I think it's a Yankee thing, beth. I am not shocked by other people telling their financial details, but my brain won't read and keep it.
yankee here too. and I only really noticed the stuff I could relate too.
but I am trying to overcome some of my ideas about money becausse - face it, money matters. I think by talking - at least in a vague way about money, it loses power. and i have gotten some useful advice, just by talking in a vague way. and like Betsy said - not makeing it easy to find a price is one of the way money is made more powerful.
Are you a Yankee as in a Northerner or a Yankee as in a New Englander?
yankee new englander
born in maine - most of my life in CT. Now in CA, which while easier in many ways ( socially), I have to draw lines that I never had to drawn while living in CT.
Yeah, that's true, Betsy. It factors in a lot of things, where we pay high dollar to avoid the embarassment factor.
Oh, and also, since I write our paychecks, I do see the employee/employer taxes going to SS, and I consider it my civic duty to complain aloud every time. It's a lot of cash. OTOH, we paid pennies in federal tax, thus the large payment this year, but this is good because it means that we, not the federal goverment had interest-making rights to that jack.
What else? Oh, flyover states. Yeah, when we were making our top salary, we were also living in a one-bedroom loft apartment uptown, paying $485 for the privilege (including $50 for the month-to-month). Our living expenses in Wichita were ridiculously low, and I came to realize that I'd never ever have that disparity so far in my favor again, and anywhere I moved, I'd be making less and paying more.
That was when we paid off the debts, all but one last school bill of the SO's that we should finish next month.
I'm salty New England, Cindy, and my parents definately have the "don't discuss money" issues. But it's something that causes me to worry and sometimes panic, and occassionally, my lack of it makes me feel like a failure.
There's something really comforting in knowing most people are in the same boat, and it does lose its power when you discuss it.
Month to month contract - no lease, so we could just give notice and leave whenever we needed to. We knew that we were going to be moving out here soon, just didn't know when, so it was worth it to us to pay that extra to be flexible.
I knew you were in CA, and I think I knew you were from back east, somewhere, because I think you made a comment when Nilly was visiting, about wishing she'd get to see some of the lush greeness of it. I'd forgotten or not known you were a New Englander, though. I am not from Maine (have always lived within ~25 miles of where I live now, even in college), but Lilty's friend's comment didn't surprise me. I wouldn't have said it, but I would have thought it.
I pay $800 for 400 square feet, which I often think is robbery. I just think that should be a one bedroom, and not a box.
Yeah, it just doesn't scale. My $400 box is two-thirds the rent of my $600 apartment, but it's only one-quarter the size. (I have 273 square feet. I really like it, though.)
And we know your dog's name, too, Liese. We're onta ya.
I ain't telling you people how much I make. It's less than I could make if I played more monkey-grooming games, yet more than I sometimes think I'm worth. I have much too much debt, though.
But I will tell you that we pay $869 for our smallish 2-bd duplexed house with fenced backyard and half a garage and that is a steal. We can't move.
