Perhaps exhilarating is too strong of an adjective to describe my quirky quizzes. Yet, if you’ve like them so far (Spender/Saver? or Homebody or Wanderlust?) take a gander at this one.

My inspiration for this quiz has hinged on the possibility of my husband and I moving into another rental house. We’re in a quandary of sorts: we don’t want to purchase anything yet because we’re not so sure we want to stay in this bustling, run-down suburb. Yet, we’d like to move into a slightly nicer house in a better neighborhood.

On the other hand, I know we’re not ready to move to our dream town; a much smaller town filled with artists and massage therapists (and how would I know for sure it’s a dream anyway!?). The more we look, the more confused we become!

As my title suggests, Aesop’s fables are timeless. As the poignant moment replays itself in my head, “I’d rather live a humble and meager life in the country, than live a life of luxury in fear,” the country mouse states after being chased away in fear from humans in the city mouse’s living room, I was inspired to create a quiz. On a side note: I’m not extrapolating that country living is less expensive or that city living is more so; it obviously depends on the town’s economy. In my case, my “dream town” which has a much smaller population, is more expensive than the suburb I currently live in.

1.) You’re feeling toward the corner gas station is:
A. It should be open 24/7, rain or shine no matter what!
B. Doesn’t really matter to you when the station is open, as long as they post their hours and stick to them.
C. Understand that the owners sometimes need to take a vacation, close early to pick up the kids, or are a little late opening the shop. You just make sure you are never running on empty.

2.) You relate more to:
A. The song, “New York, New York”.
B. Desperate Housewives; Wisteria Lane is a close comparison to your neighborhood, minus the murders or the gorgeously landscaped exteriors.
C. When you see an ad for “The Great Outdoors” your pretty sure you’re already there.

3.) The majority of your local grocery shopping is done at:
A. A corner market. There are lots to choose from in your neighborhood; one at every corner.
B. A large chain grocer like Safeway, Kroger, or a super Walmart.
C. The Piggly Wiggly owned by your neighbor, Stan.

4.) When describing your night sky, you:
A. Would say it’s grayish, blueish, black with an occasional North Star sighting.
B. Can make out the big dipper and a handful of other stars in the midnight blue sky.
C. See the Milky Way Galaxy, plenty of constellations, and a few meteors streak across the black, star-filled sky.

5.) You would describe public transportation in your area as being:
A. Excellent and dependable (for the most part). You have a choice of bus, subway, taxi, trolley or rickshaw.
B. A network of ill-timed buses and trains that all head to one central location. Great if you work at that location; not so good if you travel the opposite direction.
C. A single train station or bus depot only used for cross-country treks.

Location, location, location! As they say out west. In my completely biased opinion, California cities and towns range from country to city living with sprawling suburbs along the way. Cost of living is dependent on various aspects such as how close you are to the Pacific Coast, if your town is renowned for a specific event or way of life (or tourism), or how close you live to a major metro. I would definitely place myself in the suburb/city mouse end of the scale. Find out where you fall:

A = 3, B = 2, C = 1

City / Country Scale; Where do you live?

Ever since I created my Bliss Box Quiz, my head has been a-buzz with quiz-show type questions. Maybe it’s a niche I’ll have to develop into it’s own page at some point. But what does this have to do with personal finance or buying a house? Well, determining if one is a homebody or wanderlust could affect their personal finances. For example, a homebody may be more prone to want to purchase a house closer to home, no matter what the price or real estate market looks like. Where as a wanderlust could spend their entire fortune trekking across the globe searching for their elusive El Dorado. So, I’ve decided to pose a few questions for determining if one if a homebody or wanderlust, or someone who falls in between. I’ve included a description of what the answers could mean financially at the end of the quiz:

1. You’ve been invited to your cousin’s last minute wedding in Aruba. You have a nice emergency fund set aside, so you:
A. Aruba? You don’t know anyone in Aruba. You’ll pass.
B. Decide to search for the best travel deals, and if there is one within what you’re willing to pay, book the trip. If not, you’ll send a nice gift.
C. Immediately begin to pack.

2. You’ve just been offered a promotion at work that includes having to travel a couple of times a week, you:
A. Decline the promotion. Explain that you’re claustrophobic and just don’t travel very well. You’re more than happy in your current position.
B. Negotiate a deal where you not only get a 2% adjustment on the raise they’ve already offered you, but a Platinum Business AMEX so you can rack up travel points for yourself. Might as well take advantage of the company paying for your travel.
C. It’s your dream job! You jump up, kiss your boss, and begin planning side excursions to all the exciting cities you’ll be visiting, even if that includes Milwaukee.

3. You’re spouse has been offered a job in another state. The job has amazing benefits and the salary is “to die for”, you:
A. Discourage your spouse from taking the job. The thought of moving makes you nauseous. Besides, you’re geographically challenged and really aren’t sure where Raleigh is anyway.
B. Have a lengthy discussion with your spouse and weigh the pros and cons of moving and relocating. After discussing it together, you make a financially sound decision.
C. Whoo, hoo! You’ve been dying to live on the east coast for years. You’re goal is to live in every corner of the US before retirement.

4. You’ve been hoping to purchase a home in the near future, however the area you live in is extremely expensive, you:
A. Keep plugging along, eventually you’ll have enough for the down payment. Even if that means you’ll be 80 years old.
B. Make a back-up plan; living in an expensive area is financial-sabotage. You’ll give it X amount of years, then you’re off to a less expensive locale.
C. Immediately plot your escape. There are hundreds of US cities just waiting for you to arrive.

