Anonymous wrote:I need to buy clothes for RTO after being fully remote for the last 5 years. But I really hate spending the money under the circumstances.

Do what we did when we were in office back in 2010, shop at Ross. Fed employees weren't sporting Versace suits that's for sure but many did splurge on Kirkland.

I need to buy clothes for RTO after being fully remote for the last 5 years. But I really hate spending the money under the circumstances.

For me it’s smaller purchases that add up quickly that I’m putting off — filing my own nails and keeping them simple instead of going to the nail salon, waiting much much longer between getting my hair cut and colored (I usually do balayage which I find I can get away with doing only a few times a year if necessary), no new clothes instead focus on better organizing my closet, like everyone else cut way back on eating out.

Anonymous wrote:20-30K in spending is on hold. Cash is king.

it’s not really. Bitcoin and gold is king.

20-30K in spending is on hold. Cash is king.

Wow this thread kind of went off the rails. Go to the home improvement forum if you want to discuss your kitchen reno. I’m feeling the same stress as you, OP. We just canceled a planned trip to London, which would have been our family’s first time overseas, and plan to fire our cleaning service tomorrow. I feel terrible about the latter and hope there are private sector families who will keep these folks in business.

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Anonymous wrote:I don't really get renovations for cosmetic reasons. Everyone wants the trendiest kitchen, the latest this or that...And then it becomes obsolete, and repeat. It's a waste of money and materials. Most of the world does not do any of this.

it's called quality of life. If you can afford it, who cares

Enduring a lengthy, costly, stressful renovation will have a huge negative effect on QOL. (DP.) Humans don’t actually need or desire these things. They are just brainwashed by marketers to think they do. If you sit around all day being annoyed at your old kitchen, you’ve been had.

It’s fine to want and have nice things that you worked hard for. Are you going to take your money with you when you go?

No, I just understand that a new kitchen (or anything new) only makes you happy briefly, then the situation and dopamine normalizes, and then you go looking for your next hit. It’s well understood.

So you don't own anything you actually like and appreciate? You can't think of one thing?

NP- Is this 1 mil a year person feeling defensive? If so, it's silly. The point is that huge (to people with normal salaries) purchases are rarely, if ever, a good idea financially. It doesn't mean you live in total austerity at all times and never treat yourself to something.

The oligarchs are shocked to find out that causing mass job/economic instability results in less consumer confidence.

Consumers haven’t been confident in much of the US in years. Welcome to the club.

The Federal Government is the largest employer in the US.

And?

People voted for this because of the economy—the economy Democrats insisted over and over was fine. Thanks!

Nope. They voted because of migrants and wokism. And everyone hated Kamala. The economy wasn’t bad enough to foil an election. Trust me, if Trump oversaw Biden’s, he would have been boasting.

Trust you? Nobody does. Haven’t you got the message yet?

Anonymous wrote:Definitely being more cautious. Was going to do an addition to the house but no way as tariffs will cause building supplies to go up in price. Not going to renovate the bathrooms for the same reason. Just going to keep saving that money.

We are doing a kitchen reno as well as upgrades and needed maintenance from May-July. Our budget is $200K. We have been in the house for five years and plan to sell in five years, and the upgrades and reno have been planned for a while. Our house is worth about $2M and is in an NYC suburb. It’s on the smaller side and these upgrades will make it a lot better for our family of five. We bought the appliances at the end of 2024 and locked in our cabinets and costs.

The upside of having a small house is that increases in the prices of materials do not hit as hard. We’re both in the private sector with limited exposure to political dysfunction professionally at this point in time. That said, if the economy tanks and we need to stay in our home longer than planned we will at least like our home more.

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Anonymous wrote:I don't really get renovations for cosmetic reasons. Everyone wants the trendiest kitchen, the latest this or that...And then it becomes obsolete, and repeat. It's a waste of money and materials. Most of the world does not do any of this.

it's called quality of life. If you can afford it, who cares

Enduring a lengthy, costly, stressful renovation will have a huge negative effect on QOL. (DP.) Humans don’t actually need or desire these things. They are just brainwashed by marketers to think they do. If you sit around all day being annoyed at your old kitchen, you’ve been had.

It’s fine to want and have nice things that you worked hard for. Are you going to take your money with you when you go?

No, I just understand that a new kitchen (or anything new) only makes you happy briefly, then the situation and dopamine normalizes, and then you go looking for your next hit. It’s well understood.

So you don't own anything you actually like and appreciate? You can't think of one thing?

NP- Is this 1 mil a year person feeling defensive? If so, it's silly. The point is that huge (to people with normal salaries) purchases are rarely, if ever, a good idea financially. It doesn't mean you live in total austerity at all times and never treat yourself to something.

The oligarchs are shocked to find out that causing mass job/economic instability results in less consumer confidence.

Consumers haven’t been confident in much of the US in years. Welcome to the club.

The Federal Government is the largest employer in the US.

And?

People voted for this because of the economy—the economy Democrats insisted over and over was fine. Thanks!

Nope. They voted because of migrants and wokism. And everyone hated Kamala. The economy wasn’t bad enough to foil an election. Trust me, if Trump oversaw Biden’s, he would have been boasting.

Anonymous wrote:I don't really get renovations for cosmetic reasons. Everyone wants the trendiest kitchen, the latest this or that...And then it becomes obsolete, and repeat. It's a waste of money and materials. Most of the world does not do any of this.

+1 Yes. We've made quite a bit in real estate over the years and we've never renovated. We bought in up and coming areas. Current home is quite outdated but we have a lot of equity and it's in a desirable area.

We were going to replace patio doors, but now that I hear of Canada not exporting aluminium, steel and wood, I think we’ll wait.