Marriage Proposal or Car...my lil rant

[Bonnie]

Originally Posted by "prima"Donna

Am I right, Camaro5 ladies??!!...

Now back to your regularly scheduled Camaro5 viewing and posting.....

Tell him Donna!!! You go girl!!!!

Originally Posted by Steve Dallas

I suppose I should have put the joke tag on that...I'd have thought I'd been on here long enough for most of you to know when I'm kidding, lol.

I think you really stirred that pot pretty well!!!!

[Iroczlover]

Originally Posted by UT-Enginner

Just wanted to get my fellow C5 member's opinions/thoughts/advice. I've had my car for a little over 3 months now and I love it. It has not even crossed my once to trade it or ever get rid of it! .... Until today ... for the first time It actually came to my head how expensive a marriage proposal (and the things that come with it) can be. As I was pricing engagement rings online all I can think was !!! There goes 4 to 5 months of car payments. I dont think I can go that long with out my Camaro. I didn't plan on proposing to my GF when I made the deal on the car but maybe I should have put the car off just a bit longer. I guess you can't have everything you want right??? well at least not all at once.

For those that are married, what is a good range that you should spend on an engagement ring?

Well, as i continue to ponder on my situation, I'm going to do everything possible to have both. If I had tons of money to blow this obviously wouldnt be an issue but the car payment is just one of a list of bills I have.

Any thoughts? lol

zhawk says to keep renting its cheaper lol

[Iroczlover]

Originally Posted by "prima"Donna

Wow!!!...that comment doesn't sound 'too sexist'...

Not all women are all about shoes, clothes, and shopping...

I personally hate shopping...always have...

I shop because I need stuff, not as a hobby...

Please don't stereotype all women with spending time at the mall with their girlfriends...that is offensive to most of the ladies here, I'm sure...

Please think before you speak...it may have been YOUR experience with YOUR woman, but it doesn't apply to all of us...

Am I right, Camaro5 ladies??!!...

Now back to your regularly scheduled Camaro5 viewing and posting.....

wel said around here I go with out new clothes for nearly a year or more , Heck most of the time I spend the most on shoes & those are work boats, then the pants, of course my shirts my boss bitches at me alot lol.

you guys want to know how zhawk asked me to married him????

he took me 4 wheeling in his geo metro & got me down to the beach, asked me to marry him & that was the end of that lol 17yrs later we are still married lol

[guiLT]

Originally Posted by "prima"Donna

Wow!!!...that comment doesn't sound 'too sexist'...

Not all women are all about shoes, clothes, and shopping...

I personally hate shopping...always have...

I shop because I need stuff, not as a hobby...

Please don't stereotype all women with spending time at the mall with their girlfriends...that is offensive to most of the ladies here, I'm sure...

Please think before you speak...it may have been YOUR experience with YOUR woman, but it doesn't apply to all of us...

Am I right, Camaro5 ladies??!!...

Now back to your regularly scheduled Camaro5 viewing and posting.....

Even though im a dude. I have to agree with Donna. My 13 year old daughter is 100% not girly. Her main responses...

" Hey you wanna go get some new school clothes at Hollister? " " NOOOO! D:< "

" Wanna go to the Car show down the road? " " YEAH! LETS GO! "

[hot ss]

her GF's will judge you on the size of the rock.
dont splurge too big, but dont cheap out.

2 months salary. then you can string her along for a couple more years. its kinda like a downpayment on selling your soul to the bridal devil. heh.

[UT-Engineer]

Hey all, well I thought long and hard about this last night and I have decided I will propose sometime soon. From my OP I wasnt simply saying I couldnt afford both the car payment and an engagement ring but I do realize money doesn't grow on trees. What I should have stated originally is that I could afford both but would still like to live comfortably, as I am doing now, and not be living on a paycheck to paycheck basis. After doing an in-depth budget, I have cut out my miscellaneous expenses and will free up some small bills by paying them off in July. With that extra cash flow I will be able to afford the car payment, my studnet loans (which BTW will not be going away anytime soon lol), rent, buy a ring, and still have some left over for personal expenses. I greatly appreciate all the tips, advice, and inspirational comments. Thanks!!!

[Pumpkin1LT]

Originally Posted by UT-Enginner

Hey all, well I thought long and hard about this last night and I have decided I will propose sometime soon. From my OP I wasnt simply saying I couldnt afford both the car payment and an engagement ring but I do realize money doesn't grow on trees. What I should have stated originally is that I could afford both but would still like to live comfortably, as I am doing now, and not be living on a paycheck to paycheck basis. After doing an in-depth budget, I have cut out my miscellaneous expenses and will free up some small bills by paying them off in July. With that extra cash flow I will be able to afford the car payment, my studnet loans (which BTW will not be going away anytime soon lol), rent, buy a ring, and still have some left over for personal expenses. I greatly appreciate all the tips, advice, and inspirational comments. Thanks!!!

