I know now this [the gaudy CSS layout] is an April Fool's joke, and so well done you won't
read this unless you're so desperate for a non-ugly page to render in your browser.I feel very compelled to disengage from blogging. I'm overwhelmed by the "to-do" list I make to ensure my financial survival, and maybe it's all going to go to waste anyway. Let the fascists and psychos and greedheads deplete everything. I've tried for ten years to understand and assimilate to my environment, including therapy, and I've failed. Al Gore has his "inconvenient truth" and I have my "uncomfortable reality." He's getting richer from his though, and I'm wasting away. Maybe I'm having a meltdown and need an intervention. Maybe I'm tired of my questions not being answered. Maybe I'm getting more noise than signal right now. I'm feeling very defeated.
April 1st, 2007 at 08:32 pm 1175459559
April 1st, 2007 at 08:34 pm 1175459696
April 1st, 2007 at 10:09 pm 1175465351
I'm sorry you are feeling depressed and dispirited right now. Its not a fun place to live, I know. I wish I could make you feel better, but that's got to come from within. I came to the conclusion a while ago that I blog for me. If people read it or write comments, great. If they don't, oh well. Do it for you, because you're the most important person involved in your blog.
April 2nd, 2007 at 02:38 am 1175481494
You do make it sound like your life is really a struggle financially, but it seems to me that you handle things very thoughtfully and responsibly. Your blog always makes me think, though, that it must be really tough making the money stretch in Seattle. (eh, it is Seattle, isn't it?) We always hear how tough housing and commuting and job competition is there; your blog makes me see how that is real in one person's life. I think I would absolutely love Seattle---except for the same struggles you have there. Move to my city--I pay $204 a month for my mortgage. That alone frees up quite a bit of income and allows paece of mind. It's a small house, for sure, but still....
April 2nd, 2007 at 03:29 am 1175484592
April 2nd, 2007 at 03:59 am 1175486397
do whatever you need to do to create your own sanctuary- and dont worry about fitting in - do whats right for you and yours, that may mean a different enviroment
and thank you for that link
good luck in wahtever you choose to do
April 2nd, 2007 at 01:32 pm 1175520778
I'd already voted you 'in my head' as the one person I would love to sit and discuss the state of world financial affairs and how we can make it better at the individual level at the first ever SavingAdvice.com Meet-Up!
Thank you for the link and I vote that you keep putting your thoughts down - and to try and find a happy thought about it - you are touching lives in a positive way. Anyone who gets us to dig a little deeper on our own financial responsibility on more than just a 'self' level is doing the world a big favor in my opinion and on that note I thank you for the link.
I do have a couple of books I'd like to suggest to you if you'd care to read them, perhaps you already have? 'Ishmael', and 'My Ishamel' both by Daniel Quinn. I found them both to be quite compelling.
Hoping you continue,
LuxLivingFrugalis
April 2nd, 2007 at 07:39 pm 1175542793
Yeah, I try to do what I can. I'd be better if I were more organized and structured. Housing is ridiculous here, but I bought when it was economically sensible to do so, although it was a stretch, and we're in a nice 5% fixed mortgage with a shortened term, and our mortgage is 20% of what we bring home in net pay. However, we still bought "within the bubble" (post 1994).
Daycare/Preschool is ridiculous here, because we make too much to be subsidized by the state government, but at least we have good quality teachers.
Some sent signals in my aged 35+ friends to go tie the knot this spring. I haven't been to a wedding since 2001 and now there are at least two I have invites for.
This is a broken record, but it SEEMS that the rest of the city has it together. Check out the foreclosure rates and % of exotic mortgages in Seattle versus the rest of the country: they're lower. If you could see the number of Subaru Outbacks and Lexus minivans out here...
It appears I'm not gifted at evening out my expenditures: there's a double-blast of Roth IRA + tax payment this month. December, January and April are nasty for budgets: holidays, higher heating bills, memberships becoming due, tax payments, last minute retirement contributions...
I'm working my head 'round: what's going on? How do families earning $88K here live? I don't use cable TV, and I am conscientious about energy use.