The Have's and Have Not's

[Cubfan]

Originally Posted by stretch

Having grown up where people still build houses out of mud and cow flop

I didn't know you grew up in Iowa!

[PackerDad]

Originally Posted by stretch

(Except Jeffus, obviously, since he apparently lives in a broom closet under someone's stairs.)

Jeffus = Harry Potter? :shock:

[jeffus]

Nope, Stephen King....muhahah!

Yup...itty bitty place, low taxes, decent, working class neighborhood, lot's of cars on blocks. One happy little family.

My wife & I used to work for the same place. Things were good. Once place closed down - both our incomes = $0.00. Gave us a perspective perhaps not necessarily shared with our contemporaries. Everyone I/we know is/are 1 paycheck away from disaster.

We don't owe anybody anything at this point.

[woodchuck]

Good point Stretch, there are plenty of folks who have less than we do, and are worse off than us, probably a greater portion of the populace is in that situation, kept in the scope of members here though, there is pretty broad range of socioeconomic situations.

[Hockeyfan]

Broom closet? That is pretty funny. Though it's paid for. That is great. We have only paid for around 20 percent of our original purchase price. One good thing. The housing market here is the best in the Country. My house is going to appraise (a friend is doing it so I don't know if it's a tad inflated to help with my re-fi) for 70 grand more than I paid for it a year ago. Do I think I could sell it for that much? Not really. Would I if I could. Heck yeah. I could buy the house we used to live in and almost own it outright. Do I want to go back to that roachy house>? Hell no.

Sorry Cubfan. I was getting exited about micro-brew beers and sports and time away from two little brats. I think we would buy the 2500-2700 size place. We don't need the spare bedroom. We never use it. It just gets somewhat heated for fun. This place is 3300 and now it actually feels small. My old place was only 1750. Hence the doubling in the mortgage. Time to move eh. Then I could send the wife and you could send your wife off somewhere and we could hook up with the boys for one of these events!

[Don-Dad]

Originally Posted by stretch

Having grown up in a country where people still build houses out of mud and cow flop, I tend to view life in this blessed part of the world more through a prism of haves and have-even-mores. ;)

(Except Jeffus, obviously, since he apparently lives in a broom closet under someone's stairs.)

Obviously compared to most folks we are "haves" :p You might be a "haves more" :P

I guess it depends on the are you live in as well. Jeffus's 800 sq foot probably cost the same as my 1800 sq foot home :p

[Remington]

My wife and I are fairly comfortable. We are still paying off school loans. My wife went to Vet school and we have like a $1500 monthly payoff plan on hers and I am still paying upwards of $500 per month.

But we don't go out to eat and we might get take out a couple times per month. Both our vehicles were bought in cash so we don't have any payments on those.

Most of our extra cash is dumped into our kids, our home, or placed in savings. Way too many people that see extra cash find a way to spend it. My wife and I find ways not to spend it. We both really enjoy savings and seeing that we have money set aside.

Does it make my job easier? Probably. I still have to change diapers, deal with fighting kids, potty train, and the whole nine but the stress of wondering if we can feed the kids this week and buy milk for them is just not there.

We have other stresses like my wife's long hours, and my lack of free time to regenerate. But I am sure that is the case for all SAHDs with or without money.

[stretch]

Originally Posted by woodchuck

... kept in the scope of members here though, there is pretty broad range of socioeconomic situations.

Certainly didn't mean to gainsay that. Or to downplay anyone's day-to-day economic challenges. Just being a smartass, as usual.

Lucky you on the local housing outlook, Hock. We're in one of the top 10 worst markets. And we bought our house exactly one month before the official local peak. Oh dear. On the other hand, we had previously doubled our money during the boom in D.C., so if we halve it again here, we're really no worse off. Just older, fatter and potentially wiser. Though I have my doubts about the last one.

Jeff, I kid because I love. You know that, right?

[jeffus]

We are saving up to enclose the carport...that'll bring us up to an even 1000 square feet...:roll:.

Since I'm the only one here all day, I really only need about 3 square feet. Cooling and heating bills are way low. And since the wife & I both quit smoking, we have $5,110/year more to spend now!

[2nd time around]

When we made the decision for me to stay home it was because I would have been working for daycare costs and paying taxes. That, and we couldn't bear the thought of having, paying, someone else to raise our child. I guess in the scenario created in this thread we are the "have nots". We live paycheck to paycheck, we rarely eat out ( unless my in-laws take us out) my "newest" car is a 2000 and the other car was given to us (by those same in-laws, God bless 'em) and vacations consist of trips to my in-laws (again) beach house at the shore. We own (are buying, aka the bank let's us live here) our house only because I cashed in my government 401k from almost 20 years of federal service. We are awash in credit card debt, but know that when I do go back to work that is our first priority. I work part time at the local Blockbuster so entertainment is the free videos I get from there and the litttle bit of money I make helps a little. I'm not complaining, my wife makes enough for us to get by and she is a budgeting machine. Would it be better with more money? Sure it would, but we feel we are making an investment that will pay big dividends in the future. We will have the better child because we were willing to make the sacrifices we have made. Going to the NE Dadstock is a big event for me, not only because we had to budget for it but because It's something for me and that's rare. I'm no marter but as others have said here it is hard for me to spend on myself. I'm lucky, I have a great, supportive wife and wonderfully supportive in laws who believe we are doing the right thing. So, even as "have nots" we have alot.