Random B!tch of the day....

[AnnieW625]

please provide yours here.

*this isn't really a bitch, but I didn't really feel right asking for mojo about the California teachers job market for my sister (who is getting her single subject English, and History credential pending passing TPA reports she'll find out about on Friday) because every single person in America knows it sucks and I'd feel dumb asking for mojo for that, but I have been thinking about her soo much lately and I hate to think that she won't get a job and she truly deserves it. She had a first interview on Tuesday.

*my bitch is that after reading all of the income/spending related posts that I am not doing enough, but there is really no other way to do anything different. Maybe it's where we live, which isn't the worst HCOL area in the state but I can't think of more than 5 people I know IRL who have a years worth of savings. I can think of two co workers, my parents, DD1's godparents, and maybe my grandparents, but really no one with kids under the age of 10. I am just stumped, and really bewildered that it's a possibility. I guess I just feel overly dumb that we wanted to live the American dream in our 20s vs. waiting until our mid 40s to buy a home and have kids in a HCOL area.

[BabbyO]

If it makes you feel any better...we don't even have enough saved up for the 6 weeks of unpaid maternity leave I'll be on this fall....

We'll get by, we always do. Killer thing to me is we already live fairly frugally.

AS for my b!tch of the day...stupid boss...for not updating the calendar to show you were out BOTH Tue & Wed, don't get angry with me that our project is a fire drill today. If you were here on Tue (like your calendar said you'd be) this wouldn't be a fire drill. And while I'm at it...it wouldn't be a fire drill at all if you didn't promise things to people on my behalf without checking with me first! I was going to do this project last week, but you promised something to someone else on Friday...so I couldn't do this project...oh, and I DO have another manager that I work for...so you're promising things on my behalf also interfere's with his projects/deadlines.

[liz]

random b!tch.....I hate it when people give online recipes a rating and then you read that they haven't made it yet. How the heck can they rate something if they haven't tried it???

[neobunny]

Here's a good b#tch for you. My ac STILL doesn't work right. After complaining to the apartment manager 3 times. The last time they said they would order a part but never told me when they would come by to install it or when it should come in. I just sent them an email asking about that part so hopefully i hear back from them before they leave at 5:30pm.

For the record the apartment manager is wonderful! I'm just in a bad mood & have a splitting headache so the ac problem is really bugging me today.

[AnnieW625]

If it makes you feel any better...we don't even have enough saved up for the 6 weeks of unpaid maternity leave I'll be on this fall....

We didn't have much either, thank goodness for state benefits, and some vacation I had saved up. We splurged and sent DD1 to daycare when I was on maternity leave. I later came to regret that decision, because it was exactly what we would've needed to cover our property taxes and not have to split up the December Amex bill (I bitched about that here too!).

Nothing beats bonding with little ones, so even though it sucked, it was all still worth it and I would've lost my mind dealing with a 4 yr. old, and a baby with horrible reflux who wouldn't sleep during the day (and yes I know SAHMs do it all the time:bowdown:)

[elektra]

I am just stumped, and really bewildered that it's a possibility. I guess I just feel overly dumb that we wanted to live the American dream in our 20s vs. waiting until our mid 40s to buy a home and have kids in a HCOL area.

Annie, I feel the same way in regards to being slightly stumped about the possibility of saving up for a year. Maybe if I had married into money!
Although I don't feel dumb! I feel like it was 100% the right decision for our family to do at the time (speaking specifically of buying our house). I do get grouchy whenever I read financial threads on the board though. I usually try to stay away from them altogether.
I have now met with a financial advisor several times and I actually feel a lot better and confident about our situation after doing that. I would get so depressed after reading threads about BBB members' financials!
It *seems* like the majority of people have 6 months to a year saved up, but that is just not true. The true majority of BBB'ers are most likely not responding, and I think the members of our BBB group just are more savers than most people IRL. Try not to beat yourself up!

[niccig]

I live in the same HCOL and we don't have a year saved up either. And what we have has only been last few years as I pitched an absolute mickey fit with DH over lack of emergency funds. So, we're recent converts to needing to have one.

And our 3-6 months, would be a year somewhere else in the country.

I know we've got a lot more that we could do better, but we're also doing much better than we were a few years ago. It's babysteps you know.

[mommylamb]

It *seems* like the majority of people have 6 months to a year saved up, but that is just not true. The true majority of BBB'ers are most likely not responding, and I think the members of our BBB group just are more savers than most people IRL. Try not to beat yourself up!
:yeahthat: Saving money is hard. Even if you are frugal in general, just living life is really expensive. We have our savings drawn out of our account each month automatically, so I act like that money doesn't even exist, but it is really hard.

My bitch of the day is people who throw their cigarette butts out of their car window. It's littering. Just don't do it. It's disgusting. Pigs.

[BabbyO]

We didn't have much either, thank goodness for state benefits, and some vacation I had saved up. We splurged and sent DD1 to daycare when I was on maternity leave. I later came to regret that decision, because it was exactly what we would've needed to cover our property taxes and not have to split up the December Amex bill (I bitched about that here too!).

