Is there such a thing as being too tight? - Page 2

[crunchy_mommy]

Originally Posted by LoveOurBabies 

Exactly! I thought if I can pull through and still deal, then surely the rest of us can? I think I have a case of the parental guilts. The air conditioner won't be on CC.. It will be on 0% interest (for 36 months) finance but I just hate the thought of owing more money.. when we could save and pay for it outright. The guy leaves upon finishing installation and we pay. Presto! It's ours. Soooo easy. I mean, the mere thought of the current debts are causing enough stress for me. I thought I had my mind made up, but conversations like the one yesterday always throw me in for a loop.. Back at square one. We will have enough saved by next summer fingers, toes and eyelashes crossed. I have a little bit of money in our EF that I could put towards the air conditioner but it's our EF! This is not an emergency (at least in my mind)!

OK this changes everything in my mind! 36 months is 3 years... 3 years before you have to worry about interest. If you'd have the money by next summer, and can be very disciplined/dedicated, you'd have the card paid off a good 2 years before the 0% expires, so you won't pay any interest. Plus you have an emergency fund, so if for some reason you can't pay off the cc before the 3 years is up, you could use the EF for that & still avoid paying interest.

I got migraines every day last month (not due to heat!) and once they finally stopped I felt a million times better, more productive, clearer thinking, etc.! You don't realize how badly they're affecting you until they go away! So to me this *is* kind of an emergency. Plus if your DH feels it's a necessity you need to consider his feelings too.

Twice I have bought things on 0% loans. One was a car I *needed* to get to work (no public transportation and my old car was no longer safe to drive). I made sure to have the money in savings, and absolute certainty that I could pay it off before it went up to some crazy 20% interest or something. One I paid off within a month or two, and the other in about 6 months. If you are 100% committed to it, all it really could affect is your credit rating, which for me wasn't really an issue since that was exactly the kind of situation I need credit for in the first place. Basically you're just buying yourself more time. In the 6 months I waited to pay off the second 0% loan above, I kept the money in a savings account that was getting 4.5% interest so I actually came out ahead doing it this way!

I do think no debt is ideal, but when you have options that likely won't cost you anything extra, it just doesn't make sense to continue to suffer day after day for a year or more! If you are using medication or seeing the doc etc. for the migraines it is actually going to cost you MORE in the long run to not get the A/C right away!

[Poddi]

Ya go get the A/C installed.  Make sure you get a good deal. :D  I'm not sure how hot that is until I checked temperature conversion chart (we all use celsius here).  I'd have a heat stroke everyday and I often brag about my heat tolerance (I have a "tropical" build.). 

*BTW can you send some of that heat and sunlight over to us who are freezing? :)
 

*I think your window unit was not powerful enough to deal with that kind of heat.  It was probably meant to bring temperature like 90 F down to 80 F, which is more typical in temperate regions.  Our portable a/c can do that easily, but we've never had temperature higher than 95 or so.  If you guys have much cooler nights, I'd suggest window fans to bring cool air in. 

[lmonter]

Wow, $4500 is a lot.  But.  I live in a cold climate, I'm cheap, and have never lived/stayed in a house with central a/c (closest we had was a wall unit from the 80's shoved into a hole in the wall of my grandma's living room that we could only run for 18 hours a day during harvest season until it would ice up and freak out). 
At my house, we put up a window a/c in our kitchen window, use a fan to blow the cool air around the house, and at night bust open the windows and shove fans in them to cool down (at night it still gets down to the 50's, occasionally the 60's).  One year when I still desperately needed kids to nap and our bedrooms weren't insulated we had an a/c in their bedroom window, and I rigged up a setup in the upstairs with that, fans, and a blanket hanging from a shower curtain rod in the hallway.  Even if you needed 5 window a/c units, that's still only $1000, if that...  If central a/c isn't the absolute *only* option of course.
 

And yes, the time lost to migraines (when you could be, well, doing whatever) is certainly not free, especially if you have to catch up at some point.  Kind of like the extreme couponing - is it worth it if it takes up 40 hours a week and you need to hire a babysitter?  Just need to weigh the pros and cons.  :D

[A&A]

Originally Posted by mama_b 

I think that if your dh really wants it, and it isn't going to put your family in a horrible situation to buy it, it's really unfair not to take his feelings into consideration.  I would be super pissed if I was suffering in 110 degree weather with no air conditioning and my dh wouldn't "let" me install it because we didn't have all the cash up front.
 

me ,too.

[annethcz]

I was in a similar circumstance, although with far lower temperatures.  Being in the heat made my family MISERABLE.  The kids were crabby, my DH was crabby, I was crabby.  We were lethargic and got very little done during the day, other than sniping at each other.  I spent way too much time away from the house in attempt to get out of the heat.  I spent more money on shopping and gas for the car than I needed to.  We went out to dinner and ordered out more frequently because I was too hot and tired to cook.

After a couple of years without A/C, we decided to take advantage of a program through our electric company and take out a very low-interest loan to pay for an A/C unit.  I can't tell you how much it revolutionized my life. I didn't realize how bad it was until after we got the A/C.

To me, it seems like a no-brainer with the 0% financing.  If you're already saving and think that you'll have enough saved to pay for the A/C upfront next year, taking out a 0% loan that you can pay off before the end of the 3 year loan repayment period. will allow you to get the unit faster, without incurring any negative financial consequences.

[onlyzombiecat]

It would depend on how much time was spent at home for me to say you absolutely need this.  If you spend most of the hottest part of your days at school/work/library/park/mall/pool/etc then maybe the air conditioning at home isn't really that necessary right away and you can save up. If your family is going to be home a lot during these hot days then I would get it now. It is not a luxury item in those kind of conditions.

I spend most of my day at home and do not do well in very hot temperatures. I would prioritize some air conditioning (or heat in cold months) as a basic need since it affects my mood, sleep, and keeps me from doing other things if I am putting all my energy into cooling off enough to function (or trying to stay warm enough to function in winter). We have window air conditioning units in our bedrooms and living room.

[justmama]

I wanted to change my mind when I heard about the 0% interest financing but then I thought, "hmmmm, would I do it personally???"  Probably not.  I mean, I HAAAAATE debt.  It hangs over your head like a black cloud.  I'm poor.  I can't pay debt.  I HAVE to live within my means because there are no credit cards for me.  I paid of my debt and chopped my cards a couple years ago and haven't taken out another since.  And even if it's 0% interest, I would still panic about a large sum of debt hanging over my head like and anvil waiting to drop.  I would be under so much daily stress until it was paid off that i think it would be almost preferable to deal with the heat instead.