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Love it! 👍👍👍
Curt
What kind of accountant are you? That's an additional expense! 
My wife laughed her head off.
But what I want secretly is (and I would pay handsomely) is a box that turns invisible when I pick it up to sneak it into the train room.
I've heard that gift cards to shoe stores can make a train invisible .
What you need is "Critical Mass" Once net mass reaches Critical Mass it is no longer possible to detect additional mass. j
Instead of fudging the actual cost figures to your spouse simply tell them what the purchase is actually worth (now that you own it). 
The sold prices at train shows will demonstrate what our stuff is really worth. It seems like the majority of model trains lose as much % value when leaving the train store as a typical car loses when you leave the dealer's lot.
So often our self assessed valuation is influenced by the investment mentality of the 80's.
Add to that, hard core model RRers are passing on at a rate that is flooding the secondary market.
IMO, it seems to help explain why some mfgs projects are so slow to make it to the market or never make it at all. Excess inventory at importers and dealers and slow sales may cause second guessing at the thought of new developments.
Save your money. This country has one of the lowest saving rates of the leading world economies.
Tom Tee posted:Instead of fudging the actual cost figures to your spouse simply tell them what the purchase is actually worth (now that you own it).
The sold prices at train shows will demonstrate what our stuff is really worth. It seems like the majority of model trains lose as much % value when leaving the train store as a typical car loses when you leave the dealer's lot.
So often our self assessed valuation is influenced by the investment mentality of the 80's.
Add to that, hard core model RRers are passing on at a rate that is flooding the secondary market.
IMO, it seems to help explain why some mfgs projects are so slow to make it to the market or never make it at all. Excess inventory at importers and dealers and slow sales may cause second guessing at the thought of new developments.
Save your money. This country has one of the lowest saving rates of the leading world economies.
I think this is one of those tongue in cheek topics. No need to get too serious.
Like Iv'e said, "My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell all my stuff for what I told her I paid for it"
If you need to hide the purchases, just start a train repair business. When a box comes in, I can just call it a repair, once it gets down in the basement, there's no telling where it went. 
As long as some boxes also get shipped out, all is well. 
All kidding aside, I don't have to lie to my wife about my purchases, so this idea is only for those of you that do.
JohnActon posted:What you need is "Critical Mass" Once net mass reaches Critical Mass it is no longer possible to detect additional mass. j
Once critical mass is achieved, everything explodes and vaporizes, unless my science is wrong.
As I've said many times before, in the context of what is legal, moral, courteous, responsible and ethical, I do what I want, buy what I want, whenever I want. My hobby is my business but my wife is thankfully supportive. If she weren't she gets no vote anyway so why worry about it? You've got to be manly!
If you have to lie to the Mrs about a harmless hobby, your problems are of more import than can be discussed here.
Regardless, that caused me to laugh out loud at an inappropriate time.
It's very funny. I think once hand wrote a receipt for a guy at a train lhat had some numbers misplaced.
My wife buys jewelry, clothes, dishes, shoes, furniture, etc always on sale. So she tells me how much money we save by her buying all this stuff on sale. From her point of view buying stuff on sale is better than putting your money in savings 'cause you got stuff and saved money doing it???
The friction comes from buying model trains, tools, cars, boats, airplanes, motorcycles, and their parts and/or maintenance is that you can't say 'look honey I got these on sale so I'm saving, us meaning her, money!!! WHAT???
Bogie
Farmer_Bill posted:What kind of accountant are you? That's an additional expense!
It depends on your perspective.
George
gunrunnerjohn posted:If you need to hide the purchases, just start a train repair business. When a box comes in, I can just call it a repair, once it gets down in the basement, there's no telling where it went.
All kidding aside, I don't have to lie to my wife about my purchases, so this idea is only for those of you that do.
This is a great idea!!! I have no problem with incoming boxes, 3 just came today. It's the outgoing that could be a real problem. Would you mind if I sent you a bunch of empty boxes every week or so? Other volunteers welcome as well...GRJ may not want that many empty boxes?
Dennis LaGrua posted:My hobby is my business but my wife is thankfully supportive. If she weren't she gets no vote anyway so why worry about it? You've got to be manly!
