Bad case of Tractoritis, budget for attachments?

[hazmat]

Bought the tractor in the spring with FEL, MMM & rear blade. Wife got me Aerator as wedding gift. Bought front plow last month.

I've been yapping about a spreader & a tiller (If she wants a garden) for the tractor lately. Wife asks if it will ever end. Of course the answer is no! She doesn't yet know of my plans for a landscape rake, boxblade, log splitter, pallet forks, snowblower, etc, etc, etc,

As some of you know from my previous posts, I'm the spender, she's the saver.

Anybody got a good solution to my problem? She was real upset at me early this week, because I was having fun servicing the tractor (just past 100 hrs). While she wasn't enjoying cleaning the house (I do do my fair share of the cleaning)

My usual plan of attack is it would cost $X to pay somebody/rent the equipment to do the job and $Y to buy the attachment & do it ourselves for a savings of $Z or a payback in Z years. Problem is I've got the necessities covered: We need to mow the lawn & plow the snow. Don't need to make it greener (spreader) or have a fire everyday in the stove (splitter) etc. etc. etc.

I've also asked for them for xmas./birthday gift because they are luxeries. (Wife is getting hyd cylinders for plow for birthday)

Anybody have an annual attachment budget? Has it put your better half at ease? How much? (Of course I'd pick thousands, but a more realistic number might be $500-$1000) I'll have to kick my gotta have-it now tractoritits disease.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hazmat,

Your best bet (my opinion) is to encourage your wife to get a hobby that costs some money. My wife and I don't keep track, but she has a hobby that isn't free and I tend to spend money on the tractor, truck and fish house. I'm not sure who spends more (probably me), but the best time to buy that new attachment is just after she's laid down some money for what she's interested in.

My next attachement is the 3PT leaf collection system for the 4010. They are very expensive (so I'm looking for used as they tend to not get used more than 3-5 times per year) and it's more of a luxury item. My arguement for this purchase--I will get the spring/fall cleanup done quicker and have more time for other projects and for her.

I'll let you know if it works.

Good Luck

Bob

 

[WVBill]

Hazmat:

I don't go with the "annual budget" approach - but more something like your usual plan of attack. Here's how I got my wife to OK the purchase of the post hole digger.

She's the landscae designer, I'm the laborer. I routinely come home from work to find that she's been to the nursery again and lined up outside the garage are several bushes in 2 gallon buckets, and /or balled/burlaped trees that shall be planted here, here and here.

They used to sit there until at least the weekend when I had time to get out the shovel and digging bar and spend all day carving out holes in our heavy clay soil big enough to let the plants survive. Not only did this delay the landscaping plan, she could see the toll it took on my 55 year old out-of-shape body.

Then, to save the body, I started renting a post hole digger. This would entail a first-thing Saturday morning 1 1/2 hour round trip to the tractor dealer to get the phd (IF it didn't happen to rain), about 10 minutes of effortless digging, another 1 1/2 hour round trip to rush the tool back to the dealer before he closed, and a $78.50 rental fee. It saved the body but it still had to wait until I could get around to renting the phd.

Then on my last time renting, in rushing to get it returned, I managed to crush the middle finger of my left hand in the boom of the phd while pulling it out of the back of my pickup back at the dealer - resulting in a 2 hour trip to Urgent Care and 2 weeks with my left hand bandaged in an obscene gesture.

Following that, she understood my explanation that for the price of about 5 rentals we could own a phd and I could plant as many bushes & trees as she wanted to bring home, when she brought them home and without having to rush around and risk injury. She saw the implement as an advantage to both her and me, and not just as "another toy for his tractor."

I advocate this plan of approach - except for the part about crushing a finger. I think I could have convinced her without that. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[diggerjim]

I buy alot of used equipment. I watch the farm auctions, local newspapers for ads, equipment traders, etc. Good bargins can be had for a fraction of the cost of new. Also some (not all) of the older equipment was built heavier than the new.

I'm not opposed to buying new when needed, I shop around for the best price. If you save a few hundred on a major purchase then that can be rolled into more equipment. I keep a bogart fund for equipment, I save extra money from doing work with the equipment I have, extra change on hand, refrain from going to wal-mart too much, and I give myself an allowance which all goes into the boagy fund. I'd say $500-$1000 would catch it. Understand that is for extras, any special needs are based on cost analysis of DIY versus hiring it. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hazmat,