5. Your best friend from college was lucky enough to win an all expense paid vacation to Europe for two weeks. They invited you along since their spouse can’t go, you:
A. Decline; your suitcase is collecting dust in the attic and it’s just too much of a last minute, spur of the moment trip.
B. You call work and make sure you can escape for those two weeks, promising you’ll check in every other day. You also have enough extra cash set aside for spending money, so finances aren’t a problem.
C. Hop on the next plane and meet your friend in Europe, even if it means charging the extra expenses on a credit card, You’re definitely going!

Obviously, there’s a range on whether one defines themselves as a Homebody, a Wanderlust, or somewhere in the middle. So, to make scoring easy, the following applies:

Answers: A = 1, B = 2, C = 3 (If you range somewhere in the middle section, then you’re just a level-headed person!)

Homebody vs. Wanderlust

Now for some link love:

• Digging Out of Our Mess also celebrated her one-year blog anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Mysti!
• Everyday Tips and Thoughts with Retiring Before the Age of 40? How Realistic is That? I really love the tone of Kris’ blog. I think that’s because we are really close in age and may have a similar outlook on life. (Maybe I’m presuming too much, but I still like reading her posts!)
• Young and Thrifty with Ode to Promo Codes. She did a terrific job on her rhyming poem.
• Rainy Day Saver with Make Money Freelancing – Through Networking. She lists some terrific ideas to add to what you may already know about how to obtain freelance work.
• Financial Samurai with his ever spicy posts, Is It Better to Rent to Males or Females? Just be sure to have that 18-months of rent saved up!
• Car Insurance Comparison with Auto Insurance Reform, a humorous letter to a local congressmen. Very tongue-in-cheek, but funny.

Newlywed Bliss Box

I’m getting close to the finale on the Bliss Box Contents. I’m down to the Spender/Saver Quiz, which this post will explain, the resource list, and the possible addition of a great book. Any additional items that have been suggested such as day spa coupons or saving love notes would need to be added separately. I’ve created this quiz using my own personal knowledge of how my husband and I decide what to buy and when to buy it. I consider myself a saver and think my husband definitely falls more on the side of spender. So my personal experiences guided my question creation. Enjoy the quiz below:

1.) You and your loved one are planning a vacation. The first thing you do is:
A. Save a portion of your income for 6 months to a year before a trip is even discussed.
B. Scour the internet for savings on flight and hotel packages. If there aren’t any, you put off your trip until a deal can be found.
C. Find the best price on an internet site, such as Travelocity, and book your trip.
D. Head to your local travel agent.

2.) Your first generation flat-screen TV isn’t nearly as pixel-perfect as your neighbor’s brand new one. You decide to:
A. What flat-screen TV? I’m still getting by on my old tube-style TV / or don’t own a TV.
B. Not compare your TV’s since it really isn’t that important to you.
B. Wait a few more years before upgrading a TV that is still working just fine.
C. Run out and purchase a brand-new flat-screen. Take that, Joneses!

3.) Your trusty-car is becoming more and more rattle-prone and noisy each day. Though your dealer has told you that is normal based on its age and everything else is just fine you decide to:
A. Trust your dealer and keep your car until it completely dies.
B. Begin to formulate a plan and save money to purchase a new car in a year or two.
C. Post your car on eBay to see if you can get a decent bid, giving you enough money to put a down-payment on a new one.
D. Run to your nearest dealer and trade in your perfectly good, but rattly, car for a new one.

4.) Buying generic brands makes you feel:
A. Terrific! They’re the only brands you buy.
B. Okay, though there are definitely some items you must buy that are name-brands.
C. Ashamed. You only buy generic when you just can’t afford name-brands.
D. Generic brands? What are you taking about? I only purchase name-brand items.

5.) When comparing your savings account to your overall debt, you feel:
A. Great! Your savings account is hefty and you have no debt, or very little to speak of.
B. Pretty good. Your savings account is growing by the day and your debt is dwindling quickly.
C. Okay. You’re trying to save a portion of your income, but your debt isn’t getting paid down very quickly.
D. You’re drowning in debt and have no savings account to speak of.

6.) A budget is:
A. A tool you use to help figure out where your money is going, each category specifically details income and expenses.
B. Something you look at quarterly and use it loosely to determine where you can save money.
C. You’ve heard of it, but you don’t bother to create one. If the money is there, great. If not, oh well.
D. What are you talking about? I need a dictionary.

7.) You view your credit cards as:
A. A tool that can help you build your credit score. You only use them when you know you can pay them off in full each month. (Or you don’t have any credit cards).
B. A great convenience. They allow you to purchase large ticket items, then pay them off quickly at a low interest rate.
C. Something of a catch-22. They are great because you can purchase items you can’t afford, but then you have to pay more for the item in the long run.
D. A curse. I wish I’d never signed up for one!

8.) You’re out window shopping with a friend when a beautiful watch catches your eye. You know the price is slightly above what you’re willing to pay, but your credit card just offered you a 6-month zero percent interest rate that’s very enticing. You decide to:
A. Forget about the watch, you don’t need it.
B. Go home and price check that watch against online deals to see if you can get it for less. If you can’t, then forget it.
C. Wait until the watch goes on sale, then go buy that baby!
D. Say the heck with it and swipe that plastic card.

Did you remember to write your choices down? Here is the basic scoring I’ve concocted:

A = 0 points
B = 1 point
C = 2 points
D = 3 points

On a sliding scale, anything less than 12 points places you more along the savers end of the spectrum. Anything above 12 points puts you on the spenders side. See graphic below to determine where you fall:

Bliss Box Spender/Saver Quiz Tally

Some comments I received also included creating different kinds of quizzes and I love that idea. If anyone wants to contribute different quizzes, or add to this one, let me know. Ultimately, because this Bliss Box idea has grown quite a bit, I think I’ll create a separate page that lists all the Bliss Box contents for general use. Your thoughts on the quiz are welcome.