Budgets Are Sexy

So I get this email from my boy Aaron this morning, and I wanna get your opinion on it ;)  I’m gonna copy and paste the exact email exchange back and forth because I find it absolutely hysterical, and maddening!!, at the same time.  Take a read and then tell us how YOU feel about it.

It’s safe to say Aaron and I fall on completely different sides of things here, haha…
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AARON: Did you see this? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/garden/playhouses-childs-play-grown-up-cash.html

ME: That is awesome!!!! Hahahhhahha

AARON: Dude, I think its degenerate and immoral.  Why spend like 250,000 on some play house for your kid when you could buy like 5 investment apartments, or buy months worth of food for the entire homeless population of DC.  its insane and degenerate… and while I am on the topic, I feel like shit like that is indicative of the moral decline of the US. There is something seriously wrong with the state of our country when people make obviously jacked up decisions like that. Okay…rant finished.

ME: So you’re against people spending money on things they like? :)

AARON: 250,000 playhouses is [bleeped].   Its more [bleeped] than a room full of monkeys on coke.

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Haha, okay – so first let me explain that yes, of course it’s crazy!  And no, there’s no way I’d ever spend $10 on such a thing, none the less $50,000.  BUT, and this is a huge “but” here (that’s what she said!!), I think everyone should be able to spend their money on whatever it is that’s important to them.  What’s important to you, is not necessarily going to be important to me, or the next person in the room, and I don’t find anything wrong with that.

If they have loads of money and want to “throw it away” as many of us would say, then go for it!  You’ve worked hard for it, and you’re obviously GOOD at making it, but who cares anyways ‘cuz it’s YOUR money!  I’d be pissed if someone told me I can’t spend it on something I really want.  Who are you to tell me that?

And how is spending $XXX amount on something qualify your morals or ethics, anyways?  They didn’t spend it on whore houses or hit men, did they?  People spend money crazily all the time, it doesn’t necessarily reflect whether you’re a good person or not.  (And $hit, even “good person” could be differently perceived depending on who you ask – even my opinion on whore houses). And how do you know they don’t give 250 million away to charity every year, while making these clubhouses?  Would that change your view on it?

Boy, now I’M getting fired up!!! Haha… I think I’ll stop there before I lose my cool ;)  The point is, I think everyone has the right to spend their money however it is they please. Just because you wouldn’t buy whatever interests them, doesn’t mean they can’t (or they should be spat upon because of it).  It’s called “personal” finance for a reason, and we all have the freedom here in America to make those decisions for ourselves.

What do you guys think? Does this push your buttons one way or the other?

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PS:  Aaron and I are still friends, and he’s actually another personal finance blogger ;)  Name is changed out to hide his identity!

(Photo by spencer77

Originally published at budgetsaresexy.com.