I might be able to help you out! I have a loose white diamond (1/3C) I will sell to you dirt CHEAP. You would have to get it set, but that is fairly inexpensive and easy to do. I also have a 2.5C red Labadorite heart shaped stone..which is AMAZING...not a diamond, but very different and could be used to make a stunning engagement ring..sell that too you dirty cheap too. And since we are both in SATX I can show then to you at one of the TGIF meets. I do have another set (my original set) not sure if my heart will allow me to part with it..since it's my first set from my hubby. I ddnt get the "expensive" set till our 7 year anniversary. We didn't spend slot of money on all that stuff..just a simple set and the JP. When you love each other those things don't matter.... PM me if you would like to see what I have. To a fellow SATX C5 member in love, I'll be willing to practically give them to you.

Let me know! . And congrats! The hubby and I are on 10 years next month!

~Steph

[SlingShot]

Originally Posted by PQ

Bonnies ring cost around 6 to 900 dollars. I can't remember. We bought it together. And payed for it together. We were young and knew we had to prepare for important things. And wedding rings are NOT important.

18 years and still going with our cheap ring.

That's the way to do it ... Did the same thing here, not really young and this is my second time around. Think we spent a couple hundred bucks and replaced her bling years later with something better.

Still going strong after 23 years, and am starting to plan that cruise for the 25th ...

[motorhead]

All this advice is great. I almost cried a couple of times ,but if you want the best advice I can think of, DON'T GET MARRIED. Keep the car, shack of with the girl, and buy a boat with all the money you'll save.

[SSPooler2010]

I think the rule(Jewelry Stores want you to believe anyway) with the ring is 3 months worth of Salary. Honestly, save up for and buy what you can AFFORD. There is no sense in putting yourself into major debt for a ring. Dave saved up and bought me a HUGE rock. The one I picked out was much much smaller. However I got the rock and not the big wedding. Always remember you can upgrade her diamond at important milestones of the marriage. A good tip though is find a jewelry store that has the trade in policy, so when you do upgrade you trade in her other ring and get the purchase price of that ring toward the next ring. That is how Hannoush Jewelers does it in MA anyway.

Lastly, if you really truly love the car, don't get rid of it. She will not want to be the reason you gave up something that you love that much. Not to mention you will not want to be bitter about what you had to sacrifice to put that ring on her finger.

[kryptonian]

i just got remarried, so heres my advice:

dont go for a diamond. find out her fav stone, in this case my girls was a blue sapphire. had jareds build be a ring with the stone and after all in all, it came out to be 1,200 bucks. trust me, it looks better than any engagement ring that any of her friends have.

and, if shes looking for a big rock...ditch her man, shes not worth it. find the girl that says she doesnt want anything big but also says i dont need a ring to marry you. thats the girl for you. one that would just be happy to be with you.

[UT-Engineer]

Originally Posted by kryptonian

i just got remarried, so heres my advice:

dont go for a diamond. find out her fav stone, in this case my girls was a blue sapphire. had jareds build be a ring with the stone and after all in all, it came out to be 1,200 bucks. trust me, it looks better than any engagement ring that any of her friends have.

and, if shes looking for a big rock...ditch her man, shes not worth it. find the girl that says she doesnt want anything big but also says i dont need a ring to marry you. thats the girl for you. one that would just be happy to be with you.

Thx. She's not looking for a big rock at all. She is fine with the plain and simple promise ring i gave her back then. But she is definately worthy of a big rock lol. I understand where ur coming from though and thanks for the Jared idea! Ill def. look into it! congrats on the re-marriage

[kryptonian]

Originally Posted by UT-Enginner

Thx. She's not looking for a big rock at all. She is fine with the plain and simple promise ring i gave her back then. But she is definately worthy of a big rock lol. I understand where ur coming from though and thanks for the Jared idea! Ill def. look into it! congrats on the re-marriage

thanks mang. also i opened up a jarreds account. only cause i knew i was going to purchase the bands from there as well. helped out, plus when im done paying them off, my credit score goes up

[Mark A Collier Sr]

The things that a lot of new couples don't understand is that you are starting a new life together. Ya'll are young with limited incomes. Everyone thinks that you have to have a huge wedding, big rings, fancy this and fancy that! What most people do not think about is that by doing that, you would be setting yourself up to start that new life together in DEBT. Most people don't have that kind money. The old the engagement ring/set should be a third of your year salary rule... HOGWASH!
I had about $10K of debt my then girlfriend had $18K of debt when we got married. We had $50 bucks to get rings. We were in love and wanted to be together so we went to JOP and got married. Then went to work! lol Now... 24 years later Things are still great because we did not bury ourselves deeper in debt that we were.

As far as the car or marrage... I had a 83 Firebird TA when we got married. It was out only car for almost 8 years (till we were getting ready to have our 3rd kid). I miss that car! It sucked to go from that to a ford taurus! lol

Keep your car. Keep your girl! Don't bury yourselves in debt and a whole lot of options will be open to you and your new wife!