The manly thing is to respect the opinions of one's spouse, I think. Besides, in community property states (most of them), the wife owns half of everything, including the trains. She has every right, as an owner, to be involved in the acquisition and everything else involved with the trains. So yes, she does get a vote. Whether she choses to get involved or not is up to her, but it's not because she doesn't have the right to.
"Just the facts." - Joe Friday
My forever fiancé is the breadwinner. We co-own the house. I've recently retired so my income is negligible.
Lately, she's been taking note and complaining about my spending (trains). I've been watching for deliveries and quickly rushing the boxes downstairs, emptying and disposing them.
The other day I asked Pat's Trains to call me when the new LionChiefs arrive before shipping to me so I can pull the same stunt.
Ponz
Farmer_Bill posted:What kind of accountant are you? That's an additional expense!
I'll hold off until Scott weighs in!
Ponz, you may want to invest in a good, strong helmet, just in case something goes wrong with delivery timing!
rtr12 posted:Ponz, you may want to invest in a good, strong helmet, just in case something goes wrong with delivery timing!
I know! Fortunately, I'm retired and she still works, so I'm home most of the time.
But if I'm caught - Yowza!
PONZ if you are spending her money on trains then I understand she would be upset. WTF is a forever fiance? Is that like common law marriage?
POTRZBE posted:PONZ if you are spending her money on trains then I understand she would be upset. WTF is a forever fiance? Is that like common law marriage?
Spending MY money. We have been living together for 8 years and don't intend to tie the knot - hence - Forever Fiance!
No common law here in Missouri....
Ponz
In 1984 I traded a 44 magnum handgun for a large Flyer collection. As I was unloading the third truck load my wife came to the back door, looked down at me in the driveway and said " Either the trains go or I go." I replied, "Sweet heart I am so sorry you feel that way." It wasn't like we had money problems , we didn't. She just saw the trains as her competition. We dated four years before we were married she traveled to train shows with me all over the south east and never complained, not once. We separated two months after the driveway incident, two months before our eleventh anniversary. I have been given two ultimatums since my divorce, marry me or get lost. I choose to get lost. If your wife likes or even tolerates the trains you are indeed lucky men. A friend of mine had perhaps the largest two rail O scale layout in the south in his basement and three years ago his wife ran off with a high school sweetheart after forty years of marriage and wanted her half of the house and he had to dismantle the layout. I had to buy back my house in 1985 and don't intend to do so again. J
Train companies could make labels that say Self Improvement course manuals! Might work! LOL
I saw that sign at the gun store last month
Matt Makens posted:I saw that sign at the gun store last month
Guns and trains; I sense a pattern in this thread...
George S posted:Matt Makens posted:I saw that sign at the gun store last month
Guns and trains; I sense a pattern in this thread...
About to take an ugly turn! What's next, shooting the trains off the tracks?
Maybe, just maybe, the trains are not the target. Accidents do happen.
Great post - I needed a smile today. As for reality in our household - my wife knows exactly what is going on and has no problems with it...and I've made sure that if I pack it in first she knows what I have, how much it cost, a guestimate as to what it will bring at auction (much less) and a list of the top auction houses.
As I told her, once I'm gone the trains will just be a bunch of stuff so cash it in, use whatever money comes in for whatever you want and never forget that I got a lot of pleasure out of owning/running those trains when I was around.
A husband and Wife are having a conversation
Wife : Do you drink beer?
Husband : Yes
Wife : How many beers a day?
Husband : Usually about three
Wife : How much do you pay per beer?
Husband : $5.00 which includes a tip
Wife : And how long have you been drinking?
Husband : About 20 years, I suppose
Wife : So a beer costs $5 and you have three beers a day which puts your spending each month at $450. In one year, it would be approximately $5400 – correct?
Husband : Correct
Wife : If in 1 year you spend $5400, not accounting for inflation, the past 20 years puts your spending at $108,000 correct?
Husband : Correct
Wife : Do you know that if you didn’t drink so much beer, that money could have been put in a step-up interest savings account and after accounting for compound interest for the past 20 years, you could have now bought an airplane?
Husband: Do you drink beer?
Wife : No.
Husband : Where is your airplane?
Great one 
The old saying says, Happy wife = Happy life. It is a bunch of bull, My wife is most happy when she is giving it to me good. so to keep her happy I need to buy more trains. As Spock would say, " it is only logical" 