Nothing beats bonding with little ones, so even though it sucked, it was all still worth it and I would've lost my mind dealing with a 4 yr. old, and a baby with horrible reflux who wouldn't sleep during the day (and yes I know SAHMs do it all the time:bowdown:)

I'm hoping that the huge increase in gas prices lately will result in huge savings when I'm at home. Not driving 80+/day should result in some savings!

We are planning to keep DS in daycare full time for the first couple weeks then for at least 2-3 days a week while I'm home. He would go bonkers at home without the seeing the sitter's kids for that long, and the sitter's family would also miss him terribly. But if we can reduce our daycare cost by half for several week, it will help!

We always manage even if we don't have 1 yr saved up...that will never happen, but I have to believe if we ever needed it we'd figure out something.

[crayonblue]

Annie, I live in a high cost of living area and I only know one young couple who has $100K saved up. And they are the stingiest people I know!

I'm all for being out of debt and saving and preparing for the future. But, there comes a point where you are saving and not enjoying life or helping others.

DH and I will probably never have a year's income just sitting around and that is a-ok with me!

[sariana]

Annie, I live in a high cost of living area and I only know one young couple who has $100K saved up. And they are the stingiest people I know!

I'm all for being out of debt and saving and preparing for the future. But, there comes a point where you are saving and not enjoying life or helping others.

Wait, how do you know my husband? Seriously, I'm glad we have the savings that we do, but I wish we did more for charity and that he didn't complain every time the school asked for money for special activities. And I really would like to be more generous in our gift-giving.

But he works about 26 hours a day, and I'm a SAHM (and not a very good one). So I feel guilty making any significant money decisions.

Does that count as a b!tch for the day?

[jenfromnj]

*my bitch is that after reading all of the income/spending related posts that I am not doing enough, but there is really no other way to do anything different. Maybe it's where we live, which isn't the worst HCOL area in the state but I can't think of more than 5 people I know IRL who have a years worth of savings. I can think of two co workers, my parents, DD1's godparents, and maybe my grandparents, but really no one with kids under the age of 10. I am just stumped, and really bewildered that it's a possibility. I guess I just feel overly dumb that we wanted to live the American dream in our 20s vs. waiting until our mid 40s to buy a home and have kids in a HCOL area.

Add me to the list of people who hear you on this one! The only time we had that kind of savings was when we were DINKs, before we bought a home (in early 2006--realllly bad timing, former self!)--and even then, a big chunk of the money we'd saved went into our down payment (which has evaporated since our home has lost over 20% of its value). We sometimes talk about moving to a lower COL area, but there are so many things we love about where we are now, I don't realistically think that will ever happen.


random b!tch.....I hate it when people give online recipes a rating and then you read that they haven't made it yet. How the heck can they rate something if they haven't tried it???

This is a huge pet peeve of mine too! Just as bad is when people say things in their reviews like "I hated this recipe--oh, and I tripled the amount of salt the recipe called for, eliminated the milk, and added olives and capers (even though they weren't mentioned in the recipe)"--how can you review the recipe when what you made was something completely different?

[Uno-Mom]

My bitch: it SUCKS to see my baby get a shot.:crying: We got home from the 18 month well baby appointment a while ago. And it almost makes it worse that she's such a good sport about it: totally scared and feeling betrayed but just looks at me and says "Hug you mommy..."

Oh, and I feel all your $ pains. We're struggling to save up 4 months emergency fund to protect against iffy job market. To that end, I'm working this Saturday. And next. AND every day next week, I'm meeting private clients after my regular work day is over. I hate it, both the long hours and missing my kiddo.

[artvandalay]

random b!tch.....I hate it when people give online recipes a rating and then you read that they haven't made it yet. How the heck can they rate something if they haven't tried it???

Here's a bitch... I hate when I look up a recipe and read the reviews, and the people change like ten million things about the recipe and then tell you all the changes that were made.... at that point it's a completely different recipe!

[KpbS]

Mine? Our crazy garage door finally broke yesterday and the bill was $367 for the repair--so not good for this month's credit card bill!

[citymama]

First, mojo for your sister - more power to her! We need her now more than ever before.

Second, although we have a good chunk of savings (10 months or so), we are going to need to dip into it for a bunch of new home related expenses, probably 2 months worth. And the reason we have those savings is because of what I squirelled away when I was single and childless in my 20s!!! Stuck the money into 2% money mkt account for over a decade. What you've invested in is a house, which will appreciate far more over a decade than my money mkt account. I feel all grown up now owning a house but I do wonder - what was wrong with renting and saving more $$$?

I'm getting sick and DD2 has had a fever of 101-103 the past 24 hours, but no real bitch other than the worried mama blues.

[egoldber]

Annie, people on this board skew much older than average (for parents), much more highly educated and high income. I suspect you're doing as well or better than 90%+ of people out there.

[scrooks]

Annie, people on this board skew much older than average (for parents), much more highly educated and high income. I suspect you're doing as well or better than 90%+ of people out there.

:yeahthat: I totally agree...this board isn't necessarily the average American. Dont beat yourself up. Living in a low COL area it always boggles my mind how you high COL people do it! It sounds like your family is doing just fine:thumbsup: