it looks rather pleased with itself, high maintenance too... 
Posted on 04/24/2014 3:41:08 PM PDT by grundle
In the 14 years I've been with my boyfriend, Nick, we've weathered a lot of storms — from my parents' divorce to paying off $50,000 of debt.
Nick and I started dating in 1999 as poor 19-year-old college students. We didn't know anything about managing money at the time, but we learned together. After graduation, we both found full-time jobs, in finance for me and in IT for Nick.
Living off two full-time incomes was a huge change from being broke undergrads. We opened a joint bank account and finally started to live comfortably.
I came home from work that night and immediately sensed something was wrong. The vibe in the apartment felt very somber. Nick was sitting on the couch, staring at the TV, though not really watching. When I asked him if everything was OK, he looked at me and said, "I got fired today," then went back to (not) watching TV. I'd never seen Nick so dejected. It was truly heartbreaking.
Nick and I began to realize that living off my $70,000 salary was indeed possible
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...
writer seems whiny and spoiled.
Does the word LIBERAL ring a bell
Remember that NYT editorial 4 years ago, when all the lib reporters and profs were screaming unfair cuz they had to buy houses OUTSIDE MANHATTAN..?
They thought their rights were violated, or something.
Very satisfying article, and utterly honest.
Yes, the writer is a whiny nitwit. I also wonder about two people who have been living together for fourteen years without benefit of marriage. But then I suppose I am the troglodyte in the room.
it looks rather pleased with itself, high maintenance too...
I was giving a friend a ride. He owes some $30,000 on credit cards and had lost an apartment when he lost his job. Moving out cost him a $2,500, lease penalty which he put on his credit card. (I’d never have moved into such a fancy apartment to begin with.) So, his phone rings. It’s his son. Some band they liked was in town. They agreed to meet for dinner and he did a quick calculation. Dinner $40, tickets $275, go someplace after $25. I thought, okay, you’re in debt up the whazoo and you’re paying for cable and Netflix, just stay home. (I’d never pay for cable and Netflix even if I wasn’t in that much debt.)
But, this is the behavior and the thinking that goes behind “gosh, how can I live on just $75,000?”
Obamabots fer sure! Bet she gets free BC Pills too.
So no, $70k/yr a year is no longer much money.
She does not look high maintenance to me.
Really a very sensible article. You can lower the numbers, but how they learned to cut back certainly has some useful advice.
Most of us don’t have enough money to splurge like that in the first place. But a fair number of people do, even if they can’t afford it, because they never learned differently.
She still doesn’t know how to cook? Well, that can be fixed, too. My wife didn’t have the faintest idea how to cook when we were first married, but she bought a couple of cook books and soon was doing very well.
My Daughter makes $50,000 a year and I would guess her husband makes a bit more, maybe quite a bit more.
I have noticed when they visit, they basically buy anything they want and anything their children want and I am glad they can.
What surprised me was her complaining about her salary and they live in Oklahoma.
$70,000 a year in New York City, D.C., Seattle, or San Diego, is like earning $25,000 in Des Moines or Nashville.
In other words, in some places, $70,000 isn’t much money at all because the cost of living is so much higher.
Whether a person should whine about the money they make when choosing to live in a high cost of living location is another matter.
YMMV...
Remind me of the types I used to see in the 70s that said “marriage is just a piece of paper!!”
Anyone who has watched the Discovery ID story “The Will” knows exactly how important that “piece of paper” really is. Case in point is the guy who wrote “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” — was with his “girlfriend” for decades apparently. Friends said she helped him with the books — family got everything b/c they were never married — estimates are his estate is worth 1$ billion. This is in Sweden and it doesn’t get more lefty than that.
Now that they are both fully employed again, a mature couple ought to be discussing marriage. Talk about self-centered.
She looks like a barf bag.
Began to realize? I can only imagine how long the full realization took.
It depends on where you live. They don’t say what city “downtown” is, but I’m guessing NYC. So maybe 70K isn’t much. The average household income in the US is in the low 50s but that’s pretty meaningless. It’s enough to live very well in some places, and poverty level others. At least she admits a lot of their spending was frivolous, but I still don’t think I would hire her as my financial advisor.
PG County: $73K
Montgomery County: $93K
Howard County: $108K
Charles County: $93K
Anne Arundel County: $86K
Calvert County: $92K
St Mary's County: $85K
Frederick COunty: $83K
Fairfax County: $109K
Arlington County: $102K
Prince William County: $96K
Loudoun County: $122K
Only in the district itself (with all of the welfare folk) is $70K above average.
The point is: it depends upon where in the country you live. With high average incomes like I showed above, the costs are equally high...
Hate to say it, but her tips actually seem pretty sound to me.
(Not that I approve of her living with her BF or anything, but any couple whose income is cut in half must make adjustments in lifestyle...or face the consequences)
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