How do you guys expense large purchases?

[humandraydel]

I see a lot of posts about getting a room mate. Does that mean
A. people are taking mortgages too early when marriages are not in picture OR
B. people dont get married these days?

My guess is that its A. Does that mean we didnt learn anything from last 2-3 years?

Not sure why A implies we didn't learn anything. Roommates just make financial sense. I'm not married and my mortgage is 1.5x my salary. My monthly payment is slightly less than my rent payment was. I don't have a roommate, but I wouldn't be opposed to one (especially if I already knew them).

[cypher1]

I see a lot of posts about getting a room mate. Does that mean
A. people are taking mortgages too early when marriages are not in picture OR
B. people dont get married these days?

My guess is that its A. Does that mean we didnt learn anything from last 2-3 years?

Whats wrong with having a roommate? While I can easily afford my mortgage without one, I'm not going to argue about additional income for my EF or projects. Luckily they're also my friend who share the same habits and we don't get in each others way.

[MonkeyMama]

Living in a large home, I could easily pay my mortgage with 2 roommates - and I have the room. (meaning 2 renters = mortgage payment - I wouldn't have to pay a dime). It's quite simply an EASY way to save money. (Of course, as a renter, I estimate I saved $50k over 5 years by sharing a space with roommates. That's just the rent).

Of course, roommates come with hassles, but they can really be a gold mine. The only people I know who seriously consider roommates tend to be more frugal minded, anyway. So I wouldn't assume much about taking on roommates = being broke.

[Hector]

Whats wrong with having a roommate? While I can easily afford my mortgage without one, I'm not going to argue about additional income for my EF or projects. Luckily they're also my friend who share the same habits and we don't get in each others way.

Nothing is wrong with having a roommate. In fact its great to have roommate, but I don't think its a good idea if I take mortgage that I can not pay by myself and I'll need to rely on roommate.

[Slug]

To answer a couple of the OP questions:

1) For big ticket items I usually create separate accounts to force savings towards the item(s) in question. You can always raid the account if life situations change during the saving period.

2) You might consider the store credit cards for these purchases if they defer the interest. That way you can make a monthly payment on the item, while letting the rest of the purchase price work for you in a savings acct, and it SMOOTHS your budget graphs while fully capturing the purchase.

[Frugal]

I don't use a formal budget on a regular basis, either. I don't have the discipline, maybe, to enter each and every expense each month into an Excel database spreadsheet. However, I do keep an informal budget, in my memory, and sometimes on paper. I can usually track everything from memory, and I check my balances at least daily. I personally always found Excel to be a pain.