pennie_dreadful | (no subject)

Having a housemate who used to have money but no longer does is...occassionally...mind asplodey. For the most part he's fine, he's not, like, overtly snobbish, and he's always had jobs and knows how to do housework and cook and stuff--he does most of the cooking and more than his fair share of cleaning, but he just got hired as a store manager and figures they'll offer him at least $18 an hour, if not what the old manager made which was $22, did the math in his head and said that's only $40 grand a year, who can live on that? he used to make that in a month, and all I could do was look at him funny and tell him that yeah, if he's dead set on buying another Jaguar and a huge house filled with designer furniture, 40 grand ain't a lot, but I do well enough for myself on $22,000, driving a Kia and living in a modest apartment. Sooooo. It's...he's not a bad person, and generally he's a likeable guy, but he has no baseline for what it's like to be not rich, despite the fact that he's not anymore. And sometimes he forgets I've never had money, and I forget he's not always been poor, and I want to smack him, sometimes.

Like a few weeks ago, he asked me why I didn't have a Cuisinart or a Kitchenaide since I went to culinary school. Like??? The fuck does me having gone to culinary school have to do with what type of kitchen appliances I do or do not own? They cost like $400? How the fuck am I gonna justify spending that much on something nonessential?

*grumbling*$40k isn't a lot of money, buddy do you know what I could do with $40k a year? Kick out all you housemates for starters...

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Oh my gooood that kind of cluelessness kills me.

(also, protip, if you really want a stand mixer, keep an eye out for end of year sales/manufacture defected ones; I managed to get a kitchenaid stand mixer for like one hundred once, which was still a big investment, but a lot more reasonable for me than four hundred)

Oh that's a good idea, I've been keeping an eye out for used ones but they still run about $200. I've wanted a Kitchenaide forever, and basically every attachment they make. (Meat grinder! Pasta maker! *heart eyes*)

Oh man, this reminds me of my co-workers? I currently work at an antique shop and most of my coworkers are antiques themselves -- most of them are retired and have either a) good government pensions or b) rich husbands. They're constantly bitching about how Kids These Days have No Respect For Good Craftsmanship and Quality, they would Rather Eat off Paper Plates and Why Won't Anyone Buy My Old China?

And they're nice people, they mean well, but I'm perpetually like BITCH WE CAN'T AFFORD IT CUZ Y'ALL SCREWED THE ECONOMY. We were talking about facebook (of all things) and they were like "you wouldn't pay a small fee to get a higher quality social media experience?" NO SIR I WOULD NOT I CANNOT AFFORD THAT SHIT. or they're like "you live in town, you've tried (x) restaurant, right?" GURL. YOU KNOW HOW LITTLE MONEY I MAKE. YOU THINK I GOT CASH TO VISIT EVERY ONE OF THE 18 NEW FANCY RESTAURANTS THAT OPENED???

It's like people with money are from a different planet.

Paper plates? Paper plates? Which you have to keep buying? No madame, I bought my dinnerware piece by piece from Dollar Tree. I have 4 perfectly nice dinnerplates which cost a dollar each, and if I break one, I can go back to Dollar Tree and buy another one just like it.

Eating out? Lmao. Who has 30+ dollars to spend on dinner plus a gratuity (and that's part of why I eat out so rarely, cause I'm not going to be an ass and leave like a $3 tip.)

Jumping in to say I eat off of paper plates, not because I don’t have regular plates bc I do but bc I’m too lazy to wash them each time I eat, like, I can just throw them away! It’s brilliant! 😂I’m not sure which one (money vs laziness) makes me more of a millennial.

Both, probably! It's not laziness, I do go through "paperplate phases" sometimes when the depresh got really bad or work got extra crazy, because my kitchen would get out of hand messy otherwise.

Yeah that just shows how people that are used to having money don’t understand everyone else’s necessity or ability to prioritize and sacrifice.

Yeah like, maybe shoot for a normal car first before worrying about a goddamn Jaguar???

Right. I’m 39 and have never even had a NEW car. I had a handle down older than I was, another that was signed over to me when I graduated college, and another hand me
Down. I’ve never been able to go pick out my own car.

My soul just left my body at reading he used to make $40k a *month* like ??? That’s the most I ever made in a year, when I used to be a teacher, and I just can’t imagine having access to an entire year’s paycheck in one month. Smh. Anyway I make about what you make now, and yeah, I won’t be buying a Jaguar anytime soon but I get by. People are cray.

I have no idea if or how much of that's an exageration but...he told me how much he paid in income tax last year, and it was...a whole fucking lot. So idk.

I am on the other side of this in that I was poor p much continuously from 2003-2011, and now I'm both doing nicely for myself AND mixing a lot professionally with people who are doing even more nicely. and. they are all COMPLETE IDIOTS about money. anyone who thinks you can get to be rich by understanding how to use money efficiently or effectively has never met a rich person (or a poor person). It's not even just an individual thing, but an entire corporate culture that coddles one class of people while nickel & diming everyone else. Real talk, it wouldn't be fun for me if we went back to $30k household income, but the main difference for me is that I used to WORRY all the time and say no to everything by default; the greatest luxury is not having to be anxious. I used to panic every time I bought groceries. I still bring lunch to work every day, drink p much only tapwater & coffee, and sleep on the same old ikea mattress, and I go to Haymarket every couple of weeks (SUPER cheap produce market), and I save what I can, but god it's nice to not worry when shit comes up like repairs or my orthopedic/PT bills. or like, ordering dinner bc I had to work late or sth. At the same time, idk where it all goes, but it's a kindness to myself to let some of it go.

Yeah, I feel. I'm doing better for myself than I ever have so I know next year when I file I'll have made more for sure, probably closer to 25, and I'll be getting another big raise when my promotion comes through, plus a bonus (i can't become a certified trainer until my trainee becomes a certified baker, but she's stuck it out so far so I believe I'll finally get it this time, my promo has been in the works since....October but my first trainee quit on his second day. Lol.)

SO, anyway, I would actually be super ok right now financially, if it weren't for that period of time before I finally got long term, dependable housemates when I had to use my credit cards to fill in the gaps, plus pay for cat medical drama, (and buy a $900 mattress, :/ but my old one was killing my back :////) so haha yeah those credit card bills are killing me so I'm still kinda spinning my wheels. Trying to juggle how much I can spend on the credit card bills, without spending too much and needing to use the fucking credit cards for gas/groceries. Lol. (Although now L buys groceries for the both of us and cooks.) (And cleans!) (he may be kind of an ass sometimes and god knows he has...weird politics for a queer jew, but honestly I would be v sad to see him go) (and not only because I have an ex...~5 percenter paying me to be my cook and housekeeper, like, he really is a fun guy to hang out with usually)