I'm fairly content.

And every time I start feeling like a loser for not owning a house, I go to Flickr and look at my travel photos.

And the feeling goes away!

I'm the only one in my family not to own. But it doesn't bug me. I mean, occasionally I wonder if I might be missing out on a better deal ('cuz who knows what the rental market will be in five years, plus with a mortgage you're building equity) but I don't really feel weird comparing myself to my siblings who own.

every time I start feeling like a loser for not owning a house, I go to Flickr and look at my travel photos

My sister's travel photos blow mine out of the water. Not sure how she manages what she does, since she certainly makes less than...right. I'm the one with the wardrobe busting at the seams and the 42" TV and the granite countertops et al.

Yeah, I like my stuff. But there will be changes. I'm working on that front.

Luckily, while my younger sister owns a home, she lives in a place I have zero desire to live, which has a much much much cheaper housing market. So I know that if I lived there, sure, I'd own a home too! And if she lived where I live she sure wouldn't own a home! So there's no envy, other than the vague "Dang, you can own a home for how much? Sigh...well, I guess I still don't want to live there. Really."

Yeah, it's like when I was in Atlanta a few years ago. I saw 4 bedroom houses for half of what I paid for my apartment.

I'm trying to make changes too, actually. I took a good look at my spending habits and I need to cut my dining costs, pronto. It's easy to do when I eat at home, but my boyfriend has expensive restaurant taste, and we usually split the check. It got very tense last night when the bill came and I suggested that next time I really only wanted to order a glass of wine, and not the entire bottle, as is our (his) habit. He believes I should be saving more money, too, but apparently only when I am out with other people. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Wheat toast:

Meara and Vortex, so TRUE. I live in the Bay Area which is admittedly hell for housing costs. But still, most of my friends managed to buy here.

I was just thinking.... I never received any "You must be successful" pressure from my parents. None at all. And I grew up in an area with few wealthy people (except maybe some farmers who had all their wealth tied up in their land). Our family doctor drove a Cadillac and I thought he was really rich.

I'm going to start bringing in my lunch to work starting tomorrow. I'm stopping by the grocery store tonight to fill up my fridge, and see how much I can save from doing that.

I'm already $100 over my planned savings in the first three weeks of my Plan, but that won't last unless I reduce my food budget.

But isn't that true for most people who own a house. The house is essentially the savings plan and, in many ways, retirement plan?

I guess that's true, I just don't tend to think about it that way since my parents had it so different.