[quote=“Durins Bane”]Mr. He,
One of the best things that ever happened to me was having the Mrs. take care of my money.[/quote]
You are a succesful businessman, right?
Well, if I got my missus to look after my cash, I would end up with a raped bank account and a well decorated house.
To each his own, I say.
allowing a psycho xiaojie to extort cash from you, saying you’ve wronged him and owe him money. “If I give you the money, will you shut the f*k up?”
You say that, but you don’t mean it.
[quote=“Mr He”][quote=“Durins Bane”]Mr. He,
One of the best things that ever happened to me was having the Mrs. take care of my money.[/quote]
You are a succesful businessman, right?
Well, if I got my missus to look after my cash, I would end up with a raped bank account and a well decorated house.
To each his own, I say.[/quote]
Well, there was one time I came home and the Mrs. announced that she spent $20,000NT on a Gucci bag or some other lady’s shit like that. Why spend that kind of money on some bag to carry your hanky in when she could have spent the money on something really necessary…like that hand painted 28mm castle that our household really needs.
If I earned NT$500k per month, and I handed over a fixed amount of that for the household expenses, she could come home with a pink ferrari and a diamond-studded housecoat for all I care.
What to do if you are making 500K a month is to tell the Mrs. you are making 250K per month and she is to be given 30K a month to run the household. The rest, well…
There is sometimes a difference between “reported” income and “actual” income. 
If I told my missus that I made NT$250k per month, then an NT$30k household allowance would be greeted with a fist in the eye (my eye, that is).
My wife does not know how much I earn, but she has a rough idea. The same the other way around.
I believe that the fixed allowance model is good, as long as both parties know what the figures and the budgets are. I would not hand over all earnings with slips etc to her, but I guess that you just hand over the “reported” part, right?
That said, I hand over most of my earnings for household expenses.
[quote=“scooter”]Some more to add to the list:
That’s getting closer to the mark for me. Gulityof 1-4. But still, I don’t think that explains our poverty. Asking me “how do you stay so poor” is like asking those 120 year old ladies how they do it - I’m an expert, but I don’t have the answers.
Brian
[quote=“Mr He”]I would say that we would need at least NT$140k plus a month in combined income before we would be able to build some decent savings up.
But well, that will come…[/quote]
It ain’t gonna come… you gotta go git it!
You’ll stay poor waiting for it to come to you.
[quote=“Mr He”][quote=“Durins Bane”]Mr. He,
One of the best things that ever happened to me was having the Mrs. take care of my money.[/quote]
You are a succesful businessman, right?
Well, if I got my missus to look after my cash, I would end up with a raped bank account and a well decorated house.
To each his own, I say.[/quote]
The biggest mistake of my life was allowing my ex-wife to control the finances. We finished up with a very large home decorated in a peculiar Chinese-peasant-was-given-too-much-money-and-began-having-pretensions-to-being-European style! Other expenses were out-of-control and rose constantly with little or no regard to rises and falls in income.
Durins,
Pleased to hear it’s working out for you but, trust me, it does not work for everybody.
Cheers
Hey BQ,
It works too well. “I’m flat broke…are you gonna finish that beer?” If you ever see some goofy looking foreigner licking tabletops at bars because he can’t afford to buy a beer…you know it is me.
[quote=“tigerman”][quote=“Mr He”]I would say that we would need at least NT$140k plus a month in combined income before we would be able to build some decent savings up.
But well, that will come…[/quote]
It ain’t gonna come… you gotta go git it!
You’ll stay poor waiting for it to come to you.[/quote]
I know that your :moo:
[quote=“scooter”]3. Calling people’s cell phones and talking for a long time (instead of calling their land lines, or using a company phone to make the call)
[/quote]
These days I only use my cellphone to take incoming calls. If I want to call someone, I use a payphone. A 100NT payphone card that lasts longer than adding another 300NT credits to my cellphone - there’s a quick save of a couple hundred NT every time I make a phone call. In the long run, it really adds up.
[quote=“mod lang”]These days I only use my cellphone to take incoming calls. If I want to call someone, I use a payphone. A 100NT payphone card that lasts longer than adding another 300NT credits to my cellphone - there’s a quick save of a couple hundred NT every time I make a phone call. In the long run, it really adds up.[/quote]Your cellphone has a pay-as-you-go SIM card? Calls made with those are literally twice as expensive as those made with a contract pay-a-monthly-bill SIM card. When I first came here I was on pay-as-you-go. It was actually cheaper for me to call the UK, using an international calling card, than to call people in Taiwan. Now I have a contract, it’s half the price (although still a little pricey).
I don’t have a mobile telephone. Damned things!
[quote=“Bu Lai En”]But still, I don’t think that explains our poverty. Asking me “how do you stay so poor” is like asking those 120 year old ladies how they do it - I’m an expert, but I don’t have the answers.
Brian[/quote]
“So Edna, today’s your 125th birthday. How do you do it?”
“If I knew how to do something like that on purpose, do you think I’d look like this?”
I think I am at a disadvantage because I had a crappy kitchen so I have to eat out every day and am surrounded by all sorts of Western fast food restaurants, literally no more than a 5-minute walk to 6 different popular chains. And my addiction to taking a taxi everywhere is not helping me. And being an avid reader, picking up an average of 3 books a month doesn’t help either.
It’s a good thing I spend my free time on forumosa.com instead of having a life or else I’d really be in trouble.
[quote=“Bu Lai En”]me “how do you stay so poor” is like asking those 120 year old ladies how they do it - I’m an expert, but I don’t have the answers.
Brian[/quote]
Good analogy.
As an avid reader, here’s a simple solution:
GET A LIBRARY CARD
Even if you have to pay a fee it’s cheaper in the long run.
Eating out is actually cheaper than cooking in your own kitchen IF you eat CHINESE food. 45 NT for a lunchbox with 3 veggies & a side of fish/meat - great deal. 50 NT for chicken & rice, or a bowl of guo sao yi-mien (that’s hot seafood/cabbage noodles). 3 square a day, that’s less than a couple hundred NT daily.