hard and likes nice things so he should have them. But Stu is like that in all aspects of his life, not just cars! . It's me that's the sensible one with money, so the balance is just right!! As we do have alot of nice things but also don't waste our money

 

What do you do then? Drug dealer?

 

tell her she can have her pond as long as she pays for it Mike, best done by phone
Mike she will not divorce you only cos she can't as she hasn't married you yet
marriage is cheap it's the divorce that will cripple you

 

its a serious question. what do you do then for a living? 4k?

 

I ALWAYS put my car first and before anything, I spend the biggest proportion of my wages every month on the car, except maybe the odd month Iam sorting out a holiday.

Girlfriends dont seem to fully appreciate where I am 'investing' my money though

 

pretty much exactly the same as me. every pay day i order a load more car bits or have it booked in somewhere to have some work done lol

 

and they never will

 

mate when i turned 18, no actually 17 i was earning something like £400 for a 2 days work, Back then i was proper putting the hours in, Getting paid a tenner an hour + travel, putting in like 16 hours shifts a night, ive done 24 before too


& at the end of the week = Mega bucks LOL


anything is possiable

 

You're so right about the amount of distance that would be needed between us if I said anything like that . I'm quite happy with the hole in the ground that we dug for the fish, but she wants a 5,500 gallon biomatic thing .

She will most certainly "divorce" me if I don't do a certain amount of "yes dear, what-ever you want dear" . I know exactly what I need to say / do to keep the piece - and don't mind, as she lets me get away with far more than I should .

 

you could fill the hole back in mike with her in it roflol