I just live in the real one, where things don't work out that way.

Yeah, we're having trouble building any savings. We're single income so that makes it a bit difficult. But we aren't extravagant 20% of net income toward housing, no car payments. 10% of gross comes off for retirement savings so that's a big chunk but it's a responsible chunk. But one car repair, or one medical incident, or one home repair, or one vet visit (beyond a routine checkup), and whatever was going to go to savings is wiped out.

And as far as finding a job, when we first moved back to Michigan, Joe sent out upwards of 200 resumes and applications and got one job. That he got through a temp agency and lost 18 months later when the economy tanked.

Another point I made was that your location can make a huge difference in the kind of jobs available. Not to mention your job experience and skills!

In an ideal world, yeah, everybody would have enough income to put something aside after paying all the necessities.

Yeah, exactly. We both have very well paying jobs and have been lucky enough to hold onto them for a while but we also own a place that we can't unload so we are paying two mortgages and have been for almost a year. That makes saving any money pretty difficult.

But one car repair, or one medical incident, or one home repair, or one vet visit (beyond a routine checkup), and whatever was going to go to savings is wiped out.

Yes! It was the vet visit (or 5 day hospital stay) that did it for me this month.

And as far as finding a job, when we first moved back to Michigan, Joe sent out upwards of 200 resumes and applications and got one job.

I remember getting out of college in the early nineties. There were no jobs. Even getting underemployed was hard since they would look at the resume and, correctly, infer you were going to keep job-hunting the moment they hired.

I remember getting out of college in the early nineties. There were no jobs. Even getting underemployed was hard since they would look at the resume and, correctly, infer you were going to keep job-hunting the moment they hired.

god, so true. That was the summer and fall of 1000 resumes for me. Imagine how much worse it is now for grads.

I am thinking more and more about taking a part-time retail job when we move, so that I at least have some income coming in.

year of savings

I have never had more than a couple of month's salary in a savings account and that is while still sitting on thousands in cc debt. god, now I'm getting anxious.

Now that I remember, I did keep job-hunting after I got hired for my first real job.

The only reason I have about a year's living expenses in my savings is because my Dad had several life insurance policies when he died last year. And I was damn lucky I was in a position to sock it away. If I'd had medical bills or any of the many things that can hit one upside the wallet, that would be gone, too.

that is while still sitting on thousands in cc debt.

We have some of that too (not happy about how that happened). The minimum payments aren't much of a ding, but we're trying to get rid of it in 1-2 years not 20, so that's another big chunk.

The real cause of the Gulf oil spill: [link]

Oh dear. Sports team mascot vs. kid: [link]

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