So a lady I know is getting divorced and having to sell the life-style block and buy a 'nice' $200k house for her and the 3 kids. And this isn't good enough for her http://www.realestate.co.nz/1727246. DH and I would LOVE to own that place but could never afford it without a winning ticket. And she doesn't know how she's going to survive on $800p/w. Last year our family was living on $410p/w from two incomes and government support, $185 went on rent.
I think I just squirted out a few tears!! Like Krista, the only way we'd get a house like that (or any house of our own) would be from a winning lottery ticket. The house is beautiful!!! I would kill to have a porch and so much space for my children to play without having to play in the road.
What is the cost of living where this lady lives? Does she live in your area? If she does, then she will be fine. $800 a week doesn't get a person far around here let alone a mom and three kiddos. Most people in SoCal commute to work. For us, gas alone can take $1000 a month from the budget. This doesn't include the house payment, food, medical, etc... There isn't anyway one commuting person can live off $800 a week around here and pay rent for a one bed, one bath apartment unless they are receiving assistance from an outside source.
This reminds me of this Aesop's Fable: http://www.popularfairytales.com/aesops-fables/the-oxen-and-the-wheels.html The moral is that those who complain most suffer least. It hit home with my kids when we read it as we talked about those less fortunate kids who have to work 12 hours a day while living in poverty. When they complain we talk about who really has the right to complain. We aren't anywhere close to being rich by the standards in this country, but compared to the world we are well off. We have food in our fridge. We have a roof over our heads. My children can receive a good education. My children have more than one set of clothes. We have health care. We live in a safe community free from war. If we set our perspective by the richest of the rich we will never have enough. If we set our perspective according to the poorest of the poor we will see how very blessed we already are.
We live in the same town. Like I said last year we were living on $410 p/w and DH travelled to study and work most days (90minute round trip). She works from home most days so petrol shouldn't be too bad. She's used to keeping up with the jones'... brand clothing, latest smart phone, regular hair cuts and colours, cafe lunches, living on a lifestyle section, her kids attending the most expensive school in town, etc. She'll be fine once after a reality check of what she and her kids really need to get by. Still I'd love that house... dreams are free
WOW! A 90 minute round trip would be Handsome's dream come true. lol On an average, he drives 100 miles one way, 200 miles round trip, five days a week. Since SoCal is loaded with communters, due to traffic the trip can take him an easy three hours to get home. Mornings take him anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. The closest he has ever worked to home is 26 miles away and it actually only took him a total of one hour round trip. It was nice because he was home early. Sadly, these jobs are short lived. Usually, the larger, longer duration jobs are far away. Being the foreman/superintendent requires the travel. I really can't complain because if he wasn't the foreman, I wouldn't have met him. That is another story. :love: Hmm, maybe we should move out your way.
I'm with you, for us to own our own home would be a dream come true, and that house does look really nice. I think though, that sometimes we need to give each other some slack, especially when she is going through a divorce, and she will now be a single mother. When she complains, just try to support her, and be a friend. She will adjust, and when she does, maybe she will come to be more appreciative than she has been in the past.
I'd never see my husband if he had that kind of travelling to do I don't mean to sound mean. I should have mentioned that this is the nicest house in town for what she can afford and is the closest to what she's used to. It has enough rooms for them to each have their own plus enough outside space to entertain and for the kids outdoor toys and bikes. She has 7 weeks to move into a new place and she won't find better for that price in this town. We're all trying to help her through, we know she just wants things to be like they were and that it's hard for her to let go.
I didn't think you sounded mean, I just know how exasperating it can be sometimes, and how easy it can be to let a friendship drift when they are being difficult.
Oh you aren't mean. Some people are just so spoil and lucky they don't know it. She will one day wake up and smell the roses.
Caught up with her on sunday and asked how the house hunting is going. She's going to move into her parents place and hope it doesn't sell as fast as hers did. Her parents bought a new house so the old family home is empty. Her husband wants to try again, so counceling starts soon, praying it helps even if it doesn't save their marriage. Meanwhile in about 6 weeks our family's income will be decreasing by $170+ p/w we've lived on less so I know we'll be ok. Luckily we have our family and church to help us through
Especially now with the housing market so low, it's a great time to buy a house. We picked up our house here in Boise, Idaho for $47K last July. It's a small house - only 1100 sq feet - but it's perfect for the four of us. I think sometimes we need to make lifestyle choices and then go from there. If you're spending 2 or 3 hours per day commuting, would you be better off moving somewhere else for a better quality of life?
It is easy to say, "move", but it isn't easy to come up with the money to move. CA is a very expensive state to live in. Speaking for my family, if we moved, this still wouldn't change the fact that Handsome's job requires the commute. No matter where we moved, his job will never be in the same place. Besides, we enjoy our life. We do not allow traffic to interfere with the quality of life we live. The traffic is annoying but Handsome enjoys his job. A lot of people can't say this for their job. It would be great to find a 1100 sq foot house for $47,000. To me this is foreign! My house is between 800 and 900 sq ft, two bedrooms and one bathroom. At this time it is valued at $190,000. If we sold, we couldn't afford to buy it back. When the economy was good, our house was appraised at $300,000. No kidding. It all depends on zoning around here and of course location. We are not in the most desirable location so we are actually on the lower end of the spectrum in house value. In order to get a cheaper house we would have to move further away which would add to the commute. Moving out of CA one day is a dream. As of now, it isn't an option. One day we would like to move to Colorado and become snow birds. Is that what they are called? Snow birds sounds strange for some reason.
HA! Snowbirds LEAVE Colorado because it's so cold! But yes, that's the term. It sounds so strange to me to hear people talking about 2-hour commutes. I simply cannot imagine. Living close to my job was always a very high priority. In fact, I was 41 years old before I ever drove to work - and that happened because we moved to Taiwan and our school arranged for a house for us that was too far to ride bikes with our children! I've never even looked for jobs that weren't within biking distance of my house. If I needed to take a job farther away, I moved. Now that I'm old and gray, I can't imagine feeling locked in and not able to move. I simply cannot imagine it.