This is NOT a good situation /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif...I'm afraid that we'll have to get very creative here, as she sounds quite intelligent. My approach here,is based on the limited amount of personal info supplied,so bear with me...
First, this sounds like a "new" relationship w/ a wedding gift being offered and you willing to help with the cleaning(that's good)...though a dangerous precedent has been set/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif,its best to continue to help, but make sure you exude 'happiness"....
Second, when faced with that terrible, dirty "chore" of tractor maintenance find a way to require her assistance,if only for a short moment,and let your manner suggest that this is NOT fun(we have to wipe out her memory of your previous maintenance episode where she caught you smiling)./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif If she get a little grease or oil on her it couldn't hurt./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.
Third,(appealing to her "saving" nature) comment during those quiet moments together about the great investment potential of your house/property and how much better than the stock market your real estate has performed. (don't mention anything at this time about tractor/attachment tools) We are just planting a "seed" here, nothing more...
Fourth, start using the real estate term "curb appeal" to refer to any "work" you want to do in the yard...e.g.,"I'm going out to "green up" the yard this weekend,honey, if it doesn't rain...it should enhance our curb appeal"(and protect our investment).
Fifth, shop subtly but openly for these "tools" that you need to protect your investment, while periodically proclaiming out loud how ridiculous "these" prices are while "those" folks have a great price on this tool...((you're laboring over implement pricing comparisons, here, showing a strong concern for VALUE(her saving nature, again))
Sixth,...If your wife can come to understand that time spent working on the tractor is both saving money (by not paying the dealer) and protecting your machinery investment(which in turn is protecting your real estate investment), then she MAY at some point promote these small purchases./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

...And finally, it sounds as if you've been quite honest in this relationship...that's a good thing because you've built a foundation of credibility from which to launch your "new" approach... /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

...OR...

/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gifAll the above in good fun/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[tdenny]

Hazmat,

I use a combination of many of the suggestions here.

It sounds like we have a lot in common. I'm the spender and she's the saver as well. When we first got married we had responsibilities her inside the house (cleaning, laundry, etc..) and me outside the house (mowing, building, fixing the cars, etc.) Quickly she made it clear that she felt her inside duties were not only year around but far more time consuming. I might argue the second one but she knows I love to work outside in the yard so I'd lose that battle.

My response to this problem (about 10 years ago) was to insist on hiring a house cleaner to come each week. She being of sound mind, body, and financially a miser insisted that this was a bad idea. A day later she talked to all of her friends at work and discovered that many of them also purchased the services of house cleaners - now we do as well.

As for purchasing implements I do the same thing as you and get some of these things for birthday's, father's day, etc. and like others out here am always shopping auctions, classifieds, and equipment sales for attachments that although they might need paint will work well.

I also go the route of WVBill and insisted that a tractor would save me time and lots of bodily wear and tear could be avoided. I'm not nearly as old as WVBill but my property is a mountain of glacial till (a.k.a tons of rocks) so machinery is required to do any type of dirt moving.

The other thing you might do is keep a little tractor implement fund in some other account and use that. I like to call this my offshore account. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif Best of luck to you.

 

[Mosey]

I've had my Boomer for 3 years now. I bought it with the rear finish mower, which cost over $1500. The next year I bought a tiller, a rear blade, and a rear scoop, which was over $1500 total. Last year I bought a bush hog, boom pole, sickle mower (used), pallet mover, and post hole digger, which came to over $1300 total. This year I plan to buy a FEL, which will be over $3000. As you can tell, I'm not going to be of any help to you as far as methods to control spending money on attachments!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hazmat,

I wish I could help!

In my case...the real tractor thing started after being married 30 years...

My better half views it as a hobby I guess. I dispute her calling it my "toy" and she doesn't complain when I come home with a new attachment. Most have been cheap KK ones though. Seem to work for what I do. I do have a woods RFM and plan on buying a better quality rotary cutter in the spring...

My guess is if you can justify what you are bringing home, and show that there is a concrete benifit...that should at least help. The other suggestions voiced in the posts above also seem pretty sound to me. BUT it all depends on your personal situation. If you force the wife to eat hot dogs all the time, rather than steak once in a while, because you are bringing home those attachments...don't think that is a good thing.

Tractoritis...the therapy that erases all that stress you bring home from work! Maybe you could try that!

Boy am I glad I don't need that excuse! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Retired relatively early two years ago.../w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif


Bill in Pgh, PA

 

[Nuru]

Re: Bad case of Tractoritis, budget for attachment

Bob, I use the same method as you but lately she has been going to discount shopping mode and so I can't get nuthin'

 

[Buster57]

Hazmat,

Last year I bought the tractor, FEL, mower, and just received my FC 'tiller. I told my wife I would drive my car for a minimum of three more years...as I bought her a new MINI.
At least she does not complain about my Kubota-but Heaven only help me if I ever hit her new car with the FEL, or anything else on the Kubota!