Saturday 10 February 2001

Pic of the day: A random pile of CDs from the time when I just bought and bought them. These days, it would probably be something else...

If I had more money

Monday is payday. So this is a good time for me to log on to my favorite Netbank, SkandiaBanken, and queue up my bills for payment. (And no wonder it is my favorite bank, with 7.3% interest on all deposits all the time, with no fee on payment either over the net or in shop or from minibank [ATM]. This is almost too good to be true.)

There was a phone bill again. Actually two, but the one for the talk phone is very modest. The one for the computer connection was over NoK 2000 ($220), admittedly for 3 months. Still, a bit on the up side. I've been rather active on the Net this winter, I guess. This is likely to continue. I often consider changing my ISP, but the sad fact is that the cheap competitor, NetCom, is slower and less stable. At best I use it after midnight, when they're less than half price. I may try Tele2, who I have only the best experiences with for ordinary international voicephone.

Then there's the credit card. Regular readers will remember the yule shopping fest. I'm still working it off. SuperWoman will not be back until one more payday. Of course, other things may happen in the meantime, bringing sudden and unforeseen expenses. Credit cards are nice to have, but particularly if you don't actually need them.

The electricity bill was fairly moderate, the next one may be higher. It's a funny side effect of cold weather that when everyone uses more power, the price goes way up. Heh. Luckily it didn't last long, and luckily my flat is triple-insulated.

***

Even such a simple thing as paying my bills, I cannot do without thinking. After I added the rent, I noticed that there won't be a lot of money sloshing around for fun this month. Well, there never is, by the measures of the upper middle class. I'm quite a bit lower on the income scale ... I never had to worry about the "top tax" which people whine about here in Norway. Nor shall I ever need to.

It's a lifestyle choice, I guess. I don't particularly like my workplace, but it has flexible working hours, and nice coworkers. And there's not a lot of stress, once you hold firmly in your mind that the whole workplace is unnecessary and a result of legislative stupidity accumulated over generations. Going to work knowing that it doesn't really matter is kind of liberating. The housewife pay is the downside. But how much of a downside? Probably less than one would believe.

When I had recently started working, my pay was even lower. I worked with people at the time, and I remember the pensioneers whining over how little money they had, while their pensions after tax were higher than my wages after tax. I quickly gave up on buying new furniture, and instead got the current collection from flea markets and friends who bought new. I would not be surprised if some of my furniture is older than me. I know I've had some of it since SuperWoman was a toddler, and it was used then. It taught me that you don't need to keep up with the neighbors. Chairs are for sitting, not for displaying your status like some peabrained peacock trying to impress the chicks.

***

As my income gradually rose over the years, so did my expenses. Now isn't that funny? I had read that this would happen, but it was fascinating to see it. One fad would follow another, and most of them cost new money. After I bought my first CD player, for instance, I used to buy several CDs a month. That's bound to hurt. Luckily, I eventually got enough. It would probably take me weeks just to play through the collection. Not that I even like it all anymore. Now I buy only one or two, months apart. The last half year I've bought one by Marc Anthony (because SW loves one of the songs and I love SW, sort of, kind of platonically in an odd way). I think that's it, for myself.

After I got my own PC, I bought a couple computer games each month. But I've already told this once a year or so, haven't I? The lazy days, and the crazes and the fads. Eventually I got the Internet, and now there's the phone bills. (I can't wait for this anime fad to subside. I think I was online like 5 hours today, downloading. At least I learn a lot about Japanese culture this way. Uh, that is the real Japanese culture we see there, yes?)

So what I'm trying to say is, if I earned a lot more money, I'd use a lot more money too. In fact, judging from my own experience before I got scared, and from other people I see, I'd probably spend about $120 more for each $100 more I earned. Yes, it is scary. It's like Smith's Friends used to sing when I was young: "Lystene tiltar i pengenes spor" - the desires increase in the wake of the money. They were certainly right on target there. Remind me to listen to pious mystics if I need financial advice in the future.

Of course, this may not be restricted to my own desires. I'm sure SuperWoman and her extended family would be happy to help me apply any extra money (SHOPPING SPREEEEE!) and of course, there's the whole webcam issue. Now that would be something to inflame desire worldwide, wouldn't it? Heh. Just kidding!

But I'm not kidding when I say that expenses tend to increase along with the income, and then some. I've seen it over and over again. It happened to lots of Norwegians in the "yuppie time" in the 1980es, and now it's happening again. Take care!