Facing the adult decisions

Now that we both have normal jobs, we have normal incomes. This means we can actually buy some things outside of our normal food-and-rent budget. Neither of us are all that used to it yet. At first we bought some necessary stuff, like a car that can go uphill, and raincoats. That was pretty exciting and proved very useful, so we took it a step further and bought some expensive booze and wardrope updates. Then we realized we could even afford eating out and going to movies and a vacation.

It all worked out really well, so now we're ramping it up a notch.

My Studly Hubby really really wants a new TV. We can afford it, and we've never bought a TV before (thanks to his Studly Parents and their generous TV donation). But here's the problem: he has high standards. And when he explained his reasoning to me, I found out that I have high standards too. We want a really awesome TV. I'm talking totally awesome. My mom was no help. She encouraged it. And so did his co-workers and all our friends. In fact, it turns out that nobody can give me a good reason not to buy this totally freaking awesome TV. Except this little voice in my head that's saying "really? do you really watch that much TV?" We probably don't (if we did, I'd be embarrassed). But what we do watch would be really grand to watch on this totally awesome TV, let me tell you.

Plus, I feel like it's my obligation to my country to put our tax refund this spring right back into the economy, you can't argue with that, right?

And another big decision that comes with having money: where and how much does one donate to charity? We've been festering over this for a while, it's a tough decision! A friend recently helped us out: the National Lung Association is hosting a bike ride fundraiser in the fall - if we do it then we can raise money for their cause AND donate some of our own money AND have a blast biking around the San Juan Islands. But the whole idea blows my mind: raise money for charity? Until recently, I would have laughed at the idea. Now I'm thinking, hm, that's a good idea!

Wow, I feel like we're making such adult decisions!