Anonymous wrote:My parents were frugal because that's how we afforded to do things. I started out making $33k out of college in a big city and just couldn't afford much, so I had to figure out how to stretch my money. Eight years later, my husband and I make $140k (together) in DC with a baby and feel downright rich. I'm always shocked by people who complain about making "only" $200-300k.

+1
We started here each making about $40k. We were not married then, just dating and living in separate apartments. A few years later we have doubled our income, married, and have a child. I feel rich as well and shocked when I hear people complain.

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Anonymous wrote:It was a brand new house. I won't buy used.

You have expensive taste, but bought a new house that didn't have granite in the bathrooms or crown moulding? So I guess on your long list of failures in life, you might as well add trolling.

It was a brand new house. The builder offered finishes that I was not thrilled with. I felt I could get nice stuff on my own.
Builder offered wood moulding, yuck. We wanted plaster crown moulding.
Builder had four choices of granite. I wanted more options.
Sorry if that make me a troll.

If you have "expensive taste" your builder would have been good enough to provide these items.

Sorry your lame troll story isn't holding up.

Why is everyone a troll? Just because I don't agree with you? Whatever.
I can't control the builder's finishes. I wanted a house backing on to greenspace with a massive lot. When we saw it, we jumped on it.
I'm glad we did. It's heavenly.

We just finished building a house. Anything the builder offered that we didn't like, we upgraded and paid extra for. Your story doesn't hold true. If it was truly new and you didn't lime the finishes, it would be far more expensive to pay to remove crap (countertops for example) and put higher end choices in.

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Anonymous wrote:Toronto is amazing. One year mat leaves, come back pregnant with your second. Only work 4 months between kid one and kid yow, get another year off.
Free health care.

Yeah it sucks.

NOT free. Paid for in taxes. One year mat leave and paying higher taxes for health care are Canadian things, not Toronto things. I can't decide if you're an uniformed troll or just someone from Toronto, and figure you are in the COTU. There is a world outside of Toronto.

Of course it's Canada wide. Obviously we were already discussing how I live in Toronto.
While obviously money doesn't fall from the sky for health care, we never need to worry about paying out of pocket. Even when you are unemployed, you never have to worry.

you just have to hope that when you need a particular health procedure there is still money for it - or that you are deemed worthy enough of the procedure.

No, you don't need to worry that there is money for a procedure. What a strange thing to say, if you need the procedure you get it. I work in health care.

My parents were frugal because that's how we afforded to do things. I started out making $33k out of college in a big city and just couldn't afford much, so I had to figure out how to stretch my money. Eight years later, my husband and I make $140k (together) in DC with a baby and feel downright rich. I'm always shocked by people who complain about making "only" $200-300k.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Toronto is amazing. One year mat leaves, come back pregnant with your second. Only work 4 months between kid one and kid yow, get another year off.
Free health care.

Yeah it sucks.

NOT free. Paid for in taxes. One year mat leave and paying higher taxes for health care are Canadian things, not Toronto things. I can't decide if you're an uniformed troll or just someone from Toronto, and figure you are in the COTU. There is a world outside of Toronto.

Of course it's Canada wide. Obviously we were already discussing how I live in Toronto.
While obviously money doesn't fall from the sky for health care, we never need to worry about paying out of pocket. Even when you are unemployed, you never have to worry.

you just have to hope that when you need a particular health procedure there is still money for it - or that you are deemed worthy enough of the procedure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Toronto is amazing. One year mat leaves, come back pregnant with your second. Only work 4 months between kid one and kid yow, get another year off.
Free health care.

Yeah it sucks.

NOT free. Paid for in taxes. One year mat leave and paying higher taxes for health care are Canadian things, not Toronto things. I can't decide if you're an uniformed troll or just someone from Toronto, and figure you are in the COTU. There is a world outside of Toronto.

Of course it's Canada wide. Obviously we were already discussing how I live in Toronto.
While obviously money doesn't fall from the sky for health care, we never need to worry about paying out of pocket. Even when you are unemployed, you never have to worry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Toronto is amazing. One year mat leaves, come back pregnant with your second. Only work 4 months between kid one and kid yow, get another year off.
Free health care.

Yeah it sucks.

How is this productive? Doesn't this
me you stand out? I wouldn't want to hire a woman if this were an option.

People aren't so discriminatory here. It's so normal.

Anonymous wrote:Toronto is amazing. One year mat leaves, come back pregnant with your second. Only work 4 months between kid one and kid yow, get another year off.
Free health care.

Yeah it sucks.

How is this productive? Doesn't this
me you stand out? I wouldn't want to hire a woman if this were an option.

I'm probably not as frugal as I could or should be--my grocery and take-out bills are high--but I try to repurpose and reuse stuff, recycle as much as possible, repair rather than buy new, and buy antique or second-hand when it comes to big-ticket items. I do it mostly because I feel like our disposable culture is destroying the planet. I look at my kids and want to do what I can to slow down the economy, to signal that we should produce less stuff.

Anonymous wrote:Toronto is amazing. One year mat leaves, come back pregnant with your second. Only work 4 months between kid one and kid yow, get another year off.
Free health care.

Yeah it sucks.

NOT free. Paid for in taxes. One year mat leave and paying higher taxes for health care are Canadian things, not Toronto things. I can't decide if you're an uniformed troll or just someone from Toronto, and figure you are in the COTU. There is a world outside of Toronto.

Toronto is amazing. One year mat leaves, come back pregnant with your second. Only work 4 months between kid one and kid yow, get another year off.
Free health care.

Yeah it sucks.

In my case, I like quality but often times it is not in my budget and I refuse to buy junk so it takes me a long time to buy things because of the time i take to research things and the time it takes for the things I like to go on sale or clearance.

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Anonymous wrote:It was a brand new house. I won't buy used.

You have expensive taste, but bought a new house that didn't have granite in the bathrooms or crown moulding? So I guess on your long list of failures in life, you might as well add trolling.

If you have ever bought a new house, you would know these items are not standard from the builder.

Uh, yeah they are, if it's a decent builder.

Not in toronto. Nice try. The world is bigger than dc.

Oh God no, no one with taste of any sort or real money would live in Toronto.

Move along, pp. At best you are tacky, at worst you are a lame troll. It's just lose-lose for you.