Obscene question of the day: What's the most money you've ever spent in one month?

I don't mean on a credit card or borrowed cash. How much of your own hard-earned savings have you ever shelled out in the space of one calendar month? The month of August isn't over yet, but we're over the $1,000 mark. By a few thousand. Add a bit more. OK, we spent three years' savings this month.

I've handled more in my life... I worked at a London rail station for a few years and pulled in over £100,000 two days running. Mind you, most of that was in credit card transactions and it was right before Christmas so maybe not. Never mind. I've never spent more than a few hundred of my own moolah at any one time. Until this month.

But hey, what's the use of having it if you're never going to spend it?

Beth's old Honda is seven years old, so we have been thinking of small SUVs for some time now. It was either going to be another Honda (the CR-V) or a 2005 Subaru Forester 2.5X. Thanks to the side impact rating in Consumer Reports, the Subaru won out. We fell in love with the Pearl Blue one on the lot and ended up buying it. Nearly fifty percent down and financing for four years.

As you may know from reading these web-log entries, we've been looking for a house. The breaking point came when we looked at the house with Duct tape keeping the bathroom tiles on the wall. So we looked at a plot of land for sale and we liked it enough to put in a bid. The bid was accepted, so we had a choice. Finance, or savings? Well, paying outright means we have one less bill to worry about. If we do see a house we like in the interim, we can sell the land... but we want to build our dream place, and owning the land gives us a sense of freedom. Including the closing costs and filing the deed at the Courthouse, that took the biggest chunk out of the savings.

I don't feel bad about it because it's what we were saving for anyway.

Oh, then the window wouldn't close on the Civic so we needed that put back on its tracks. The people at Burne Honda said they couldn't see it for a week but Beth had a word with them and it was done by mid-day the next day. She's great like that. The boys at the garage noticed the rattle under the car we've had and saw a loose plate near the exhaust so they fixed that into place for us too. Then they gave us a 10% discount for the parts. Nice one, gentlemen.

Listen : Float On - Modest Mouse ... Tax Loss - Mansun ... Dollars & Cents - Radiohead...