Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Western Endeavour - Issue No.: 379 Issue Date: 7 Mar, 2010

This has to be one of the most common questions all of us face, pretty much every day of our lives.  Consciously or subconsciously, it's a constant.  I need something at the shops - how much should I pay?  I'm driving - is that a big enough gap in the traffic to move into?  I've just had a glass of red after a long day at work - will having another glass be something that my head regrets the next day?

Sometimes, though, it's a bigger question than at other times.  With a growing family, Julie and I decided some time ago that our little 3 bedroom house wasn't going to be a long-term proposition.  Rachel and Jonathon are now both very much into playing with toys, and abandoning them on the floor for the next one once their attention span is exhausted (typically about 15 seconds), so it's become more of an imperative.  Having an extra play room and living area would be paradise for us, and a spare room for visiting inlaws would be handy too.

So, we've started looking at all the options.  What's our budget - obviously the more we can spend, the more options we have, but how much debt is too much?  Move or stay?  If staying - renovate or detonate?  Given that these questions determine the house that we'll be living in for probably a decade or more, they're not ones that we've taken lightly.  We've decided on a budget which should be enough for want we want to achieve, but won't leave us financially shackled if interest rates rise.  We've argued with our bank, who were initially ridiculously conservative in assessing our borrowing power.  Having looked at probably thousands of homes for sale advertisements, and visited hundreds of homes open, we've almost decided to stay put (though we'll keep looking around the place).  We've scoured hundreds of new home floorplans, considering how much yard space each leaves on our block - how much can we lose before it's too small?  We will meet with an architect in the next few weeks to consider renovation or individual design options.  I'm surprised we've had time for anything else in the meantime.

In fact, sometimes it feels like it's all too much.  As per some of the examples at the start of this blog, sometimes "how much is too much?" doesn't just refer to money.  It's all about balance - a more expensive house probably means more time at work and less time with the kids.  Which will benefit them (and me) more?

It's a question that arises in Rotary too.  I really hope that our members don't feel that they are spreading themselves too thin, and can't take a break.  Currently we are assessing the viability of running the Claremont Fair this year, and I hope by the time you read this that we've come to a decision that doesn't leave anyone saying "too much".