Re: Cost of Living?
After 20 years in my field I'm finally making "more" than what other people around me are making. Of course, a lifetime of mandatory frugality I'm sure has had something to do with that, and the fact that my wife makes a truckload more money than I do...but I'm finally at a point where I'm not living day to day, or week to week, or even month to month...we're up to a quarterly schedule at this point with aspirations of annually and beyond...but that's neither here nor there.
We moved from a place with few services and high costs to a place with many services and even higher costs...we stayed there for 10 years, and then moved someplace with decent services and low costs. We're spending about 60% of the rent that we were spending in Vegas, and we've realized that we're actually overspending by quite a bit...so looking to save even more money.
And it's a good thing too, because 30 years ago you could buy a car that would last 10 or 15 years...the pieces of shit that they're selling now (that will cost $20k+, even if you're cheap like me) only last for 5, maybe 10 years...then you're back into damn near mortgage territory. I'm sorry, if I'm spending multiple thousands of dollars on something it better last me long enough to pay it off and then some...so yeah...that's my current cost rant.
I realize that I'm in a unique position though. My wife and I couldn't be at home with our kid - like, ever - and I'm certain that would have changed how "well" he was raised. Now, we're finding that teenagers and adults are much easier and cheaper than children, so we have "extra" money on top of our not inconsiderable wage increases. Things are good for us, for now...we're scrambling to make that as permanent as possible, as quickly as possible, because when the fit hits the shan I don't want to be caught with my pants down.
After 20 years in my field I'm finally making "more" than what other people around me are making. Of course, a lifetime of mandatory frugality I'm sure has had something to do with that, and the fact that my wife makes a truckload more money than I do...but I'm finally at a point where I'm not living day to day, or week to week, or even month to month...we're up to a quarterly schedule at this point with aspirations of annually and beyond...but that's neither here nor there.
We moved from a place with few services and high costs to a place with many services and even higher costs...we stayed there for 10 years, and then moved someplace with decent services and low costs. We're spending about 60% of the rent that we were spending in Vegas, and we've realized that we're actually overspending by quite a bit...so looking to save even more money.
And it's a good thing too, because 30 years ago you could buy a car that would last 10 or 15 years...the pieces of shit that they're selling now (that will cost $20k+, even if you're cheap like me) only last for 5, maybe 10 years...then you're back into damn near mortgage territory. I'm sorry, if I'm spending multiple thousands of dollars on something it better last me long enough to pay it off and then some...so yeah...that's my current cost rant.
I realize that I'm in a unique position though. My wife and I couldn't be at home with our kid - like, ever - and I'm certain that would have changed how "well" he was raised. Now, we're finding that teenagers and adults are much easier and cheaper than children, so we have "extra" money on top of our not inconsiderable wage increases. Things are good for us, for now...we're scrambling to make that as permanent as possible, as quickly as possible, because when the fit hits the shan I don't want to be caught with my pants down.
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