site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   3063 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 23, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Ah jeez. Damned near nothing. About 25% mortgage, 10% food, 25% savings, another 15% for utilities, insurance, etc. I give the wife 10% to do whatever she wants with no questions asked. The rest seems to consistently vanish because of random medical bills (dental crowns are expensive), mechanical bills, or home improvement projects.

At the end of the month, I splurge on myself between $100 and $200, or roughly 1-2% of my monthly take home pay. It tends to go either towards a tool and/or rough lumber, a video game, whiskey or cigars.

When I get my Christmas bonus at the end of the year, I tend to splurge on one big ticket item for myself and save the rest. Last year I bought a Dewalt thickness planer. The year before that I bought an Ikea computer desk for my retro computers. This year I'm eyeballing either an 8" benchtop jointer or a 48KG Kettlebell.

25% on your mortgage seems really low. Is it?

I donno. It's the only mortage I've ever had.

I feel like once upon a time, having your mortgage be 25% of your take home pay was conventional wisdom. A quick googling shows I'm not totally hallucinating, as it appears here Lifestyle inflation has obviously changed that over the years. But I'm old school, so I made the necessary sacrifices to stick with it. So far it's working out well for my family. We stick to a budget, but it's not suffocating. There are things we'd like, and we can't do all of it. But there is nothing we truly hurt for. We're saving adequately for emergencies, repairs, retirement, school, etc.

Something like 30-35% was the official Canadian stress test number, at least until recently -- they may have backed off of this now that condos are high six figures in any major city, but I wouldn't be surprised if 25% was the traditional number from like the 80s or something.

Wow, this helps explain your lack of tools in your woodworking posts. Didn’t realize I had it so good with a DINK lifestyle, these responses are making me rethink how grateful I should be!

Yeah, going from DINK to SIWK has been an adjustment. Less so for me because that's how I grew up, and it's remarkable how you just grok that lifestyle when you grew up in it. My wife less so. Grew up with two working parents who made up for their lack of time with her by buying thing.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats