There is saying that "Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work." Well I guess I've had a lot of good intentions. For years I told myself that I would get back into playing the piano, but just didn't have time because I was in school, then I was working, then I was, uh, I ran out of excuses. So in February I started taking piano lessons again. At first I almost cried at how much I had lost with being 6 years out of practice. Now, my sight reading is back and I am working my way through Bach's Inventions again. I'm nowhere near where I used to be, but its a good first step. With the plan of moving to law school in the coming year I don't want to invest in a couple of hundred pounds of household goods by buying a piano, but borrowing my brother-in-laws 3/4 sized keyboard just isn't cutting it. I grew up playing a 5'-6" baby grand Boston piano and the keyboard has no action and not all of the keys. I'm debating finding a used piano to buy or just spending the money on a nice keyboard. As much as I want a brand new piano, its not the best financial decision as they don't retain their value. I was so tempted when I found out that I could get a below retail piano from a local dealer who is retired. He sells piano's at below retail because he no longer has the overhead of a store or employees and merely uses a catalog out of his house. For people who know what they want it is a great option. I don't need to sit down at a piano and try it out, I just need to pick a size and brand that meets by ability and needs. Plus, this month Kawai is having factory rebates which would be on top of the killer price.
I am really trying to make savvy financial decisions and save every penny. My friends think we're nuts, living on a student budget with two engineer incomes coming in. In reality, I'm just making it so that I have less debt when I go back to school. I'm changing my need for loans by saving up the money for law school in advance rather than spending the money on new furniture, new cars, new pianos and all the other nice things that we can technically afford but don't need. Don't even get me started on buying a house. We had our taxes done this year and for the first time ever had to pay money rather than get some back. My first thought was, oh, wouldn't it be nice to have mortgage interest to be able to deduct? However, our rent free situation living somewhere where we pay only utilities and taxes saves us way more money than the amount we would save on our taxes. Having my own home is more of a gut desire than an actual need. In the meantime its nice to watch our little egg grow larger. It will be a real kick in the gut when I have enough money for school and look at in the bank and say, hmmm...do I want a house paid for in cash or do I want to spend this all over the next three years on a degree? I really hope my plan to go to law school doesn't become a good intention after faced with the financial reality. In the meantime I'll continue to be as frugal as possible. It's a good habit to get into.
